Wince

We all wince when we see someone hurt, because we sympathize with the person’s injury.

Well, maybe it’s the other way around — we sympathize because we wince.

A child falls from his bicycle and his father winces. A bride says “I do” and the maid of honor grins from ear to ear. A mother frowns with displeasure and her infant son frowns back.
UCLA neuroscientists using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are the first to demonstrate that empathetic action, such as mirroring facial expressions, triggers far greater activity in the emotion centers of the brain than mere observation.

But, then, why do we wince in the first place?

(via BoingBoing)