As The Toast searches for its one true Gal Scientist, we will be running a ton of wonderful one-off pieces by female scientists of all shapes and sizes and fields and education levels, which we are sure you will enjoy. They’ll live here, so you can always find them.
Before I start my science story, let me tell you a little about myself. I’m working on my doctorate in evolutionary neuroscience at Emory University. My research focuses on the anatomical specializations in the human brain that support language and conceptual thought.
“But where’s her degree?!” I hear you folks asking. Don’t worry, guys – even if I am still in grad school, I am a legit serious scientist-lady. I’m going into year 6 of my PhD, and that’s after almost 3 years spent getting my Master’s. I am scientifically decadent, if that’s possible. It’s like if Guy Fieri opened a neuroscience lab and had all his graduate students using Bunsen burners to crisp bacon while he used the cryostat to cut ultrathin slices of Gran Padano. So, context: lady scientist, not really a student, not yet a PhD.
I’m at the point in my career when I will jump at the chance to get more exposure for my ideas. Still thin on publications, but with lots of ideas banging around in my head, I’m not yet enough of an entity in my own field to be considered an “expert.” People don’t email me out of the blue to ask for my opinion. However, I’ve found social media to be a great outlet for communicating science to a broad cross-section of folks. And after spending all day in a windowless lab staring at images of chimpanzee brains on a computer screen, it’s refreshing to actually talk to other humans about my research (albeit while still staring at a computer screen). So I was pretty excited to get a message from a journalist on Twitter who wanted to interview me about a few neurobiology topics, most notably mirror neurons.
Mirror neurons are one of those annoyingly trendy neuroscientific concepts. There is some solid research behind them – essentially, there’s evidence that macaque monkeys have specific brain cells that fire when they see other monkeys move their body parts, and also fire when the monkey in question performs the same movement himself. Pretty cool, right?
This finding sparked the imaginations of neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, and psychologists, who have generalized the implications rather liberally. We now have assertions that all mammals of a certain brain size possess mirror neurons, and that those mirror neurons not only reflect an understanding of others’ body movements, but their “internal” (read: emotional) states as well. Mirror neurons might underpin empathy – perhaps even morality – in big-brained animals like chimpanzees, humans, and dolphins. Recently, evidence for them was found in cattle. As Friedrich Beef-tzche once said, “Gaze long enough into the hamburger, and it gazes back.”
There’s just one problem with all this. Well, there’s about a billion problems, but for the sake of space I’ll just go into two.
First, those “mirror neurons” we found in chimpanzees, humans, and Shamu? We don’t actually have real evidence that they work that way. In fact, we have no idea what those neurons do. They just look fancy, and since all of these animals have fancy neurons located in the same place as the original researchers documented mirror neurons in macaques, we’ve been speculating wildly that these fancy-shaped neurons – called spindle neurons – are the ones responsible for mirroring.
Spindle neurons were first described by Constantin Von Economo, a psychiatrist of Greek origin and the human version of Grumpy Cat. He was also really good at slicing and staining human brains, and discovered uniquely shaped cells in one particular layer of our cortex, or gray matter. It turns out these long, spindly cells aren’t all over the brain, but only in two specific regions: the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the fronto-insular cortex (FIC).
Constantin Von Economo, moments after being told his work was being cited in a certain mid-level men’s magazine
Which brings us to our second problem: how we got from “monkey see, monkey do” to “monkey feels your pain and, yes, Kevin was being a total jerk and monkey was just wondering what you were doing later?”
Even if we were to go with the assumption that mirror neurons are spindle cells, and vice versa, that still leaves us with the problem of generalizing from motor behavior to feelings, subjective experience, and being a “good guy.” Most people do not need scientific training to realize there’s a big difference between scratching an itch and not being a jerk. However, scientists, bless our hearts, tend to get really excited about monkeys, mirrors, and brains. Just the name “mirror neurons” likely impacted how researchers conceptualized their function, since mirror self-recognition is somewhat of a sine qua non of animal consciousness for cognitive scientists. It also helps that those two regions, the ACC and FIC, are implicated in a lot of emotional processing in humans (in addition to helping you make decisions and letting you know when you’re about to blow chunks, but I digress).
Back to my nascent interview opportunity: I got a nice email from the journalist, who was excited (many exclamation points!) and wanted to call me to get some “solid science” about “body language” for an article she was writing! For publication in a magazine!
A magazine called Maxim.
There were obviously many ways a lady-scientist could take this. I could take the opportunity – an interview’s an interview, right? – flex a little science-muscle, give the guys a thrill. No harm done, and maybe those crazy kids might learn something. I could be the Danica McKellar of neuroscience (I mean, yeah, I’m a somewhat schlubby 30-something who is barely 5’1” with a wardrobe from the Kohl’s sale rack, but, you know. Pretty close).
Or I could go another route. I do consider myself to be a feminist neuroscientist, after all. I could describe the limitations of our current understanding of mirror neurons and the lack of evidence for the link between mirror neurons and empathy. Talk about the problematic implications of generalizing from macaque behavior to human social relationships. Explain that when the white, male-dominated field of neuroscience speculates on human social behavior, those speculations often reveal sexist, heteronormative assumptions that tend to reinforce stereotypes that hurt women. Maybe Maxim would provide me with a venue to explore the topic on my own terms.
But, dammit, I knew better. I knew exactly what sort of quotes the writer was after. There were clues: “body language,” “communication,” and, of course, “Maxim.” This was going to be an article about how to use your body to communicate with women.
Now what might a male Maxim-reader want to communicate to a woman, using his body? The possibilities seemed nearly limitless. Maybe he would want to talk about Elizabeth Warren’s autobiography, or his recent trip to Ecuador. Perhaps he would like to let the woman in question know that he’s interested in her opinion on immigration. Or he could be looking for a refresher on semaphore.
Yet it was also possible that Maxim would like to help its readers “seduce” women. I decided that this possibility, however slim, was enough to make me feel uncomfortable about the interview. Not that I don’t think people should get lucky; far from it! But mirror neurons and getting lucky – that sounds like a convenient way to spruce up the Pick Up Artist mentality with a magical sprinkle of neuroscience. “Hey guys, having trouble with the ladies? Well, we interviewed – get this – a female neuroscientist (I know, right? I didn’t even know they made them in that flavor!) and asked her to give us some ironclad science-secrets on how to land a mate. All you have to do is copy and parrot back all of your target’s body movements – and eye contact, sustain that as much as possible – and she’ll find herself falling hopelessly in lust with you. It’s not creepy at all, and it’s definitely legit – I mean, it’s based on research funded by the National Institutes of Health! And if there’s one thing the NIH want, it’s for you to get laid.”
Also, brains.
I think you see where this is going. I decided not to do the interview. Instead, I sent this to the journalist:
Katherine Bryant’s fun facts about mirror neurons
1. Mirror neurons are located in the anterior cingulate cortex, right next to the region responsible for making your dick hard.
2. Women have fewer mirror neurons than men because that part of the brain is necessary for controlling the frequency and amplitude of boob-bouncing. Obviously, this is extremely neurocomputationally expensive.
3. There are multiple other large-brained species that are hypothesized to have functional mirror neurons. Try some mirroring techniques next time you’re at Sea World – you might be surprised at who (or what) agrees to go home with you that night.
5. You know what activates my mirror neurons? No, you don’t, because you didn’t bother to ask me.
6. PUAhate members don’t know about mirror neurons.
Still waiting to hear back about my big break in the world of pop neuroscience. I might be waiting for a while.
As an person frequently negged on for my brain’s supposed lack of mirror neurons, I’m really relieved to hear they’re bullshit.
Friedrich Beef-tzche
😀
Fun Fact #3 made me to do the laugh-out-loud-at-the-computer-screen thing. Oooh I do not think you would have liked how Maxim contextualized your quotes. I frankly kind of feel for the writer desperately casting around for “solid science” for some piece on how to get dudes laid.
Oh man, despite the fact that being asked to be an “expert” on something is one of my life long STEM dreams, you made the right call. I’ve never picked up a Maxim but it’s like Cosmo for boys, right?? And the mangled expert testimony in Cosmo is always one of the bestworst parts of reading it. I’d imagine it would just be “worst” for the scientist being misquoted, though.
(One of the PIs in a friend’s neuroengineering lab was asked to do consulting on Pacific Rim AND HE TURNED IT DOWN and I kind of hate him now.)
WHAT
WHY
WHY WOULD ANYONE SAY NO TO GUILLERMO DEL TORO TOTORO
Why didn’t they just contact whatever ‘body language expert’ the ladymags use to tell which celeb couples are TOTALLY about to break up? Why even waste a real scientist’s time?
So…this is about your experience of not interacting with Maxim except sending a journalist a snarky reply email?
I’m pretty sure it’s mostly about mirror neurons, and then I put “Maxim” in the title to lure men in from social media against their will.
Cunning. I like it!
Its like you Maximed Maxim
I mean, I don’t think that’s particularly what it’s about at all, but if it were, would that be a problem?
Only in that I was hoping to read a Maxim horror story, because I’m a terrible person that thrives on drama, but got a fictional account and not an actual one.
I think everything in this story…happened? Doesn’t that make it…not-fiction?
When I used to read Maxim there was a lot of ladies and a lot of … well, less PUA stuff, but you know the “hack your body” movement? The lite version of that. “How to overcome procrastination!” “How to leverage empathy to get promoted!” “Have a cup of coffee and a nap to SUPERCHARGE your evening!”
So that’s probably the poorly-researched stuff she wanted quotes for.
They may have changed in the last ten years: correct me if so?
They’ve actually changed somewhat in the last few months, brooming the presumably less-mature members of the editorial staff and discarding the fart jokes entirely. But they’re still a lad mag at heart, and their priority remains the Y chromosome in its most basic form (whatever that means).
It’s tough to know how to deal with requests from journalists- some of them really do care about presenting the science as accurately as possible. Overall, I’ve actually had several very positive experiences with journalists who seem to “get it” (and others who were clearly biased from the get-go). I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. A lot of times it is the only way our work makes it out of the ivory tower.
I’m a lady scientist and I “only” have a bachelor’s. (AN ENGLISH and bio MAJOR NO LESS) Tis the science that makes the scientist, not the degree! Obviously I have a chip on my shoulder. Otherwise, I love this, thank you!
I totally hear you. This obviously reflects more my insecurity than anything else. Perhaps also years of being the plebe in the science hierarchy 😉
You are hilarious and perfect.
Everything about this is the best and I am going to go back and read it a second time. GAH <3
I love this, and I love you, Katherine.
WHERE IS FACT NUMBER 4
WHAT IS THIS CENSORSHIP
I AM FRANKLY FLABBERGASTED THAT SUCH A FLAGRANT ABUSE OF EDITORIAL POWER COULD EXIST HERE AT THE HYPHEN TOAST DOT NET.
No, no, I have considered the possibility of a typographical error and I have summarily discarded it because a vast cover-up is MUCH MORE LIKELY.
Also because I would like this to be a Mystery. I like Mysteries.
Now let us commence Sleuthing For A True Thing.
JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY
#gamergate
Okay this is crazy, I went through my old drafts… and there was NEVER a #4! Which probably means it did exist at some point and was retroactively was erased by some surveillance group…
From one legit neuroscientist to another (don’t be so insecure!), this was great!
p.s. my username is a nod to a brain region I studied during my PhD 🙂
Ok, so I’m going to come right out and admit that I first learned of the existence of mirror neurons from Hannibal.
Now that that’s out of the way: so mirror neurons may or may not be involved in emotional mirroring, but are they possibly involved in the phenomenon of yawning when you see/hear/think about somebody else yawning? Or would that be more of the wild speculation?
Oh hell, am I going to have to stop telling people that mirror neurons are why we wanna play air guitar? I was so proud of that insight!
I’ll allow that interpretation 😉
Yay neuroscientists!
“… while he used the cryostat to cut ultrathin slices of Gran Padano” – when I talk about my work with non-scientists, I frequently describe the vibratome as the “world’s fanciest deli slicer”. Glad to see I’m not the only one making that metaphor!
I’m only a lowly undergrad and not at all a real neuroscientist (I wish, in my dreams, etc). But I was taught about six months ago that someone had in fact found great evidence for mirror neurons in humans (with the help of single cell recordings from brain implants I think? Yes, in humans who already had implants for medical reasons) in several other areas as well, such as the motor cortex and the tempo-parietal junction, which interprets biological movement and helps attribute intention. The way I remember it, the mirror neuron network is supposed to help with empathy and attribution by picking up other people’s movements, including facial expressions, and kind of making you ready to perform those movements/expressions yourself, which gives you the ability to understand how they feel. Something like that. Anybody recognise this? I can try to dig up the sources later maybe.
One of my prouder memories is my brief stint as a science journalist, because several scientists I spoke to actually wrote me to say how happy they were that I had presented their work accurately.
This is also why I have absolutely no patience for bad science journalism, because I know from personal experience that it’s not that hard to do right, even if you know fuck all about the scientific discipline in question. (Not to imply that the Maxim writer was a “science journalist”)
Katherine, I am in awe of your research. I have been hearing and reading about mirror neurons via sources like VS Ramachandran and it is invigorating to hear your hems and haws about the direct linkages with behavior.
That said, I'm not sure what you accomplished by turning down the interview. Yes, your quotes may have been taken out of context but it is hard to believe that a (female) journalist reaching out to you, not a well known blowhard, was not at all interested in your opinion. In fact, she may have been writing a debunking article, always an eye-grabbing headline. But there may have been more details that you didn't include in your article that indicated that it was not a good idea to lend your name to her writing. Anyway, as the mother of a budding female scientist – women scientists rock!
Okay, this is brilliant and hilarious but, could someone quickly explain to me the point number six (I am aware of what PUA are. I also know what PUAHate is, but I still can’t get what the joke in #6 is supposed to be. I feel like I’m missing something very obvious and funny)
I didn’t know what PUAhate was. So I googled it, and now I have even less confidence in humanity than before. So yay.
I have predicted the eventual emergence of PUAHate from first principles the very nature of PUA long before the “PUAHate” shtick came into being (I mean, a bunch of gullible egoistic assholes wants to get laid using a scientifically unverified and ethically questionable “technique” and are required to pay through the nose for access to said technique… it was pretty easy to see where this would go when the little critters would still end up having the sexual appeal of stale roadkill despite all the money they wasted on “game” training)
I still don’t quite get the joke though (I mean, does the author imply that pre-“hate” PUAs have mirror neurons, or any neurons, for that matter 😉 ? )
Okay, this is brilliant and hilarious but, could someone quickly explain to me the point number six (I am aware of what PUA are. I also know what PUAHate is, but I still can't get what the joke in #6 is supposed to be. I feel like I'm missing something very obvious and funny)
I have predicted the eventual emergence of PUAHate from
first principlesthe very nature of PUA long before the "PUAHate" shtick came into being (I mean, a bunch of gullible egoistic assholes wants to get laid using a scientifically unverified and ethically questionable "technique" and are required to pay through the nose for access to said technique… it was pretty easy to see where this would go when the little critters would still end up having the sexual appeal of stale roadkill despite all the money they wasted on "game" training)I still don't quite get the joke though (I mean, does the author imply that pre-"hate" PUAs have mirror neurons, or any neurons, for that matter 😉 ? )