Mirror Neurons: Imitation and Emotional Differences Among Males and Females, Preliminary Results

The mirror neuron system MNS consists of a specific class of visuomotor neurons, which
fire for both observation of an action, and for execution of that action, as well as showing
differences for empathy and gender. We studied the effect of different emotions on accuracy and
response time of an imitative motor finger sequencing task for males and females. Method: A
sample of 56 individuals aged 19-40 26 males, 30 females living in South Florida were All
participants had Alexithymia scores of 60 or below and were free of any traumatic head injuries
or current psychological disorders. No differences in years of education or age were found across
groups. Results: 1. A one way ANOVA showed a significant difference in empathy or males and
females F1,546.55, p .05, with a higher score for females. 2. A repeated measures ANOVA was
conducted to compare levels of empathy and accuracy of the two emotion trials happy and angry
among gender. The test of within-subjects effects showed a trend toward significance for the
interaction between the emotion task and empathy level F1,533.05, p .087. Additionally, the
interaction between the emotion task and gender shows a strong trend toward significance
F1,533.73, p .059. No significant interaction was found for response time and empathy.
Discussion: These preliminary results support differences for empathy levels among gender. It is
expected that with a larger sample and more statistical power, significance in reached. These
finding may offer a connection between empathy and gender effects in the MNS.