The capacity for empathy enables individuals to generate appropriate emotional responses in social contexts and might be related to social competence, which is a characteristic of resilient individuals111,112. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in the study of the so-called mirror neuron system, which comprises cortical neurons that fire similarly when an animal performs a task or observes another animal of the same species performing that task113. It is proposed that this system, acting in conjunction with limbic brain regions, has a central role in understanding others' emotions and intentions112. In humans, the vmPFC is activated both when people think about their own mental states and when they think about those of other people, and patients with lesions of this region have deficits in social emotions such as shame, guilt and empathy. Much future work is needed to understand possible links between the capacity for empathy, mirror neuron system function and resilience. Preliminary findings of greater activation in presumed mirror neuron and associated limbic areas during imitation of emotional faces in children with higher levels of empathy and
