Photography has the ability to convey emotions and allow viewers to connect with the emotion depicted if they have experienced it themselves. The human brain is wired for empathy through mechanisms like mirror neurons that cause our brains to unconsciously imitate the facial expressions and movements of others. Viewing photos activates this mirror neuron system and areas of the brain related to emotional processing and theory of mind. This allows us to understand others' perspectives and have empathy for what they may be feeling.
2. Photography
A great photo has ability to convey emotion.
Emotion in a photograph helps a viewer
connect with a piece if that emotion is
prevalent in the viewer.
Happiness & joy, sorrow & despair, these
are some of the easier emotions as they are
universally felt.
6. Introduction
Photography is powerful because we can
place ourselves into the perspective of those
we see in an image.
Whether its street photography,
photojournalism or portraiture.
We use photography to understand ourselves
in relation to people around us.
7. Continues.
Our ability to identify with and imagine
someone elses point of view is deeply
ingrained into the architecture of our brain.
Photography plays a unique role in triggering
the network of brain regions that underlie
empathy.
8. To understand how photographs activate the
aforementioned brain network, its first
necessary to deconstruct emotional
processing into simpler components.
one of the most fundamental social skills
that humans have: that of imitation.
9. The Human Neuron System- From
Vision To Emotion
Imitation is automatic and a basic
requirement for developing practical social
skills, like empathy.
When we see the expression of other
peoples faces there is an unconscious
activation of the same muscles.
For example, when someone is sad and
frowns you too will active frown muscles and
feel similarly to the person youre looking at,
10. Continues.
Imitation is a result of visual information
combining with muscle activation, which in
turn facilitates empathy.
Our capacity to imitate is thought to rely
upon a specialized network of brain regions
called the human mirror neuron system.
11. 1
Mirror neurons are that they become active
in a person when that person is observing
another persons motor action, their
intention, when viewing faces that depict
emotion.
It begins with a brain region called the
superior temporal sulcus (STS), which
processes body movement, where someones
attention is directed toward, and emotion.
13. This data rich visual information is
transmitted from the STS to the posterior
parietal cortex (PPC), which is where mirror
neurons are first activated.
The STS-PPC connection is thought to
support our ability to imitate the movements
of those we watch.
14. The combined visual-motor information from
the PPC is then transmitted to the frontal
cortex and some of this information is sent to
the language-processing region called Brocas
area.
With a simple photograph our brain will
unconsciously processes biological motion,
attend to where emotions are being directed,
activate muscles of those we are observing.
And transmits this information to language
15. Theory of mind
Imitation is a basic social skill that often
occurs unconsciously.
However, as we age we become much more
aware of someones emotions not by direct
observation by rather by judging their intent.
16. Intent requires us to place ourselves into someone
elses perspective and to hold the belief that other
people have minds that are distinct from our own.
The Theory of Mind is a subfield of cognitive
neuroscience that studies how humans understand
the mental states of other people.
Its quite the step in cognition to go from imitation
to understanding someones intention.
Indeed, understanding the mental state of others is
a developmental milestone & it does not happen
until about the age of four.
17. Children younger than four are often unable
to identify the point of view of another
person and do not understand that people
have a mind that differs from theirs.
It is likely that the human brain further
evolved to develop a theory of mind, which in
has allowed us to deeply examine the beliefs,
emotions, and desires of others.
18. Embodying The Photo
Photography is important because it can influence
our capacity to empathize, it effects our motivation
to help others, and help us connect with people
through imitation.
The very survival of our species has & still relies on
understanding how other feel, attending to the
needs of those around us, and working with one
another to construct a better society.
20. Conclusion
Photography is more important than ever
because we need visual imagery that reflects
our connectedness, especially in a world that
can be as inhumane as ours.
Editor's Notes
Mirror neurons were first discovered in the early 90s by Italian researchers studying the brain regions responsible for muscle activation.