Just watching another person shiver can cause our own temperature to drop, scientists have found.

科學家發現，看著別人發抖，我們自己的體溫也會下降。

Volunteers who viewed videos of actors plunging their hands into ice-cold water, experienced a simultaneous drop in the temperature of their own hands.

當視頻中的演員將手放入冰冷的水中時，觀看視頻的志愿者們自己的手部溫度也會同時下降。

Neuroscientist Neil Harrison, from the University of Sussex said: ‘We believe that this mimicry of people’s bodily response helps us understand how they are feeling.

蘇塞克斯大學（The University of Sussex）的神經系統科學家尼爾·哈里森（Neil Harrison）說，“我們認為這種人體反應的模擬行為可以幫助我們理解他人的感受。

‘Humans are profoundly social creatures and much of humans’ success results from our ability to work together in complex communities – this would be hard to do if we were not able to rapidly empathise with each other and predict one another’s thoughts, feelings and motivations.’

“人類是極度社會化的生物，我們所獲得的很多成功都來源于在復雜社會中的相互合作，如果無法快速理解他人的感受或是預測他人的想法、感受和動機，我們將難以合作。”

It’s believed that ‘mirror neurons’ in the brain are behind the phenomenon.

科學家認為，這種現象的背后是大腦中的“鏡像神經元”在起作用。

Dr Harrison explained: ‘Mirror neurons found in very specific parts of the brain are known to fire when we perform an action or observe a similar action in others – it has been proposed that more general mirror properties may also exist across many other brain areas.'

哈里森博士解釋道，“僅在大腦特定部分存在的鏡像神經元在我們完成一個動作或是觀察到他人做出相似動作時會發揮作用，有人提出，大腦其他區域可能存在更多的鏡像特質。”

And the more naturally empathetic the person, the more likely they are to mimic another person’s responses, he added.

他補充道，“一個人越容易與他人產生同感，就越有可能模仿他人的反應。”