Same feeling you get when you imagine what it’s like falling from a big height on your bottoms. I always wonder why this feeling happens only there and only when relating to someone falling on his back/spine, be it when watching a video or someone telling a story.
In: 0
When we watch someone fall or get hurt in a video, our brains can imagine what it would feel like if it happened to us. This can make us feel like we’re experiencing the same pain, even though we’re just watching a video. If you Google “vicarious pain” you’ll find more on it.
You’re experiencing emotional empathy through mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are your nerves that fire when you witness someone else in pain and can strongly imagine yourself in their position experiencing the same kind of pain.
The other type of empathy is cognizant empathy. It’s when you recognize that someone is in pain. If you had cognizant empathy without emotional empathy, you understand someone is in pain but your mirror neurons don’t fire; this can happen if you haven’t experienced a similar type of pain so it’s hard to imagine, or it’s difficult to relate to the other person so you can’t imagine the pain happening to you, or mental disorders with generally low empathy (e.g. NPD, ASPD).
Latest Answers