Ahmed, a college guy having his bag on his back, walking too fast as he knows that the jungle he is passing now has a lot of horror tales within.

Sun is about to dusk and thick forest is getting darker and darker.

Ahmed started his palm feeling sweetening, listening his heart pulses increasing, and cursing himself the moment he decided to enter this jungle.

Suddenly, he felt a grip of hand on his shoulder; he got fainted because his nervous system broken down.

Ever heard about the nervous breakdown – when someone’s physical, intellectual and emotional abilities got frozen?

The main reason behind this freezing are the neurons which are basic building block of the nervous system.

And this is where the story of Neuro-Science starts which revolves around the activities and functions of the neurons in our body.

These neurons are responsible to transmit information throughout the body in both chemical and electrical forms.

So, what is the connection of these neurons with our learning behavior?

Very deep.

Learning is a biological phenomenon of the neurons that fire together and wired together.

It simply means that learning cannot be happened until the neurons get activated and make the connections with each other. Through these connection, neuro-transmitters travel across like serotonin and dopamine.

The deeper the connection; the deeper will the learning be. That’s why practice makes a man perfect, and a woman too.

Now, the basis of this article is not to become a neuron-scientist; but to become the neuro-science practitioner. Which means we need to learn how we can learn more effectively using the neuro-science research.

Let’s discuss one of the research in the field of neuro sciences about the function of mirror neurons and learning behavior.

A group of neuros-scientists, directed by Giacomo Rizzolatti from the University of Parma (Italy), experienced something amazing. A hundred group of neurons in the brain were triggered not only when the monkey was doing something but also when the monkey saw another one doing that same action.

Most of the learning we have made in our life are through mimicking and mirroring. And mirror neurons are responsible for this

Mirror neurons are a group of neurons that activate when you perform an action or when you see an action being performed. 

That’s why you see people having the body gestures, facial expression, tone of voice related to the person with whome he live the most, love the most and trust the most.

The science behind persuasions of a leader; following the acts of actors are due to the mirror neurons phenomenon behind.   

I was travelling to Abbotabad – A stunnning hillside in the northern areas of pakistan, and seated right next to the driver.

Driver requested to me;

Sir, we are going to pass dangerous turnings, you are requested to keep awakened. If you start yawning, it will surely make me yawn.

That’s what the mirror neuron phenomeon is.

Have you ever smiled seeing people laughing around?

Have you ever sad seeing other sad people around?

Of course, yes.

Empathy, feeling the feeling of other, is our human trait which distinguish us from other species. And mirror neurons are behind empathy and social connections, too.

We are social beings. Our survival depends on our understanding the actions, intentions, and emotions of others. Mirror neurons allow us to understand other people’s mind, not only through conceptual reasoning but through imitation. Feeling, not thinking.”- G.Rizzolatti.

Mirror Neurons and our learning Behaviour;

Now understanding a bit insight about mirror neurons, we can use this phenomenon to improve our learning behavior.

So, if you want to improve your happiness boosting behavior, surround yourself with happy people and notice what they do, how they do and repeat them in your mind.

If you want to improve your patience, observe a person controlling his emotions in a grim situation, and it will activate the mirror neurons in your brain.

It remind me the NLP concept; “Your unconscious mind cannot differentiate between real and fake, it just respond”.

Thanks to Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques which tell us how to use our mirror neurons to become more social and empathetic, by the help of Allah (SWT)

Finally, being a leader, parent, spouse or employee, keep this thing in mind that people around dont care what you are saying, they are noticing how are you saying. Because mirror neurons activated when people see your actions.

So, next time if you  are walking on the road in a dark night and feel a hand on your shoulders from back side. You should not have a nervous breakdown, because you have a little bit insight now, how to activate the mirror neurons in a the creature who put his hand on your shoulder.

Congratulation on becoming a Neuro-Science Practitioner.