Theory on "mind reading."

[purnell]

"is it possible to train up this little skill? "

I don't have an opinion on that yet, but here is some further reading. It's a paper co-written by the principal interviewee in the story from the OP.

edit:
"To summarize, there is preliminary evidence that the same neural structures that are active during sensations and emotions are active also when the same sensations and emotions are to be detected in others. It appears therefore that a whole range of different ‘mirror matching mechanisms’ may be present in our brain. This subpersonal architecture of simulation, that we originally discovered and described in the domain of actions (diPellegrino et al., 1992; Gallese et al., 1996a; Rizzolatti et al., 1996a), is likely a basic organizational feature of our brain. Damasio (1999) has clearly pointed out that one of the mechanisms enabling feelings of emotion to emerge, is the activation of neural 'as if body loops'. These simulation mechanisms, by-passing the body proper through the internal activation of sensory body maps, create a representation of emotion-driven body-related changes. The activation of these 'as if body loops' can likely be not only internally driven, but also triggered by the observation of other individuals (for a discussion of the relation between empathy and Simulation Theory, see Goldman, 1993b).

This is revolutianary.

link