Your Goal Is Mine: Unraveling Mimetic Desires in the Human Brain

Abstract

The spread of desires among individuals is widely believed to shape motivational drives in human populations. However, objective evidence for this phenomenon and insights into the underlying brain mechanisms are still lacking. Here we show that participants rated objects as more desirable once perceived as the goals of another agent's action. We then unravel the mechanisms underpinning such goal contagion, using functional neuroimaging. As expected, observing goal-directed actions activated a parietofrontal network known as the mirror neuron system (MNS), whereas subjective desirability ratings were represented in a ventral striatoprefrontal network known as the brain valuation system (BVS). Crucially, the induction of mimetic desires through action observation involved the modulation of BVS activity through MNS activity. Furthermore, MNS-BVS effective connectivity predicted individual susceptibility toward mimetic desires. We therefore suggest that MNS-BVS interaction represents a fundamental mechanism explaining how nonverbal behavior propagates desires without the need for explicit, intentional communication.

AgroEcological Transitions : changes and breakthroughs in the making

“…(Nierling, 2012). Discourses of the kind face major resistance and inertia from deeply rooted drivers such as material welfare, mimetic desire and property (expansion) as dominant inter-individual psychology and socio-economic processes (Girard, 1988;Lebreton et al, 2012;Van Griethuysen, 2010).…”

Mimetic desire in autism spectrum disorder

“…A power analysis using the “power.t.test” formula in the R package “stat” [26] was based on reported MD amplitude (mean = 0.18 and sd = 0.17) in the general population [22]. It indicated that 9 participants in each group would be sufficient to find a difference using a one-sample t test, with a power of .9 at a .05 significance level.…”

“…All participants were tested in a quiet room, using a previously validated paradigm [22]. In the previous study, 120 different pairs of objects (e.g., food, toys, clothes, and tools) were selected to build the initial stimuli set.…”

“…To make the task shorter for the present study, we selected the 60 pairs that showed the largest goal vs non-goal contrast on desirability in the previous study. Details about the stimuli can be found in Lebreton et al [22]. Objects of two different colors were presented in short videos either as the goal of an action or not (G and NG conditions) (see Fig.…”

“…A recent study has empirically demonstrated MD in adults of the general population and revealed its neural basis [22]: visual objects are rated as more desirable once perceived as the goals of another agent’s action. According to this study, MD might result from a modulation of the brain valuation system (BVS) by the mirror neuron system (MNS), since MNS–BVS functional connectivity predicts individual susceptibility toward mimetic desires.…”