The Unexpected Link Between Autism, Empathy and Porn

Neuroscientists discovered mirror neurons in pigtail macaque monkeys’ motor cortex. These cells respond both when a monkey executes an action and when it observes another performing similar actions. Researchers extended this finding to human cognition, proposing mirror neurons underlie empathy, language, and social understanding.

Long-term Buddhist meditators, including the Dalai Lama, demonstrate heightened mirror neuron system activity. Researchers studying experienced practitioners reveal that individuals cultivating compassion, attention, and empathy over decades develop enhanced neural connectivity. Mirror neurons are sometimes called “Dalai Lama neurons” to describe circuits highly active in these contemplative practitioners.

When individuals watch pornography or observe sexual activity, their mirror neuron systems simulate the observed movements and sensations. Motor areas activate as if participating in the sexual act. Limbic and reward circuits respond to implied pleasure while facial expressions, moans, and gestures receive both cognitive and embodied interpretation.

Christian Keysers, mirror neuron researcher at University Medical Center Groningen, demonstrates that language activates body-specific motor regions. When individuals read “lick,” tongue areas activate. Hearing “kick” lights up leg areas. Mirror neurons may serve as key precursor to abstract thought and language development, particularly during childhood acquisition.

Individuals with Moebius syndrome experience rare congenital bilateral facial paralysis, making facial emotion expression impossible. Seven universal emotions—anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise—recognized across all human cultures cannot be displayed. Affected individuals tend toward inhibition, introversion, and feelings of inadequacy and inferiority due to communication barriers.

Individuals on the autism spectrum demonstrate atypical mirror neuron system function, particularly in inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule—regions central to action understanding and social cognition. They may not instinctively mirror smiles, gestures, or tones of voice, making automatic social cue interpretation more difficult. However, this creates unique cognitive advantages.

Individuals experience two distinct empathy types through mirror neuron activity. Those carried away by unaware mirror neuron activities experience negative empathy, becoming vulnerable to others’ negativity, responding to anger with fury or being dragged down by others’ depression. Conversely, those cultivating internal tranquility activate others’ mirror neurons through positive empathy.

Athletes in competitive sports face situations where mirror neurons prove potentially maladaptive. Batters must prepare swings responding to pitches, boxers must duck or block incoming punches, goalkeepers must lunge upon seeing kicks. These scenarios require non-mirrored responses to observed actions where reaction time determines success.

Early humans developed enhanced mirror neuron systems enabling cultural transmission. By hyperdeveloping these neural circuits, evolution effectively transformed culture into new genome. Homo sapiens emerged from self-amplifying evolutionary feedback loops where better mirror neurons enabled superior imitative learning, which created cultural pressures selecting for even better mirror neuron systems.

Modern humanity faces stagnation despite mirror neurons’ evolutionary advantages. While mirror neurons accelerated human evolution, excessive mirroring now stops humanity’s progress. Instead of developing original strategies, people imitate everyone around them. The video concludes provocatively: “All hope now is on autists”—individuals whose atypical mirror neuron function resists reflexive imitation.