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Individual differences in local gray matter density are associated with differences in affective and cognitive empathy
... Interessant nok viser studier at såkalte von Economo-nevroner, som blant annet involveres i empati (8), har større utbredelse i høyre enn venstre hjernehalvdel (18). Vi vet nå at affektiv og kognitivt preget empati reguleres i litt forskjellige områder i hjernen (7,11,19), og at vMPFK og AIK er viktige områder som aktiveres ved utøvelse av affektiv empati. Men vi aktiverer nok større deler av hjernen for integreringen av følelser og rasjonelle overveielser når vi forstår og føler de samme prosessene i våre medmennesker (7-10). ...
... En studie fra 2023 viste nevroanatomiske forskjeller på gruppenivå mellom kvinner og menn, og spesielt variabilitet i korteks hos menn (20). Det understøtter funn i studier på funksjonell aktivering og anatomiske undersøkelser knyttet til empatiens nevrobiologi (19,21,22). Saerlig interessant er en undersøkelse som viste at individuelle forskjeller i tester på kognitiv og affektiv empati var assosiert med forskjeller i tettheten av grå substans i deler av nettverkene (19). ...
... Det understøtter funn i studier på funksjonell aktivering og anatomiske undersøkelser knyttet til empatiens nevrobiologi (19,21,22). Saerlig interessant er en undersøkelse som viste at individuelle forskjeller i tester på kognitiv og affektiv empati var assosiert med forskjeller i tettheten av grå substans i deler av nettverkene (19). Det tolkes som nevrobiologiske forskjeller bak individuell empatisk «evne» (19). ...
... Empathy can be further divided into two main subsets: cognitive and affective empathy. Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize and understand another person's mental state and falls under mentalizing/ToM, while affective empathy involves the ability to share the feelings of other individuals (Decety, 2010;Eres, Decety, Louis, & Molenberghs, 2015). A common method to measure cognitive and affective empathy is to use the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), which contains four subscales that can be further divided into the two types of empathy: cognitive [perspective-taking, fantasy] vs affective [empathetic concern, personal distress]) empathy (Davis, 1980). ...
... Specifically, dmPFC activation is linked to mentalizing related to prosocial behavior and trait empathetic concern when dealing with similar versus dissimilar people (Majdandzic, Amashaufer, Hummer, Windischberger, & Lamm, 2016). Furthermore, the dmPFC has been linked to self-referential processing and perspective-taking along with cognitive empathy (Eres et al., 2015;Fan et al., 2011;Shiota et al., 2017). The gray matter volume (GMV) and activation of the dmPFC, along with other regions in the mentalizing circuitry, are typically associated with increased performance in social cognitive tasks (Kanai, Bahrami, Duchaine, et al., 2012;Meyer, Spunt, Berkman, Taylor, & Lieberman, 2012;Sato et al., 2016). ...
... This might be explained by the involvement of the dmPFC in cognitive empathy, because the cognitive component of empathy relies on ToMdwhich commonly includes dmPFC and TPJ (Schurz, Radua, Aichhorn, Richlan, & Perner, 2014;Van Overwalle, 2009). Furthermore, previous literature showed that the cognitive component of empathy is more associated with the dmPFC while the affective component of empathy is more associated with the insula (Eres et al., 2015;Fan et al., 2011). The identified inverse relationship between the dmPFC' GMV and social network size may again be linked to "cognitive pruning", as both forms of empathy (cognitive and affective) have been shown to rely on different brain regions and use different developmental pathways, in which affective empathy develops earlier in comparison to cognitive empathy (Singer, 2006). ...
... Such processes engage a range of brain regions including the amygdala, the cingulate cortex and some prefrontal regions (De Waal & Preston 2017). What is more, some of these regions display structural variations as a function of different empathy measures (Banissy et al. 2012;Eres et al. 2015;Uribe et al. 2019). Empathic processes are generally classified into two categories: (1) affective empathy phenomena which are bottom-up processes which depend on the coupling of perception and action, and engage brain regions associated with first-hand affective experience and sensori-motor activity-like insula, amygdala, somatosensory and motor cortices and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC); and (2) cognitive empathy phenomena which are top-down, executive processes engaging brain structures that participate in mentalizing and working memory-such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), vmPFC, and posterior cingulate cortex (pCC) (Bernhardt & Singer 2012;De Waal & Preston 2017;Engen & Singer 2013). ...
... In addition, there is evidence that certain brain structures tend to structurally vary as a function of various empathic measures. While affective empathy measures tend to correlate with structural variation in bilateral insula (Banissy et al. 2012;Eres et al. 2015), left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left precuneus, and left somatosensory cortex (Banissy et al. 2012), cognitive empathy measures correlate with structural variations in structures that comprise the dlPFC (Banissy et al. 2012;Uribe et al. 2019), left cingulate cortex (CC) (Banissy et al. 2012;Eres et al. 2015;Uribe et al. 2019), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) (Eres et al. 2015;Uribe et al. 2019). Previous studies have shown gray matter density variations associated to emotion regulation-related measures in ACC, PCC, dlPFC, dmPFC, supplementary motor area, amygdala, precuneus, superior temporal gyrus (STG), and anterior insula (AI) (Deng et al. 2014;Giuliani et al. 2011). ...
... In addition, there is evidence that certain brain structures tend to structurally vary as a function of various empathic measures. While affective empathy measures tend to correlate with structural variation in bilateral insula (Banissy et al. 2012;Eres et al. 2015), left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), left precuneus, and left somatosensory cortex (Banissy et al. 2012), cognitive empathy measures correlate with structural variations in structures that comprise the dlPFC (Banissy et al. 2012;Uribe et al. 2019), left cingulate cortex (CC) (Banissy et al. 2012;Eres et al. 2015;Uribe et al. 2019), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) (Eres et al. 2015;Uribe et al. 2019). Previous studies have shown gray matter density variations associated to emotion regulation-related measures in ACC, PCC, dlPFC, dmPFC, supplementary motor area, amygdala, precuneus, superior temporal gyrus (STG), and anterior insula (AI) (Deng et al. 2014;Giuliani et al. 2011). ...
Empathic abilities have been shown to be linked with brain structural variations. Since psychotherapists constitute a population that tends to display greater empathic abilities, as shown in psychometric differences in cognitive empathy and emotional regulation, we aimed to identify cortical thickness (CT) differences between a group of professional psychotherapists and a control group. In line with the recently emphasized urge to employ more than a single workflow in cortical analyses, we utilized two cortical surface extraction and thickness estimation pipelines—CIVET and FreeSurfer. Eighteen psychotherapists and eighteen controls underwent MRI scanning and completed empathy-related psychometric assessments. We evaluated how CT measures differed between groups and if there was an association with individual empathy-related scores in a series of regions of interest (ROIs). Our analysis with CIVET shows that psychotherapists display a significantly greater CT at a ROI in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC; p < 0.05, FDR corrected). With FreeSurfer, a whole-brain vertex-wise analysis identified a statistically significant cluster in the left PFC that partially overlaps with the previous ROI. These results were reinforced by a structural covariance analysis revealing that, in psychotherapists, the left dlPFC ROI seemed to vary independently from the rest of the cortex. These findings are relevant because the dlPFC region importantly participates in the cognitive components of the empathic response, such as emotion regulation and perspective taking. Thus, our findings support the idea that empathic capacity is reflected by brain structural variations while also studying for the first time a sample of subjects for whom empathic responding is crucial in their profession.
... Empati må velges og villes. Noen har mer enn andre, og det kan synes å vaere nevrobiologiske forskjeller i vår evne til og disposisjon for empati (12,13). ...
... I yrket som lege og for annet helsepersonell er det viktig å ville og å kunne u rykke empati. Det forutse er at en har den basale nevrobiologiske forutsetningen for empati (4,(11)(12)(13). ...
... Vi vet nå at affektiv og kognitivt preget empati reguleres i li forskjellige områder i hjernen, og at ventromediale prefrontale korteks og insula er viktige områder som aktiveres ved utøvelse av affektiv empati (11,12,15). Men vi trenger nok store deler av hjernen for integreringen av våre følelser og våre mere rasjonelle overveielser samt for å forstå og føle med de samme prosessene i våre medmennesker (3, 4, 12, 13-16). ...
... " … if empathy is subserved by gray matter differences, participants with higher scores on af ective empathy will have greater gray matter density in the insula whilst individuals who score higher on cognitive empathy will have greater gray matter density in the MCC/dmPFC [mid-cingulate cortex and adjacent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex], " (Eres, Decety, Louis, & Molenberghs, 2015). ...
... "Embryos can discriminate speech sounds, " (Eres, Decety, Louis, & Molenberghs, 2015). ...
... Patients with a mild deficit in the INS might lean towards engaging in impulsive aggression, while others may be predisposed to non-emotional violence, such as premeditated violence [50][51][52]. Additional studies found the volume of INS associated with affective empathy [53] and callous-unemotional traits [53,54], supporting the association between impairments of the INS-related emotion process and violence types in SCZ. In addition, the volume reduction of INS was observed in both the VSC and NSC compared with HC, and might be associated with positive and negative symptoms [32,55], suggesting that INS abnormalities might also be correlated with the disease itself [56]. ...
... Patients with a mild deficit in the INS might lean towards engaging in impulsive aggression, while others may be predisposed to non-emotional violence, such as premeditated violence [50][51][52]. Additional studies found the volume of INS associated with affective empathy [53] and callous-unemotional traits [53,54], supporting the association between impairments of the INS-related emotion process and violence types in SCZ. In addition, the volume reduction of INS was observed in both the VSC and NSC compared with HC, and might be associated with positive and negative symptoms [32,55], suggesting that INS abnormalities might also be correlated with the disease itself [56]. ...
Background
Violence in schizophrenia (SCZ) is a phenomenon associated with neurobiological factors. However, the neural mechanisms of violence in patients with SCZ are not yet sufficiently understood. Thus, this study aimed to explore the structural changes associated with the high risk of violence and its association with impulsiveness in patients with SCZ to reveal the possible neurobiological basis.
Method
The voxel-based morphometry approach and whole-brain analyses were used to measure the alteration of gray matter volume (GMV) for 45 schizophrenia patients with violence (VSC), 45 schizophrenia patients without violence (NSC), and 53 healthy controls (HC). Correlation analyses were used to examine the association of impulsiveness and brain regions associated with violence.
Results
The results demonstrated reduced GMV in the right insula within the VSC group compared with the NSC group, and decreased GMV in the right temporal pole and left orbital part of superior frontal gyrus only in the VSC group compared to the HC group. Spearman correlation analyses further revealed a positive correlation between impulsiveness and GMV of the left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral insula and left medial orbital part of the superior frontal gyrus in the VSC group.
Conclusion
Our findings have provided further evidence for structural alterations in patients with SCZ who had engaged in severe violence, as well as the relationship between the specific brain alterations and impulsiveness. This work provides neural biomarkers and improves our insight into the neural underpinnings of violence in patients with SCZ.
... Similarly, brain activity is stimulated when one imagines, anticipates or observes pain in others (Shirtcliff et al. 2009), provoking emotion-driven body-related changes "as if" the person had experienced the pain directly themselves (Damasio 2001). Several studies have demonstrated that affective and cognitive empathy emanate from different areas of the brain, confirming early theoretical models for understanding empathy as two distinct processes (Eres et al. 2015;Fan et al. 2011;Shamay-Tsoory et al. 2009). ...
... Empathy has long been conceptualized to include two elements: a vicarious emotional process (Hume 1777;Keefe 1976) in which the individual feels the pain and suffering of another "as if" they experienced it themselves (Damasio 2001); and a cognitive process (Kant 1788;Rogers 1957) in which the individual perceives and understands the view of another as if one were that person but without ever losing the "as if" condition (Rogers 1957). These elements of empathy have recently been confirmed as involving differing neuro-processes resulting in varying physiological and emotional reactions (Eres et al. 2015;Fan et al. 2011). In recent archival scholarship, the concept of radical empathy (Caswell and Cifor 2016) has been helpfully introduced as a means for advancing the great potential for archives to provoke change in the aid of social justice (Duff et al. 2013). ...
There is growing awareness in archival communities that working with records that contain evidence of human pain and suffering can result in unsettling emotions for archivists. One important finding of this work, however, is the considerable variability in not only the nature of responses, but also the nature of records that provoke emotional responses. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 archivists from across Canada and one from the United States, and employing grounded theory methodology, this study sought to better understand the nature of emotional responses and factors associated with distress. Archivists described a wide range of reactions including shock, intrusive thoughts, profound senses of anger, sadness and despair, and ultimately at times disrupted functioning in personal and occupational spheres. One factor that has been associated with increasing vulnerability to distress in other occupational groups is empathic engagement, which is understood to have two elements: a vicarious emotional process and a cognitive process. This article explores the impact of personal connections and the nature of empathic engagement between archivists, donors, community researchers, and the records themselves on emotional response.
... Cognitive and motivational empathy, developing later than affective empathy, involve controlled top-down information processing regulated by higher cognitive executive functions, such as inhibitory control (Singer, 2006;Yan et al., 2020). These three dimensions of empathy not only differ in their definitions but also engage in distinct brain regions and neural circuits (Banissy et al., 2012;Eres et al., 2015;Fan et al., 2011;Kogler et al., 2020). Consistent with these disparities, our findings demonstrated distinct effects of training on these dimensions of empathy (e.g., stronger effects on cognitive and motivational empathy, but weaker effects on affective empathy). ...
Due to the vital role of empathy in promoting prosocial behaviors and nurturing social bonds, there is a growing interest in cultivating empathy. Yet, the effectiveness of existing training methods on empathy, especially on different dimensions of empathy (i.e., affective, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral empathy), varies tremendously, and the underlying causes for this heterogeneity remain insufficiently explored. To address this issue, we categorized various training methods into three distinct approaches based on the premise that empathy can be influenced by factors associated with the subject, the object, and their relationship. Respectively, these are Subject-Oriented, Object-Oriented, and Socially Oriented approaches. To examine the effects of training and sustainability of these approaches on different dimensions of empathy, we conducted a meta-analysis encompassing 110 eligible studies with 32, 44, 39, 39, and 91 samples for affective, cognitive, motivational, behavioral, and composite empathy, respectively. Results showed that trainings produced small and unsustainable effects on affective empathy, moderate and unsustainable effects on cognitive empathy, small and sustainable effects on motivational empathy, and moderate and sustainable effects on behavioral empathy. The effects of training on composite empathy were robust but decreased over time. Among the three training approaches, Socially Oriented approaches were the most effective in improving all dimensions of empathy. Subject-Oriented and Object-Oriented approaches were effective only in improving cognitive and composite empathy. Altogether, our study offers practical guidance for selecting appropriate training approaches and proposes theoretical principles for developing optimal training strategies in both basic research and clinical applications.
... Researchers could directly test our work's implications via a longitudinal treatment study bolstering empathic accuracy skills among individuals exposed to deprivation and unpredictability adversity. Lastly, extending this work to neural correlates of empathy subtypes would lend additional evidence for specific, dimension-related changes to empathy subtypes in the brain (Eres et al., 2015). ...
Early life adversity (ELA) refers to stressful childhood experiences such as neglect, abuse, and violence exposure that can profoundly shape behavior. While ELA is consistently linked to antisocial behavior (e.g., aggression, delinquency), the role of empathy in this connection is unclear. Empathy, the ability to understand and resonate with others’ thoughts and emotions, is theoretically linked to antisocial behavior, but empirical work has produced mixed findings. We explore mediation and moderation frameworks to explain the ELA-antisociality link. Using an online sample of 165 adults, we examine three ELA dimensions (unpredictability, threat, and deprivation) and their association with antisocial behavior and empathy through an ecologically valid empathic accuracy task. We also compare this naturalistic measure of empathy with a popular self-report measure of empathy. Results did not support mediation with either operationalization of empathy (i.e., task or self-report), with no direct effects of ELA on empathy or of empathy on antisocial behavior. Empathic accuracy, however, moderated the association between antisocial behavior and both unpredictability and deprivation in childhood. At low levels of empathic accuracy, there was a significant link between adversity and antisocial behavior (unpredictability β = 0.38, p < 0.001, deprivation β = 0.41, p < 0.001). Empathic accuracy did not moderate an association between threat adversity and antisocial behavior. Notably, across all moderation models, associations were non-significant when the self-report measure of empathy was used. Findings suggest that empathy skills protect against antisocial behavior in the context of unpredictability and deprivation, highlighting the importance of considering dimensions of ELA and ecologically valid, naturalistic empathy measures. Understanding how variations in empathic abilities within ELA dimensions influence antisocial behavior has implications for targeted interventions and promoting emotional well-being in individuals exposed to adversity.
... These results imply that the current exercise regimen increases Bdnf mRNA levels through the PTEN/BDNF pathway but not the FNDC5/BDNF pathway in the insular cortex. To date, oxytocin has been considered a pivotal molecule in empathy [35], modulating neuronal plasticity in the insular cortex [36,37]. Conversely, some prior studies have reported uncertain effects of oxytocin on empathy [38,39]. ...
Empathy plays a crucial role in the maintenance of interpersonal relationships among mammals. Remarkably, engaging in light-intensity exercise has been identified as a facilitator of empathic behavior, a phenomenon associated with the upregulation of miR-486a-3p in the insular cortex. However, it remains to cover the contribution of miR-486a-3p and the mechanisms of changing levels of that in the insular cortex with light-intensity exercise. We initially assessed the impact of light-intensity exercise (7.0 m/min, 30 min/day, five days/week for four weeks) on helping behavior, mRNA in their insular cortex, and the secretion of exosomal miR-486a-3p from their gastrocnemius muscle. Subsequently, we explored the effects of a daily intraperitoneal injection of miR-486a-3p mimic over a two-week period on helping behavior. The intervention of light-intensity exercise, which enhanced helping behavior, resulted in elevated levels of miR-486a-3p in the insular cortex and exosomal miR-486a-3p in the plasma. Interestingly, there was no significant change observed in the levels of gastrocnemius muscle-derived exosomal miR-486a-3p. Moreover, the administration of mmu-miR-486a-3p mimic exhibited a similar enhancement of helping behavior in mice. Notably, both the exercise intervention and miR-486a-3p mimic treatment led to the downregulation of Pten mRNA and upregulation of Bdnf mRNA in the insular cortex. Our findings suggest that the increase in exosomal miR-486a-3p, originating from a source other than the gastrocnemius muscle, contributes to the empathy enhancement induced by light-intensity exercise. Furthermore, it is proposed that miR-486a-3p mimics the effects of light-intensity exercise, presenting a potential avenue for treating empathy-related behaviors.
... The neural basis of empathy is reported to involve the anterior cingulate cortex and insula (Bernhardt and Singer 2012). It is well documented that cognitive empathy is associated with the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, whereas affective empathy is associated with the insula (Fan et al. 2011;Eres et al. 2015). ...
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) has shown inconsistent alterations in the brain metabolites of individuals with chronic pain. We used 3T ¹H-MRS to investigate the brain metabolites in the anterior cingulate cortex and thalamus of 22 patients with chronic mild pain and no gait disturbance and 22 healthy controls. The chronic-pain group included patients with chronic low back pain and/or osteoarthritis but none suffering from hypersensitivity. There were no significant between group-differences in glutamate, glutamate plus glutamine (Glx), N-acetylaspartate, glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC), glutamine, creatine plus phosphocreatine, or myo-inositol in the anterior cingulate cortex, but the patients showed a significant decrease in GPC, but not other metabolites, in the thalamus compared to the controls. The GPC values in the patients’ thalamus were significantly correlated with pain components on the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ-2) and affective empathy components on the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). The GPC in the patients’ anterior cingulate cortex showed significant correlations with cognitive empathy components on the QCAE. Myo-inositol in the controls’ anterior cingulate cortex and Glx in the patients’ thalamus each showed significant relationships with peripheral responsivity on the QCAE. These significances were not significant after Bonferroni corrections. These preliminary findings indicate important roles of GPC, myo-inositol, and Glx in the brain of patients with chronic mild pain.
... The two different components of TE, CE and AE, reflect different aspects of an individual's empathetic abilities and have different neural bases [51][52][53][54][55]. It is reasonable that they affect belief in online news differently. ...
The belief in online news has become a topical issue. Previous studies demonstrated the role emotion plays in fake news vulnerability. However, few studies have explored the effect of empathy on online news belief. This study investigated the relationship between trait empathy, state empathy, belief in online news, and the potential moderating effect of news type. One hundred and forty undergraduates evaluated 50 online news pieces (25 real, 25 fake) regarding their belief, state empathy, valence, arousal, and familiarity. Trait empathy data were collected using the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. State empathy was positively correlated with affective empathy in trait empathy and believability, and affective empathy was positively correlated with believability. The influence of affective empathy on news belief was partially mediated by state empathy and regulated by news type (fake, real). We discuss the influence of empathy on online news belief and its internal processes. This study shares some unique insights for researchers, practitioners, social media users, and social media platform providers.
... However, few studies addressed questions about the impact of TE on the belief in online news. This study found that the AE rather than CE within TE positively correlated with the belief in online news, supporting hypothesis 1. CE and AE are two different components of TE, reflecting different aspects of an individual's empathetic abilities, and they have different neural bases [56][57][58][59][60]. It is reasonable that they have different effects on the belief in online news. ...
The belief in online news has become a hot topic. Previous studies have shown the role of emotion in susceptibility to believing fake news. However, Few studies have explored the effect of empathy on belief in online news. This study investigated the relationships between trait empathy, state empathy, the belief in online news, and the potential moderating effect of the news type. One hundred and forty undergraduates evaluated 50 online news pieces (25 real, 25 fake) regarding their believability, state empathy, valence, arousal, and familiarity. Trait empathy data were collected using the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. State empathy was positively correlated with affective empathy in trait empathy and believability, and affective empathy was positively correlated with believability. The influence of affective empathy on news belief was partially mediated by state empathy, regulated by the news type (fake, real). We discussed the influence of empathy on the belief in online news and its internal processes. This study explains some unique insights for researchers, practitioners, social media users, and social media platform providers.
... Such a trend, the significant association between socio-moral and DMN development, has been reported in structural neuroimaging studies as well. For instance, sophisticated moral reasoning and empathy are reportedly significantly associated with the gray matter thickness in the MPFC area (Eres et al., 2015;Prehn et al., 2015). The findings from developmental neuroscientific studies, including functional and CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 24 structural neuroimaging studies focusing on age and functional differences, support the point that the DMN development is inseparable from moral and character development at the neural level. ...
Universal assumptions of character development largely omit cultural and contextual factors and processes as critical influencers of character development, thereby ignoring that the ascribed and prescribed social positions of some children impact opportunities to develop “good character.” This chapter critically questions the premises of character development and ways of learning to develop “good character” and offers guidance on how to reimagine frameworks that encompass culturally relevant factors and processes that align with the developmental context of minoritized youth. Via a synthesis of theories and extant studies of character development, the authors showcase how macrolevel, historical, and structural inequalities greatly affect the lives of an increasingly diverse US population and have implications for what it means to be “moral,” “good,” and “ethical.” They conclude with a challenge to (1) move beyond Westernized perceptions of “good character” and (2) adapt and reconfigure existing character development frameworks that are inclusive of all youth realities.
... In the BACET, the comparison between cognitive empathy over factual reasoning questions corroborated previous research reporting neural activation in regions such as cuneus, fusiform gyri, IFG (also referred to in the literature as ventrolateral PFC), superior frontal gyri (also referred as dorsolateral PFC), TP, SMA, and cerebellum (Eres et al., 2015;Kogler et al., 2020). Similar activations in areas such as STS, superior frontal gyrus, TP, and cerebellum were reported by Kanske et al. (2015) in the EmpaToM task involving ToM questions. ...
... Three Affective Empathy items and one Cognitive Empathy item are reverse-scored, such that higher scores indicate greater empathy. QCAE scores are associated with psychopathy, aggression, and moral reasoning (Reniers et al., 2011), and the cognitive and affective components are differentially associated with individual differences in brain structure in areas implicated in the different components of empathy (Eres et al., 2015). ...
Individual differences in the subjective experience of cognitive failures predict important outcomes, such as accident risk. Over the last four decades, these have been measured via the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). However, multiple CFQ items have diminished contemporary relevance and technology-related failures are not represented at all. Further, various attempts to identify multicomponent structures have had problems, which could be due to small numbers of items from which these structures are devised. Here we developed a large set of new items to more fully sample underlying psychological processes, including contemporary instances of cognitive failures, and performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in a sample of adults (Study 1). This identified one dominant factor, which was supported by a subsequent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in Study 2. Study 3 replicated the CFA and demonstrated that scores explained variance in objective performance on an attentional control task beyond that explained by the original CFQ. Study 4 demonstrated that scores were associated with focusing, switching, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and negative affect in ways consistent with the original CFQ. In Study 5, scores demonstrated good test-retest reliability. We offer this 15-item scale as a new and improved measure of cognitive failures (CFQ 2.0).
... Structural brain imaging analyses did not reveal any regions significantly associated with potential differences in empathy aspects, groups, or their interaction. Thus, our results differ from previous evidence suggesting that AE/CE deficits are linked with distinct brain regions in CD and ASD youths (Banissy et al., 2012;Eres et al., 2015;Hoffmann et al., 2016;Klapwijk et al., 2016;O'Nions et al., 2014;von Polier et al., 2020). A key difference with previous brain imaging studies is the use of scores of empathy as trait and measures of brain structure, relative to the commonly used state-like measures of empathy and brain functional measures (Lamm et al., 2011;Moore et al., 2015). ...
Distinct empathy deficits are often described in patients with conduct disorder (CD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) yet their neural underpinnings and the influence of comorbid Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits are unclear. This study compares the cognitive (CE) and affective empathy (AE) abilities of youth with CD and ASD, their potential neuroanatomical correlates, and the influence of CU traits on empathy. Adolescents and parents/caregivers completed empathy questionnaires (N = 148 adolescents, mean age = 15.16 years) and T1 weighted images were obtained from a subsample (N = 130). Group differences in empathy and the influence of CU traits were investigated using Bayesian analyses and Voxel-Based Morphometry with Threshold-Free Cluster Enhancement focusing on regions involved in AE (insula, amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus and cingulate cortex) and CE processes (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, superior temporal gyrus, and precuneus). The ASD group showed lower parent-reported AE and CE scores and lower self-reported CE scores while the CD group showed lower parent-reported CE scores than controls. When accounting for the influence of CU traits no AE deficits in ASD and CE deficits in CD were found, but CE deficits in ASD remained. Across all participants, CU traits were negatively associated with gray matter volumes in anterior cingulate which extends into the mid cingulate, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and precuneus. Thus, although co-occurring CU traits have been linked to global empathy deficits in reports and underlying brain structures, its influence on empathy aspects might be disorder-specific. Investigating the subdimensions of empathy may therefore help to identify disorder-specific empathy deficits.
... The QCAE has excellent psychometric properties, including associations with other empathy measures, as well as relationships with conceptually related variables, such as psychopathy (Reniers et al., 2011). Furthermore, Cognitive and Affective Empathy scores from the QCAE have been found to have qualitatively distinct relationships with subjective attentional control (Goodhew & Edwards, 2021, 2022b, and to have qualitatively different relationships with objective individual differences in brain structure (i.e., gray matter density differences) in different brain regions known to be associated with these different components of empathy (Eres et al., 2015). ...
Objective:
To assess whether there are individual differences in emotional reactions to bistable images, and if so, to identify some of the psychological factors that predict them.
Background:
Bistable images - which have two competing perceptual interpretations - have long been used in the scientific study of consciousness. Here we applied a different lens and investigated emotional reactions to them. Method Participants were adult humans in a cross-sectional study. Participants were presented with three bistable images and rated their emotional reactions to experiencing bistability. They also completed measures of intolerance of uncertainty, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and negative affect. Results There were marked individual differences in these reactions, ranging from feeling highly negative to highly positive. These individual differences in emotional response to bistability were linked to a number of psychological processes: intolerance of uncertainty, cognitive empathy, and negative affect, but not affective empathy. Conclusions These finding have important implications because: (a) these emotional reactions could distort scientific investigations that use these stimuli to study non-emotional perceptual and cognitive processes; and (b) they highlight that this approach offers a useful window into how individuals react to these stimuli that demonstrate that there is not always a single viable interpretation of the world around us.
... From a conceptual standpoint, the QCAE was developed to clearly dissociate the ability to infer the emotional states of others (cognitive empathy) vs. being sensitive to or vicariously experiencing those feelings (affective empathy). Moreover, neuroimaging evidence suggests that QCAE scores are differentially associated with the core brain networks typically associated with cognitive and affective empathy (Eres et al., 2015). The European Portuguese version of the QCAE (Queirós et al., 2018) includes 30 items answered on a 4-point Likert scale (strongly agree, slightly agree, slightly disagree, and strongly disagree), with higher scores indicating greater empathy. ...
This study examined the associations between psychopathy dimensions (triarchic phenotypes and classical factors), empathy domains (cognitive and affective), and interoception (interoceptive attention and accuracy) while accounting for the putative role of alexithymia. A community sample (n = 515) completed an online survey encompassing: Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (boldness, meanness, disinhibition); Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (primary and secondary psychopathy); Body Perception Questionnaire (interoceptive attention); Interoceptive Accuracy Scale; Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Hierarchical linear regression models were implemented for hypothesis-driven analyses examining the associations between psychopathy, empathy, and interoception while controlling for sex, age, and alexithymia. Exploratory path models were employed to investigate alexithymia and/or cognitive empathy as mediators between interoception and psychopathy. Our results largely confirmed the postulated empathy profiles across psychopathy dimensions, as meanness and primary psychopathy displayed a broad empathy impairment, while disinhibition and secondary psychopathy were only associated with diminished cognitive empathy. Importantly, boldness displayed a unique pattern (enhanced cognitive empathy and reduced affective empathy), further reinforcing its importance within the constellation of psychopathy traits. Contrary to our hypotheses, self-perceived interoceptive attention and accuracy were not associated with either psychopathy dimension after controlling for alexithymia. However, interoceptive accuracy and alexithymia were associated with cognitive empathy, while alexithymia was also positively related to all psychopathy dimensions (as expected), despite the unexpected strong and negative association with boldness. Exploratory analyses suggested significant indirect effects (mediation) between interoceptive accuracy and psychopathy via alexithymia and/or cognitive empathy. These mediating effects must be interpreted with caution and future studies should be designed to formally test this model.
... Because the processes involved in gaze perception are also fundamental to broader social cognition, it is fitting that we also found behavioral and neural indices of gaze perception were associated with participants' performance across social-cognition tasks. These results add to a growing body of work linking social cognitive abilities to individual differences in structure and function of the dmPFC, insula, IPL, and TPJ/STS Eres et al., 2015;Hou et al., 2017;Meda et al., 2014;Tso, Angstadt, et al., 2021;Udochi et al., 2022), extending past research through the use of multiple behavioral tasks, latent variable modeling, and a relatively large sample spanning patients and controls. The current findings are particularly novel and of note, as we show that gaze perception-a basic perceptual building block for more complex social cognition-is related to various social cognitive abilities, spanning emotion perception, perceptual theory of mind, and emotion regulation. ...
Background: Gaze perception is a basic building block of social cognition, which is impaired in schizophrenia (SZ) and contributes to functional outcomes. Few studies, however, have investigated neural underpinnings of gaze perception and their relation to social cognition. We address this gap. Method: We recruited 77 SZ patients and 71 healthy controls, who completed various social-cognition tasks. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants (62 SZ, 54 controls) completed a gaze-perception task, where they judged whether faces with varying gaze angles were self-directed or averted; as a control condition, participants identified stimulus gender. Activation estimates were extracted based on (a) task versus baseline, (b) gaze-perception versus gender-identification, (c) parametric modulation by perception of stimuli as self-directed versus averted, and (d) parametric modulation by stimulus gaze angle. We used latent variable analysis to test associations among diagnostic group, brain activation, gaze perception, and social cognition. Results: Preferential activation to gaze perception was observed throughout dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, and insula. Activation was modulated by stimulus gaze angle and perception of stimuli as self-directed versus averted. More precise gaze perception and higher task-related activation were associated with better social cognition. Patients with SZ showed hyperactivation within left pre-/postcentral gyrus, which was associated with more precise gaze perception and fewer symptoms and thus may be a compensatory mechanism. Conclusions: Neural and behavioral indices of gaze perception were related to social cognition, across patients and controls. This suggests gaze perception is an important perceptual building block for more complex social cognition. Results are discussed in the context of dimensional psychopathology and clinical heterogeneity.
... Cognitive empathy refers to the ability to consciously adopt another person's perspective to understand their thoughts or feelings. Previous research suggests that cognitive and emotional empathy are related to differences in brain morphometry, providing evidence that empathy is a multidimensional construct (Eres et al., 2015). ...
Veterinarian work may take an emotional toll on practitioners and their mental health, potentially driving premature exit from the profession. Performing animal euthanasia is frequently identified as a potential risk factor for sustainable mental health. Yet, research has demonstrated mixed results between euthanasia performance and detrimental mental health outcomes, suggesting the potential for factors that moderate this association. In this three‐wave longitudinal survey study, including 110 currently practicing veterinarians (88% female), we examined whether the type of empathy experienced by these practitioners plays a role in the association between performing animal euthanasia and career sustainability. Two types of empathy, cognitive empathy (i.e., understanding the affective experience of another) and emotional empathy (i.e., experiencing another's emotional state) were assessed. Job disengagement at 12 months was predicted by the interaction between animal euthanasia frequency in the past 12 months and emotional empathy in the past 6 or 12 months. Perceived resilience at 12 months was predicted by the interaction between animal euthanasia frequency in the past 12 months and emotional empathy a year prior. For these outcomes, the effects of performing animal euthanasia on career sustainability were moderated by emotional empathy. Higher levels of emotional empathy were associated with worse outcomes. Veterinarians may seek to understand the affective experience of the client or patient and provide compassionate care in a sustainable way. However, they should do so while avoiding the costs of emotional empathy. This work has implications for veterinarian training to support career sustainability.
... Activity in the IFG has been related to emotion regulation via reappraisal, particularly with regards to social emotions (Grecucci et al., 2013;Ochsner et al., 2012). These three regions have been reliably regarded as core components of the neural network of empathy and empathic processing (Bzdok et al., 2012;Corradi-Dell'Acqua et al., 2016;Engen and Singer, 2013;Eres et al., 2015;Lamm et al., 2011;Schurz et al., 2021;Singer et al., 2004;Tholen et al., 2020). ...
Introduction: Though empathy, compassion, and Theory of Mind (ToM) are related, they have been distinguished conceptually and empirically across behavioural and neuroimaging experiments. The EmpaToM task was the first realistic paradigm developed for use in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which can reliably detect and distinguish three different types of neural pathways crucial for understanding others with a single well-controlled task. Though the paradigm holds the potential for use in research settings as well as clinical practice , it has thus far only been validated in German speaking populations, using stimuli in German language, restricting its usability across countries. We present an English-language translation of the original paradigm here. Method: Thirty-two English speaking adults underwent fMRI scanning, during which we collected neural and behavioural data as in the original validation of the EmpaToM task. Results: Apart from minor differences, these results replicated the main behavioural and neural findings observed during the validation of the German paradigm. Participants reported increased negative affect and activity in brain regions previously associated with empathy when observing video clips with negative vs neutral valence. They further reported increased compassion. The pattern of neural activity differentiating empathy from compassion was largely consistent with previous research. Increased activity in regions previously associated with ToM were observed in response to stimuli with ToM vs factual reasoning content. Conclusion: We therefore conclude that the English version of the EmpaToM task can be used to reliably assess empathy, compassion, and ToM on a behavioural as well as neuronal level across English speaking countries and institutions.
... This result was even stronger for low-intensity pain expressions, highlighting the fact that expertise effects are more noticeable when fewer cues are available to assess the pain of infants. Thus, if emotional empathy is based on the activation of the anterior insula and the ACC as indicated by numerous neuroimaging studies, 22,35 it does not appear to be necessary in the clinical assessment of pain by physicians and other health professionals. 25,27,33,34 This suggests that the link between expertise and neural response to vicarious pain may be more specific to health care practitioners than the link between expertise and pain assessment. ...
Recent work on empathy theory, research, and applications, by scholars from disciplines ranging from neuroscience to psychoanalysis.
There are many reasons for scholars to investigate empathy. Empathy plays a crucial role in human social interaction at all stages of life; it is thought to help motivate positive social behavior, inhibit aggression, and provide the affective and motivational bases for moral development; it is a necessary component of psychotherapy and patient-physician interactions. This volume covers a wide range of topics in empathy theory, research, and applications, helping to integrate perspectives as varied as anthropology and neuroscience. The contributors discuss the evolution of empathy within the mammalian brain and the development of empathy in infants and children; the relationships among empathy, social behavior, compassion, and altruism; the neural underpinnings of empathy; cognitive versus emotional empathy in clinical practice; and the cost of empathy.
Taken together, the contributions significantly broaden the interdisciplinary scope of empathy studies, reporting on current knowledge of the evolutionary, social, developmental, cognitive, and neurobiological aspects of empathy and linking this capacity to human communication, including in clinical practice and medical education.
... This ability may involve making inferences about the other's affective and cognitive mental states (Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2009) and is related to cognitive flexibility (e.g., Eslinger, 1998;Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2004). Cognitive empathy, therefore, requires perspective-taking (Eslinger, 1998) and Theory of Mind (ToM; Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2004), which are the ability to understand another's mental state and determine how the other will act (Decety and Jackson, 2004;Fan et al., 2011;Eres et al., 2015). Emotional empathy, on the other hand, enables individuals to tune into their feelings or experience affective reactions to the observed experiences of others (Shamay-Tsoory, 2011;Zaki, 2014). ...
Depression is a serious psychiatric illness that negatively affects people’s feelings, thoughts, and actions. Providing emotion regulation support to others, also termed Extrinsic Emotion Regulation (EER), reduces depressive symptoms such as perseverative thinking and negative mood. In this conceptual review paper, we argue that EER may be especially beneficial for individuals with depression because it enhances the cognitive and affective processes known to be impaired in depression. Behavioral studies have shown that EER recruits processes related to cognitive empathy, intrinsic emotion regulation (IER), and reward, all impaired in depression. Neuroimaging data support these findings by showing that EER recruits brain regions related to these three processes, such as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex which is associated with IER, the ventral striatum, which is associated with reward-related processes, and medial frontal regions related to cognitive empathy. This conceptual review paper sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of EER for individuals with depression and therefore offers novel avenues for treatment.
... Some researchers have intended two components for empathy: cognitive empathy, understanding others' emotions, and affective empathy, an emotional response, such as verbal or facial, to others' emotions [27,28]. It is shown that different anatomical sites of the brain are responsible for cognitive and affective empathy [29]. People with less cognitive empathy have less ability to tolerate opposite viewpoints, leading to aggressive behaviors [30]. ...
Abstract Background This study aimed to evaluate the association between cognitive and affective empathy and aggression in a sample of Iranian athletes. Methods We designed a cross-sectional study. The participants were selected by multistage random sampling among six colleges in Tehran, Iran’s capital. We used the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) to evaluate empathy, and Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, and the Buss–Perry aggression questionnaire to evaluate aggression. Results In total, 492 athletes with a mean age of 27.42 years (SD = 7.72) participated in the study, of which 298 (60.6%) were male, and 194 (39.4%) were female. IRI’s fantasy and personal distress subscales scores were positively associated with proactive and reactive aggression scores (p
... Sedangkan empati afektif berkaitan dengan meningkatkan aktivitas insula sebuah bagian dalam otak yang muncul untuk mengenali emosi yang dihasilkan dari penginderaan dan membantu kita mengalami keadaan emosi orang lain. Insula menjadi pusat dalam proses mengalami emosi orang lain (Eres, Decety, Louis, & Molenberghs, 2015). ...
Communication skills in counseling sessions can support the success of counseling. One of the basic counseling skills is listening skills. Through listening skills, the counselor can understand and interpret the message conveyed by the counselee. In addition, listening to the counselor, it can provide an appropriate and proper response. Hence, it increases trust, and comfort, and provide support to the counselee to tell more about the problems they experienced.Listening is effective to help counselors display empathy built in the counseling process. In practice, listening to the counselor has some potential hindrances to listening, it includes 1) having preconceived notions about the client that interfere with the counselor's ability to hear the client, (2) anticipating what the client is about to say and not hearing the client, (3) thinking about what you are going to say and therefore blocking what the client is saying, (4) having personal issues that interfere with your ability to listen, (5) having a strong emotional reaction to your client's content and therefore not being able to hear the client accurately, and (6) being distracted by such things as noises, temperature of the office, or hunger pains. In counselling skills, effective listening is one of the important skills to be developed as a basic ability to build throughout the counseling relationships and help to show empathy and provide the right respons. PENDAHULUAN Konseling merupakan salah satu bentuk hubungan yang bersifat membantu. Shetzer dan Stone (1980) mendefiniskan konseling sebagai proses interaksi yang difasilitasi dengan pemahaman diri dan lingkungan untuk mencapai tujuan dan nilai-nilai pada perilaku di masa yang akan datang. Hubungan tatap muka yang bersifat rahasia, penuh dengan sikap penerimaan dan pemberian kesempatan dari konselor kepada klien, konselor menggunakan pengetahuan dan ketrampilannya untuk membantu klien mengatasi masalah (ASCA dalam Neukrug, 2012). Keefektifan konseling sebagian besar ditentukan oleh kualitas hubungan antara konselor dengan klien (Nurihsan, 2010).Kebermaknaan sebuah hubungan dalam konseling berdasarkan sejauh mana hubungan tersebut dapat membantu menyelesaikan permasalahan. Hubungan yang terbangun pada awal sesi konseling akan menentukan bagaimana konseling akan berlangsung. Membangun hubungan dalam konseling menjadi modal awal konselor untuk membangun kepercayaan, keterbukaan dan kenyamanan dengan konseli.Sehingga konseli dapat mengungkapkan permasalahan yang dialami dan dapat memudahkan proses konseling selanjutnya.
... The neural basis of empathy is reported to involve the anterior cingulate and insula (Bernhardt & Singer, 2012). Cognitive empathy is associated with the medial prefrontal cortex and cingulate cortex, whereas affective empathy is associated with the insula (Eres et al., 2015;Fan et al., 2011). Cognitive empathy may partially involve the mechanisms underlying the theory of mind, which is shown to be associated with the medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction (Schurz et al., 2014). ...
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) has shown inconsistent alterations in brain metabolites of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We investigated brain metabolites in the medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala of 24 drug-naive adults with ASD and no intellectual disability and 24 non-ASD control subjects, using 3 T ¹H-MRS. Adults with ASD showed no significant differences from control in glutamate, glutamate plus glutamine, N-acetylaspartate, glycerophosphorylcholine plus phosphorylcholine, creatine plus phosphocreatine, or myo-inositol in either region. However, ASD subjects did show significant correlations of localized brain metabolites with autistic traits, empathy deficits, and personality traits using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and NEO Personality Inventory-Revised. These findings should be taken as preliminary or exploratory.
... person). QCAE scores have strong evidence for their validity, including that scores are inversely related to psychopathy and Machiavellianism (Reniers et al., 2011), and are associated with individual differences in gray matter density in brain areas implicated in cognitive versus affective empathy (Eres et al., 2015). ...
The detection of particular targets is critical in applied contexts, such as identifying cancers in diagnostic medical imaging and finding weapons in airport baggage security screening. Missed targets can have dire consequences in such contexts. These contexts are also typically characterized by low prevalence or rare targets such that most searched-through images do not contain targets. A substantive body of evidence demonstrates that humans are much more likely to miss targets when they are rare. Therefore, it is critical to understand the factors that may mitigate or exacerbate this general tendency to miss rare targets. The present study considered the relative role of individual differences in cognitive failures, cognitive empathy, and negative affect (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) in predicting the detection of rare targets. Across two experiments, there was evidence that individuals experiencing elevated cognitive failures were more likely to miss the rare targets. In Experiment 1, negative affect was also related to performance, but it was only cognitive failures that made a unique contribution to explaining target-present accuracy when they were pitted against one another. There was no evidence that cognitive empathy was linked to performance. These findings have important theoretical implications and also highlight potential avenues for intervention to improve the detection of rare targets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... It is our social thinking skills or cognitive empathy (broadly speaking, 'theory of mind' abilities; Dunbar 2003) that has attracted the most research attention. Though our understanding of others' thoughts and that of others' feelings inform each other, they are distinct, and are related to different brain functions (Eres et al. 2015;Stietz et al. 2019;Watanabe et al. 2014). Cognitive empathy helps us to understand others' beliefs about us (for example, our reputation in their eyes), whilst affective empathy helps us to emotionally relate to how they feel. ...
In Hidden Depths, Professor Penny Spikins explores how our emotional connections have shaped human ancestry. Focusing on three key transitions in human origins, Professor Spikins explains how the emotional capacities of our early ancestors evolved in response to ecological changes, much like similar changes in other social mammals. For each transition, dedicated chapters examine evolutionary pressures, responses in changes in human emotional capacities and the archaeological evidence for human social behaviours. Starting from our earliest origins, in Part One, Professor Spikins explores how after two million years ago, movement of human ancestors into a new ecological niche drove new types of collaboration, including care for vulnerable members of the group. Emotional adaptations lead to cognitive changes, as new connections based on compassion, generosity, trust and inclusion also changed our relationship to material things. Part Two explores a later key transition in human emotional capacities occurring after 300,000 years ago. At this time changes in social tolerance allowed ancestors of our own species to further reach out beyond their local group and care about distant allies, making human communities resilient to environmental changes. An increasingly close relationship to animals, and even to cherished possessions, appeared at this time, and can be explained through new human vulnerabilities and ways of seeking comfort and belonging. Lastly, Part Three focuses on the contrasts in emotional dispositions arising between ourselves and our close cousins, the Neanderthals. Neanderthals are revealed as equally caring yet emotionally different humans, who might, if things had been different, have been in our place today. This new narrative breaks away from traditional views of human evolution as exceptional or as a linear progression towards a more perfect form. Instead, our evolutionary history is situated within similar processes occurring in other mammals, and explained as one in which emotions, rather than ‘intellect’, were key to our evolutionary journey. Moreover, changes in emotional capacities and dispositions are seen as part of differing pathways each bringing strengths, weaknesses and compromises. These hidden depths provide an explanation for many of the emotional sensitivities and vulnerabilities which continue to influence our world today.
... A képalkotó eljárások segítségével arra is fény derült, hogy az empatikus viselkedés során mely agyi területek aktiválódnak (pl. anterior cingulum és insula) (11,12), valamint az utánkövetés azt is igazolta, hogy ez a képesség szakmai képzés során fejleszthetõ. Ezért is kerültek elõtérbe azok a vizsgálatok, amelyek az orvostanhallgatók, ápolók vagy más egészségügyi képzésben résztvevõk empátiás szintjére, összefüggéseire, illetve fejlesztési lehetõségeire fókuszáltak. ...
Introduction: Studying and developing medical students’ empathic skill is a pivotal element of professional socialization since it can affect the quality of care from the viewpoint of both the patients and physicians.
Aim: In our exploratory study we investigated, beyond the levels of empathy, its characteristics by gender, role of previous work experiences and family background, in addition to a special medical attitude (the authoritarian one).
Methods: The participants were first-year medical students who took part in the foreign program of University of Szeged, Faculty of Medicine (N = 412; 49.8% males, mean age: 20.7 years; 72% of them from Iran, South-Korea, Israel and Japan). The data collection by means of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire was carried out during the first lecture of the course “Introduction to medicine”; the participation was voluntary and anonymous. Empathy was measured by using the English version of Basic Empathy Scale. We used t-tests and alculated correlation coefficients for statistical analyses.
Results: Our findings confirm the elevated levels of empathy among females, while the acceptance of authoritarian medical attitude was higher among males. The authoritarian medical attitude was negatively correlated with some (namely, cognitive
and affective) forms of empathy and positively with emotional disconnectedness. Previous work experience in health care
increased the level of cognitive empathy.
Conclusions: We would like to emphasize the importance of empathy in medical education as well as stimulating instructors in
medical education to develop courses to facilitate increasing levels of empathy.
KEY WORDS: empathy, medical education, authoritarian medical attitude
Bevezetés. Az orvostanhallgatók empátiás készségének vizsgálata és fejlesztése különösen meghatározó eleme a pályaszocializációnak, hiszen nemcsak a betegek, hanem az egészségügyi szakemberek szempontjából is befolyásolja az ellátás minõségét.
Célkitûzés. Feltáró jellegû kutatásunkban az empátia szintjének meghatározásán túl vizsgáltuk a nemi jellegzetességeket, az elõzetes
szakmai tapasztalatok, a családi háttér, valamint egy jellegzetes orvosi attitûd (tekintélyelvûség) szerepét.
Módszer. A kutatásban a Szegedi Tudományegyetem Általános Orvostudományi Kara külföldi tagozatán tanuló, elsõéves orvostanhallgatók
vettek részt (N = 412; 49,8% férfi, átlagéletkor: 20,7 év; 72%-uk Iránból, Dél-Koreából, Izraelbõl és Japánból). A papír alapú adatgyûjtésre az Introduction to medicine kurzus elsõ elõadásának keretében került sor, a részvétel önkéntes és anonim volt. Az empátia vizsgálata a Basic Empathy Scale angol verziójával történt. Elemzésünkhöz t-próbákat, valamint korrelációelemzést alkalmaztunk.
Eredmények. Saját eredményeink megerõsítik az orvostanhallgató nõk magasabb empátiaszintjét, míg a tekintélyelvû orvosi attitûd elfogadása a férfiak körében volt gyakoribb. A tekintélyelvû orvosi attitûd és az empátia bizonyos formái (kognitív és affektív) között negatív, míg az érzelmi leválasztással pozitív kapcsolat igazolható. Az egészségügyben szerzett korábbi munkatapasztalatok a kognitív empátia szintjét növelik.
Következtetések. Vizsgálatunkkal szeretnénk hangsúlyozni az empátia fontosságát az orvosképzésben, valamint olyan képzések fejlesztésére serkenteni az orvosképzésben résztvevõ szakembereket, amelyek elõsegítik az empátiaszint emelését.
... The other approach is simply to measure empathy and control for it statistically. In considering empathy via this approach, we urge researchers to consider the fundamental distinction between cognitive empathy (understanding someone else's thoughts, feelings, and perspective, akin to theory of mind), and affective empathy (feeling what someone else is feeling), as there is compelling evidence that cognitive and affective empathy call upon distinct mechanisms (Cox et al., 2012;Eres et al., 2015;Kanske et al., 2015;Preckel et al., 2018;Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2009;Tholen et al., 2020). It may also be important to consider the motivational dimension of empathic concern (i.e., extent to which a person is motivated to promote the well-being and alleviate the suffering of others (Weisz & Cikara, 2021). ...
Scientists have long been interested in understanding the influence of emotionally salient stimuli on attention and perception. One experimental paradigm that has shown great promise in demonstrating the effect of such stimuli is emotion-induced blindness. That is, when emotionally salient stimuli are presented in a rapid stream of stimuli, they produce impairments in the perception of task-relevant stimuli, even though they themselves are task irrelevant. This is known as emotion-induced blindness, and it is a profound and robust form of attentional bias. Here, we review the literature on emotion-induced blindness, such as identifying the types of stimuli that elicit it, and its temporal dynamics. We discuss the role of dimensional versus categorical approaches to emotion in relation to emotion-induced blindness. We also synthesize the work examining whether certain individuals, such as those high in anxiety versus psychopathy, succumb to emotion-induced blindness to different extents, and we discuss whether the deficit can be reduced or even abolished. We review the theoretical models that have been proposed to explain the phenomenon. Finally, we identify exciting questions for future research, and elucidate useful frameworks to guide future investigations.
... We carefully considered whether validity of these paradigms for use in pregnant women played a role in null findings. However, as shown in Table 1, the intercorrelation between affect sharing and empathic concern, and distinctions between affective and cognitive components of empathy previously described in non-pregnant adults (Eres et al., 2015), were broadly mirrored in this sample of pregnant smokers. High expressed emotion was also inversely related to affective components of empathy, consistent with the view that empathic concern and prosocial behavior is dependent on emotional regulation (Brethel-Haurwitz et al., 2020;López-Pérez and Ambrona, 2015). ...
Background
Spontaneous cessation and reduction in smoking by pregnant women suggest that concern about others, or empathy, could be a malleable target for intervention. We examined various empathy-related processes in relations to reported and biochemically assessed smoking during pregnancy.
Methods
Participants were 154 pregnant women (M = 12.4 weeks gestation, SD = 4.6) who were smoking cigarettes immediately prior to pregnancy recognition (85 had quit and 69 were still smoking at enrollment). Empathy-related processes were measured with performance-based paradigms (affect sharing, empathic concern, and theory of mind) and a speech sample (expressed emotion). Smoking was assessed with timeline follow back interviews and urine cotinine assays. Using zero-inflated Poisson regression models, we tested direct and interactive effects of empathy-related processes with respect to biologically verified smoking cessation (zero portion); and mean cigarettes/day smoked after pregnancy recognition among persistent smokers (count portion).
Results
Affect sharing was inversely related to post-recognition cigarettes/day (B(SE) = -0.17(0.07), 95%C.I. -0.30,-0.04, p = .011) and moderated the relationship between pre-recognition smoking and post-recognition smoking consistent with a buffering effect (B(SE) = -.17(0.05); 95%C.I. - 0.28,-0.06; p = .002). Other empathy related processes showed neither direct nor interactive effects on smoking outcomes.
Conclusions
Further research is recommended to clarify the role of empathy in pregnancy smoking.
... Several studies in humans and animals have reported that oxytocin administration enhances empathy and its-related behaviors (Auyeung et al., 2015;Geng et al., 2018;Pisansky et al., 2017;Yamagishi et al., 2020). There is a possibility that neuronal plasticity in the insular cortex, which is a brain region related to empathy, is modulated by oxytocin (Eres et al., 2015;Rogers-Carter et al., 2018). However, the non-significant effect of oxytocin on empathy is also reported in previous studies (Cai et al., 2018;Keech et al., 2018); oxytocin administration has not yet been established as a strategy to enhance empathy. ...
Empathy is one of the essential functions of mammals for maintaining relationships with others. Physical activity contributes to enhancing empathic attitude and behavior; however, it is remained to cover the effective intensity of exercise on mammal empathy. Here, we tested the effects of light-intensity exercise, which has beneficial effects on expressing neurotrophic factors in the brain, on empathic behavior. Eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were subjected to forced wheel running at light-intensity (7.0 m/min, 30 min/day, 5 days/week) for 4 weeks. Then, all mice were subjected to helping behavior to evaluate their empathic behavior. The insular cortex was collected for analyzing the expressions of mRNA and miRNA. Four weeks of light-intensity exercise enhanced helping behavior. Exercised mice exhibited higher Bdnf gene expressions in the insular cortex than sedentary mice. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between mRNA levels of Fndc5 and Bdnf in the insular cortex. Based on miRNA sequencing, 26 out of 51 miRNAs were significantly upregulated, and 25 out of 51 miRNAs were significantly downregulated in the insular cortex of mice with exercise. There were significant correlations between 11 out of 51 miRNAs and helping behavior; miR-486a-3p, which relates to FNDC5 expression, was contained. These results imply that miR-486a-3p/Fndc5/Bdnf pathway in the insular cortex would be a possible target for treating empathy.
... In the y-axis, the scale of the test scores. tive control, emotion regulation success (Kohn et al., 2014;Etkin et al., 2015;Senholzi and Kubota, 2016) and cognitive empathy (Eres et al., 2015). In addition, the relation between the FC of lAi-dmPFC and the cognitive empathy variables for both groups and psychotherapists, is in line with aforementioned associations with cognitive empathy. ...
In a therapeutic environment a proper regulation of the empathic response strengthens the patient-therapist relationship. Thus, it is important that psychotherapists constantly regulate their own perspective and emotions to better understand the other’s affective state. We compared the empathic abilities of a group of 52 psychotherapists with a group of 92 non-psychotherapists and found psychometric differences. Psychotherapists showed greater scores in Fantasy and Perspective Taking, both cognitive empathy constructs, and lower scores in the use of expressive suppression, an emotional regulation strategy that hampers the empathic response, suggesting that psychotherapists exert top-down processes that influence their empathic response. In addition, the expected sex differences in empathic concern and expressive suppression were only present in the non-psychotherapist group. To see if such psychometric differences were related to a distinctive functional organization of brain networks, we contrasted the resting state functional connectivity of empathy-related brain regions between a group of 18 experienced psychotherapists and a group of 18 non-psychotherapists. Psychotherapists showed greater functional connectivity between the left anterior insula and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and less connectivity between rostral anterior cingulate cortex and the orbito prefrontal cortex. Both associations correlated with Perspective Taking scores. Considering that the psychometric differences between groups were in the cognitive domain and that the functional connectivity associations involve areas related to cognitive regulation processes, these results suggest a relationship between the functional brain organization of psychotherapists and the cognitive regulation of their empathic response.
Social networks are fundamental for social interactions, with the social brain hypothesis positing that the size of the neocortex evolved to meet social demands. However, the role of fractional anisotropy (FA) in white matter (WM) tracts relevant to mentalizing, empathy, and social networks remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the relationships between FA in brain regions associated with social cognition (superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), cingulum (CING), uncinate fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus), social network characteristics (diversity, size, complexity), and empathy (cognitive, affective). We employed diffusion tensor imaging, tract-based spatial statistics, and mediation analyses to examine these associations. Our findings revealed that increased social network size was positively correlated with FA in the left SLF. Further, our mediation analysis showed that lower FA in left CING was associated with increased social network size, mediated by cognitive empathy. In summary, our findings suggest that WM tracts involved in social cognition play distinct roles in social network size and empathy, potentially implicating affective brain regions. In conclusion, our findings offer new perspectives on the cognitive mechanisms involved in understanding others' mental states and experiencing empathy within supportive social networks, with potential implications for understanding individual differences in social behavior and mental health.
Background: Empathy is an attribute that plays an essential role in the dentist–patient therapeutic relationship, clinical care, and treatment adherence, along with providing other benefits. The main objective of this research was to establish the validity, reliability, and invariance of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and then characterize the empathy levels of students and teachers at a dental school. Materials and Methods: An observational and cross-sectional study analyzed a sample of undergraduate students and professors from the Universidad Andrés Bello Faculty of Dentistry (Chile) (n = 1727 and n = 267, respectively). The Empathy Scale for Health Professionals (HP) and the same scale for students (HPS) were applied. Results: The Jefferson Empathy Scale presents adequate psychometric properties. The empathy measure has adequate reliability and construct validity, confirming a fit of the three-factor empathy model to the data. The measurement is invariant within the university campus, the sex of the student, and between teacher and student. Teachers present greater empathy than students except in the Perspective Adoption dimension. Conclusions: The Jefferson Empathy Scale is reliable, valid, and invariant among Chilean dental students and professors. Students do not differ from their professors in the cognitive component of empathy, but they present a lower score in the affective component and global empathy. It is inferred that students can develop the affective component of empathy in their interactions with their professors, increasing their overall empathy. Understanding and fostering empathy in dental students and professors can significantly improve patient care and treatment adherence and increase patient and dentist satisfaction.
Empathy toward suffering individuals serves as potent driver for prosocial behavior. However, it remains unclear whether prosociality induced by empathy for another person’s pain persists once that person’s suffering diminishes. To test this, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a binary social decision task that involved allocation of points to themselves and another person. In block one, participants completed the task after witnessing frequent painful stimulation of the other person, and in block two, after observing low frequency of painful stimulation. Drift-diffusion modeling revealed an increased initial bias toward making prosocial decisions in the first block compared with baseline that persisted in the second block. These results were replicated in an independent behavioral study. An additional control study showed that this effect may be specific to empathy as stability was not evident when prosocial decisions were driven by a social norm such as reciprocity. Increased neural activation in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was linked to empathic concern after witnessing frequent pain and to a general prosocial decision bias after witnessing rare pain. Altogether, our findings show that empathy for pain elicits a stable inclination toward making prosocial decisions even as their suffering diminishes.
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Educational leadership combines transformational and transactional leadership. Yet this combination is not equal, instead favouring transformational leadership which is focused on an individual's social interactions and their ability to identify and react empathetically to others. Many leadership theorists suggest the ability to have and display empathy is an important part of leadership. Until recently the focus of determining an individual's ability to recognise emotions has been through self-reporting questionnaires. These can only be used to report manifestations in our body, picked up by self-awareness, such as anger, sadness, and joy. Therefore, individuals are reporting their awareness of and externalising of the sensation based on what they perceive the emotion to be. This chapter explores the use of neuroscientific techniques to better understand empathy. What this chapter highlights are that these techniques are more accurate at measuring an individual's ability to recognise emotions than the traditional self-reporting questionnaire.
Empathy is a foundational construct in person-centered psychotherapies because it promotes clients’ self-exploration and growth. However, as the construct of empathy drew attention from various disciplines, the definitions of empathy became ambiguous. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to articulate the conceptual understanding of empathy competence for the specific discipline of the counseling profession. I review the development of the conceptualization of empathy in the counseling literature and propose a theoretical framework, Process of Interpersonal Empathy (PIE), in the hope of providing a consistent definition to address counselors’ empathy competence. The PIE illustrates counselors’ empathy competence as a collection of multidimensional ingredients functioning in a process with active engagement by both the counselor and the client. The ingredients of the PIE include conceptualization, emotional awareness, and interpersonal empathy. Additionally, I discuss how each ingredient plays a role in counseling relationships. The formation of the PIE provides several implications for counseling researchers, counselor educators, and supervisors.
Behavior in social contexts is routinely accompanied by neural activity in a brain network comprising the bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dmPFC and dlPFC), and precuneus. This network - often referred to as the "social brain network" (SBN) - is thought to have evolved in response to the information processing demands of life in social groups. However, its precise functional contributions to behavior are unclear, since many of its areas are also activated in non-social contexts requiring, for example, attentional orienting or context updating. Here we argue that these results may reflect a basic neural mechanism implemented by areas in this network that is commonly required in both social and non-social contexts: Integrating multiple sensory and memory inputs into salient configurations, such as social constellations or perceptual Gestalts. We tested this hypothesis using a numeracy paradigm that orthogonally varied the salience of sensory target configurations and the required motor responses. Even in this non-social task, several regions of the SBN (TPJ, dmPFC, and precuneus) showed higher activity when the goal required the brain to attend to more versus less salient perceptual configurations. This activation pattern was specific to configuration salience and did not reflect general task demand or switching to new contexts. Taken together, these results suggest that the integration of information into salient configurations may be a key function of SBN regions, thus offering a new perspective on the widespread recruitment of these areas across social and non-social contexts.
Homophily refers to the tendency to like similar others. Here, we ask if homophily extends to brain structure. Specifically: do children who like one another have more similar brain structures? We hypothesized that neuroanatomic similarity tied to friendship is most likely to pertain to brain regions that support social cognition. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed friendship network data from 1186 children in 49 classrooms. Within each classroom, we identified "friendship distance"-mutual friends, friends-of-friends, and more distantly connected or unconnected children. In total, 125 children (mean age = 7.57 years, 65 females) also had good quality neuroanatomic magnetic resonance imaging scans from which we extracted properties of the "social brain." We found that similarity of the social brain varied by friendship distance: mutual friends showed greater similarity in social brain networks compared with friends-of-friends (β = 0.65, t = 2.03, P = 0.045) and even more remotely connected peers (β = 0.77, t = 2.83, P = 0.006); friends-of-friends did not differ from more distantly connected peers (β = -0.13, t = -0.53, P = 0.6). We report that mutual friends have similar "social brain" networks, adding a neuroanatomic dimension to the adage that "birds of a feather flock together."
Reduced empathy and elevated alexithymia are observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which has been linked to altered asymmetry in brain morphology. Here, we investigated whether trait autism, empathy, and alexithymia in the general population is associated with brain morphological asymmetry. We determined left–right asymmetry indexes for cortical thickness and cortical surface area (CSA) and applied these features to a support-vector regression model that predicted trait autism, empathy, and alexithymia. Results showed that less leftward asymmetry of CSA in the gyrus rectus (a subregion of the orbitofrontal cortex) predicted more difficulties in social functioning, as well as reduced cognitive empathy and elevated trait alexithymia. Meta-analytic decoding of the left gyrus rectus annotated functional items related to social cognition. Furthermore, the link between gyrus rectus asymmetry and social difficulties was accounted by trait alexithymia and cognitive empathy. These results suggest that gyrus rectus asymmetry could be a shared neural correlate among trait alexithymia, cognitive empathy, and social functioning in neurotypical adults. Left–right asymmetry of gyrus rectus influenced social functioning by affecting the cognitive processes of emotions in the self and others. Interventions that increase leftward asymmetry of the gyrus rectus might improve social functioning for individuals with ASD.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major health problem, yet most individuals with AUD do not perceive a need for formal treatment and do not receive treatment. The lack of treatment seeking among individuals with AUD may suggest a lack of self-awareness and insight into the seriousness of AUD related problems, as well as lack of empathy for the impact of one’s drinking on others. Recent work has suggested that empathy may be impaired among individuals seeking treatment for AUD. Further these impairments may differ by sex such that males with lower empathy reported more drinking consequences and greater drinking intensity, but there was no association between empathy and drinking among females. The current study used regression analyses (alpha = 0.05) to examine the association between empathy (as measured by the four scales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index), independent components of gray matter volume in regions associated with empathy, and drinking variables among non-treatment seeking drinkers with AUD (N = 136) and also examined these effects by sex. Results showed greater perspective taking was associated with less temporoparietal and frontotemporal gray matter volume (B(SE) = −0.912 (0.043), p = 0.034). An interaction between perspective taking and sex was associated with craving, such that higher perspective taking was associated with less craving for males only (B(SE) = −0.48 (0.243), p = 0.049; R² = 0.087). Empathic concern was related to lower percent heavy drinking days for both males and females (B(SE) = −1.57 (0.743), p = 0.035; R² = 0.11). The current study found empathy may be an important predictor of craving for males and frequency of heavy drinking for males and females. Future work should investigate whether empathy predicts treatment seeking.
Empathy is a construct applied to various phenomena that cover a broad spectrum ranging from experiencing emotions that match another individual's emotions, to feelings of concern for other people, to knowing what the other is thinking or feeling. Human empathy has deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological underpinnings and is mediated and moderated by multiple physiological and brain systems that have evolved from the neurobehavioral systems associated with social attachment and parental care. Sensitivity to signs of distress is processed by a network that partly overlaps with neural circuits involved in physical pain, including brain-stem regions, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and orbitofrontal cortex.
The phenomenon of empathy entails the ability to share the affective experiences of others. In recent years social neuroscience made considerable progress in revealing the mechanisms that enable a person to feel what another is feeling. The present review provides an in-depth and critical discussion of these findings. Consistent evidence shows that sharing the emotions of others is associated with activation in neural structures that are also active during the first-hand experience of that emotion. Part of the neural activation shared between self- and other-related experiences seems to be rather automatically activated. However, recent studies also show that empathy is a highly flexible phenomenon, and that vicarious responses are malleable with respect to a number of factors--such as contextual appraisal, the interpersonal relationship between empathizer and other, or the perspective adopted during observation of the other. Future investigations are needed to provide more detailed insights into these factors and their neural underpinnings. Questions such as whether individual differences in empathy can be explained by stable personality traits, whether we can train ourselves to be more empathic, and how empathy relates to prosocial behavior are of utmost relevance for both science and society.
In the past decade, a flurry of empirical and theoretical research on morality and empathy has taken place, and interest and usage in the media and the public arena have increased. At times, in both popular culture and academia, morality and empathy are used interchangeably, and quite often the latter is considered to play a foundational role for the former. In this article, we argue that although there is a relationship between morality and empathy, it is not as straightforward as apparent at first glance. Moreover, it is critical to distinguish among the different facets of empathy (emotional sharing, empathic concern, and perspective taking), as each uniquely influences moral cognition and predicts differential outcomes in moral behavior. Empirical evidence and theories from evolutionary biology as well as developmental, behavioral, and affective and social neuroscience are comprehensively integrated in support of this argument. The wealth of findings illustrates a complex and equivocal relationship between morality and empathy. The key to understanding such relations is to be more precise on the concepts being used and, perhaps, abandoning the muddy concept of empathy.
We meta-analyzed imaging studies on theory of mind and formed individual task groups based on stimuli and instructions. Overlap in brain activation between all task groups was found in the mPFC and in the bilateral posterior TPJ. This supports the idea of a core network for theory of mind that is activated whenever we are reasoning about mental states, irrespective of the task- and stimulus-formats (Mar, 2011). In addition, we found a number of task-related activation differences surrounding this core-network. ROI based analyses show that areas in the TPJ, the mPFC, the precuneus, the temporal lobes and the inferior frontal gyri have distinct profiles of task-related activation. Functional accounts of these areas are reviewed and discussed with respect to our findings.
How does witnessing a hateful person in pain compare to witnessing a likable person in pain? The current study compared the brain bases for how we perceive likable people in pain with those of viewing hateful people in pain. While social bonds are built through sharing the plight and pain of others in the name of empathy, viewing a hateful person in pain also has many potential ramifications. In this functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study, Caucasian Jewish male participants viewed videos of (1) disliked, hateful, anti-Semitic individuals, and (2) liked, non-hateful, tolerant individuals in pain. The results showed that, compared with viewing liked people, viewing hateful people in pain elicited increased responses in regions associated with observation of physical pain (the insular cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the somatosensory cortex), reward processing (the striatum), and frontal regions associated with emotion regulation. Functional connectivity analyses revealed connections between seed regions in the left ACC and right insular cortex with reward regions, the amygdala, and frontal regions associated with emotion regulation. These data indicate that regions of the brain active while viewing someone in pain may be more active in response to the danger or threat posed by witnessing the pain of a hateful individual more so than the desire to empathize with a likable person's pain.
Empathy is key for healthy social functioning and individual differences in empathy have strong implications for manifold domains of social behavior. Empathy comprises of emotional and cognitive components and may also be closely linked to sensorimotor processes, which go along with the motivation and behavior to respond compassionately to another person's feelings. There is growing evidence for local plastic change in the structure of the healthy adult human brain in response to environmental demands or intrinsic factors. Here we have investigated changes in brain structure resulting from or predisposing to empathy. Structural MRI data of 101 healthy adult females was analyzed. Empathy in fictitious as well as real-life situations was assessed using a validated self-evaluation measure. Furthermore, empathy-related structural effects were also put into the context of a functional map of the anterior insular cortex (AIC) determined by activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis of previous functional imaging studies. We found that gray matter (GM) density in the left dorsal AIC correlates with empathy and that this area overlaps with the domain general region (DGR) of the anterior insula that is situated in-between functional systems involved in emotion–cognition, pain, and motor tasks as determined by our meta-analysis. Thus, we propose that this insular region where we find structural differences depending on individual empathy may play a crucial role in modulating the efficiency of neural integration underlying emotional, cognitive, and sensorimotor information which is essential for global empathy.
Background:
Psychopathic traits are associated with increases in antisocial behaviors such as aggression and are characterized by reduced empathy for others' distress. This suggests that psychopathic traits may also impair empathic pain sensitivity. However, whether psychopathic traits affect responses to the pain of others versus the self has not been previously assessed.
Method:
We used whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activation in 14 adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder and psychopathic traits, as well as 21 healthy controls matched on age, gender, and intelligence. Activation in structures associated with empathic pain perception was assessed as adolescents viewed photographs of pain-inducing injuries. Adolescents imagined either that the body in each photograph was their own or that it belonged to another person. Behavioral and neuroimaging data were analyzed using random-effects analysis of variance.
Results:
Youths with psychopathic traits showed reduced activity within regions associated with empathic pain as the depicted pain increased. These regions included rostral anterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum (putamen), and amygdala. Reductions in amygdala activity particularly occurred when the injury was perceived as occurring to another. Empathic pain responses within both amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex were negatively correlated with the severity of psychopathic traits as indexed by PCL:YV scores.
Conclusions:
Youths with psychopathic traits show less responsiveness in regions implicated in the affective response to another's pain as the perceived intensity of this pain increases. Moreover, this reduced responsiveness appears to predict symptom severity.
Using the event-related potential (ERP) approach, we tracked the time-course of white participants’ empathic reactions to
white (own-race) and black (other-race) faces displayed in a painful condition (i.e. with a needle penetrating the skin) and
in a nonpainful condition (i.e. with Q-tip touching the skin). In a 280–340 ms time-window, neural responses to the pain of
own-race individuals under needle penetration conditions were amplified relative to neural responses to the pain of other-race
individuals displayed under analogous conditions. This ERP reaction to pain, whose source was localized in the inferior frontal
gyrus, correlated with the empathic concern ratings of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index questionnaire. In a 400–750 ms time-window,
the difference between neural reactions to the pain of own-race individuals, localized in the middle frontal gyrus and other-race
individuals, localized in the temporoparietal junction was reduced to nil. These findings support a functional, neural and
temporal distinction between two sequential processing stages underlying empathy, namely, a race-biased stage of pain sharing/mirroring
followed by a race-unbiased stage of cognitive evaluation of pain.
Understanding cues to the internal states of others involves a widely distributed network of brain regions. Although white
matter (WM) connections are likely crucial for communication between these regions, the role of anatomical connectivity in
empathic processing remains unexplored. The present study tested for a relationship between anatomical connectivity and empathy
by assessing the WM microstructural correlates of affective empathy, which promotes interpersonal understanding through emotional
reactions, and cognitive empathy, which does so via perspective taking. Associations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and
the emotional (empathic concern, EC) and cognitive (perspective taking, PT) dimensions of empathy as assessed by the Interpersonal
Reactivity Index were examined. EC was positively associated with FA in tracts providing communicative pathways within the
limbic system, between perception and action-related regions, and between perception and affect-related regions, independently
of individual differences in age, gender, and other dimensions of interpersonal reactivity. These findings provide a neuroanatomical
basis for the rapid, privileged processing of emotional sensory information and the automatic elicitation of responses to
the affective displays of others.
Empathy refers to the ability to perceive and share another person's affective state. Much neuroimaging evidence suggests that observing others' suffering and pain elicits activations of the anterior insular and the anterior cingulate cortices associated with subjective empathetic responses in the observer. However, these observations do not provide causal evidence for the respective roles of anterior insular and anterior cingulate cortices in empathetic pain. Therefore, whether these regions are 'necessary' for empathetic pain remains unknown. Herein, we examined the perception of others' pain in patients with anterior insular cortex or anterior cingulate cortex lesions whose locations matched with the anterior insular cortex or anterior cingulate cortex clusters identified by a meta-analysis on neuroimaging studies of empathetic pain perception. Patients with focal anterior insular cortex lesions displayed decreased discrimination accuracy and prolonged reaction time when processing others' pain explicitly and lacked a typical interference effect of empathetic pain on the performance of a pain-irrelevant task. In contrast, these deficits were not observed in patients with anterior cingulate cortex lesions. These findings reveal that only discrete anterior insular cortex lesions, but not anterior cingulate cortex lesions, result in deficits in explicit and implicit pain perception, supporting a critical role of anterior insular cortex in empathetic pain processing. Our findings have implications for a wide range of neuropsychiatric illnesses characterized by prominent deficits in higher-level social functioning.
Empathy--the ability to share the feelings of others--is fundamental to our emotional and social lives. Previous human imaging studies focusing on empathy for others' pain have consistently shown activations in regions also involved in the direct pain experience, particularly anterior insula and anterior and midcingulate cortex. These findings suggest that empathy is, in part, based on shared representations for firsthand and vicarious experiences of affective states. Empathic responses are not static but can be modulated by person characteristics, such as degree of alexithymia. It has also been shown that contextual appraisal, including perceived fairness or group membership of others, may modulate empathic neuronal activations. Empathy often involves coactivations in further networks associated with social cognition, depending on the specific situation and information available in the environment. Empathy-related insular and cingulate activity may reflect domain-general computations representing and predicting feeling states in self and others, likely guiding adaptive homeostatic responses and goal-directed behavior in dynamic social contexts.
Empathy is a multi-faceted concept consisting of our ability not only to share emotions but also to exert cognitive control and perspective taking in our interactions with others. Here we examined whether inter-individual variability in different components of empathy was related to differences in brain structure assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Following a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, participants completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Multiple regression was then used to assess the relationship between individual differences in grey matter volume and individual differences in empathy traits. We found that individual differences in affective empathic abilities oriented towards another person were negatively correlated with grey matter volume in the precuneus, inferior frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate. Differences in self-oriented affective empathy were negatively correlated with grey matter volume of the somatosensory cortex, but positively correlated with volume in the insula; cognitive perspective taking abilities were positively correlated with grey matter volume of the anterior cingulate; and the ability to empathise with fictional characters was positively related to grey matter changes in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings are discussed in relation to neurocognitive models of empathy.
Controversy surrounds the role of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) area of the human brain. Although TPJ has been implicated
both in reorienting of attention and social cognition, it is still unclear whether these functions have the same neural basis.
Indeed, whether TPJ is a precisely identifiable cortical region or a cluster of subregions with separate functions is still
a matter of debate. Here, we examined the structural and functional connectivity of TPJ, testing whether TPJ is a unitary
area with a heterogeneous functional connectivity profile or a conglomerate of regions with distinctive connectivity. Diffusion-weighted
imaging tractrography–based parcellation identified 3 separate regions in TPJ. Resting-state functional connectivity was then
used to establish which cortical networks each of these subregions participates in. A dorsal cluster in the middle part of
the inferior parietal lobule showed resting-state functional connectivity with, among other areas, lateral anterior prefrontal
cortex. Ventrally, an anterior TPJ cluster interacted with ventral prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, while a posterior
TPJ cluster interacted with posterior cingulate, temporal pole, and anterior medial prefrontal cortex. These results indicate
that TPJ can be subdivided into subregions on the basis of its structural and functional connectivity.
Empathizing is a quantitative trait involving understanding another's mental state (including their emotion) and responding to this with an appropriate emotion. A reliable, behaviorally validated self-report questionnaire measure of this is the Empathy Quotient (EQ), which is continuously distributed across the general population. The "discrete emotions" model posits that each "basic" emotion has a relatively independent evolutionary antecedent and social-communicative function and is subserved by a discrete neural system. In this study, we investigate if and how empathy influences the perception of basic emotions. Twenty-five volunteers (13 female, 12 male) selected across EQ space participated in a correlational design 3T fMRI study. The stimuli were presented in a box-car design, where 5 blocks (each containing 4 video clips of any one of happy, sad, angry, disgust or neutral expressions from different actors) and a low-level baseline were presented in pseudo-random order. Using an exploratory analysis, we found different brain regions correlated with EQ, depending on which emotion was being perceived. In particular, the ventral striatal response to happy faces correlated positively with EQ, while the ventral striatal response to sad faces was negatively correlated with EQ. The precuneus and lateral prefrontal cortical response to angry faces correlated positively with EQ. The response of the insula and the superior temporal gyrus cortex to disgust faces were negatively correlated with EQ. These results are discussed in the light of the postulated evolutionary function of each emotion. Using a hypothesis-driven conjunction analysis, we found that a region in the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus/premotor cortex was positively correlated to the EQ across all four emotions. This region could therefore constitute a biomarker for trait empathy across emotions. We conclude that there are common regions underlying empathy across different emotions, and there are regions that show an emotion-specific correlation with empathy. This pattern of results is interpreted using a modification of Haxby et al.'s model of face perception.
Empathy accounts for the naturally occurring subjective experience of similarity between the feelings expressed by self and others without loosing sight of whose feelings belong to whom. Empathy involves not only the affective experience of the other person's actual or inferred emotional state but also some minimal recognition and understanding of another's emotional state. In light of multiple levels of analysis ranging from developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical neuropsychology, this article proposes a model of empathy that involves parallel and distributed processing in a number of dissociable computational mechanisms. Shared neural representations, self-awareness, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation constitute the basic macrocomponents of empathy, which are underpinned by specific neural systems. This functional model may be used to make specific predictions about the various empathy deficits that can be encountered in different forms of social and neurological disorders.
Empathy has been inconsistently defined and inadequately measured. This research aimed to produce a new and rigorously developed questionnaire. Exploratory (n₁ = 640) and confirmatory (n₂ = 318) factor analyses were employed to develop the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). Principal components analysis revealed 5 factors (31 items). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this structure in an independent sample. The hypothesized 2-factor structure (cognitive and affective empathy) was tested and provided the best and most parsimonious fit to the data. Gender differences, convergent validity, and construct validity were examined. The QCAE is a valid tool for assessing cognitive and affective empathy.
The decision as to whether a sensation is perceived as painful does not only depend on sensory input but also on the significance of the stimulus. Here, we show that the degree to which an impending stimulus is interpreted as threatening biases perceptual decisions about pain and that this bias toward pain manifests before stimulus encounter. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the influence of an experimental manipulation of threat on the perception of laser stimuli as painful. In a near-threshold pain detection paradigm, physically identical stimuli were applied under the participants' assumption that the stimulation is entirely safe (low threat) or potentially harmful (high threat). As hypothesized, significantly more stimuli were rated as painful in the high threat condition. This context-dependent classification of a stimulus as painful was predicted by the prestimulus signal level in the anterior insula, suggesting that this structure integrates information about the significance of a stimulus into the decision about pain. The anticipation of pain increased the prestimulus functional connectivity between the anterior insula and the midcingulate cortex (MCC), a region that was significantly more active during stimulation the more a participant was biased to rate the stimulation as painful under high threat. These findings provide evidence that the anterior insula and MCC as a "salience network" integrate information about the significance of an impending stimulation into perceptual decision-making in the context of pain.
Whilst recent neuroimaging studies have identified a series of different brain regions as being involved in empathy, it remains unclear concerning the activation consistence of these brain regions and their specific functional roles. Using MKDA, a whole-brain based quantitative meta-analysis of recent fMRI studies of empathy was performed. This analysis identified the dACC-aMCC-SMA and bilateral anterior insula as being consistently activated in empathy. Hypothesizing that what are here termed affective-perceptual and cognitive-evaluative forms of empathy might be characterized by different activity patterns, the neural activations in these forms of empathy were compared. The dorsal aMCC was demonstrated to be recruited more frequently in the cognitive-evaluative form of empathy, whilst the right anterior insula was found to be involved in the affective-perceptual form of empathy only. The left anterior insula was active in both forms of empathy. It was concluded that the dACC-aMCC-SMA and bilateral insula can be considered as forming a core network in empathy, and that cognitive-evaluative and affective-perceptual empathy can be distinguished at the level of regional activation.
A growing body of evidence suggests that empathy for pain is underpinned by neural structures that are also involved in the direct experience of pain. In order to assess the consistency of this finding, an image-based meta-analysis of nine independent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations and a coordinate-based meta-analysis of 32 studies that had investigated empathy for pain using fMRI were conducted. The results indicate that a core network consisting of bilateral anterior insular cortex and medial/anterior cingulate cortex is associated with empathy for pain. Activation in these areas overlaps with activation during directly experienced pain, and we link their involvement to representing global feeling states and the guidance of adaptive behavior for both self- and other-related experiences. Moreover, the image-based analysis demonstrates that depending on the type of experimental paradigm this core network was co-activated with distinct brain regions: While viewing pictures of body parts in painful situations recruited areas underpinning action understanding (inferior parietal/ventral premotor cortices) to a stronger extent, eliciting empathy by means of abstract visual information about the other's affective state more strongly engaged areas associated with inferring and representing mental states of self and other (precuneus, ventral medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal cortex, and temporo-parietal junction). In addition, only the picture-based paradigms activated somatosensory areas, indicating that previous discrepancies concerning somatosensory activity during empathy for pain might have resulted from differences in experimental paradigms. We conclude that social neuroscience paradigms provide reliable and accurate insights into complex social phenomena such as empathy and that meta-analyses of previous studies are a valuable tool in this endeavor.
Thesis--University of Texas at Austin. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-219).
The morphology of cortical grey matter is commonly assessed using T1-weighted MRI together with automated computerised methods such as voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and cortical thickness measures. In the presented study we investigate how grey matter changes identified using voxel-based cortical thickness (VBCT) measures compare with local grey matter volume changes identified using VBM. We use data from a healthy aging population to perform the comparison, focusing on brain regions where age-related changes have been observed in previous studies. Our results show that overall, in healthy aging, VBCT and VBM yield very consistent results but VBCT provides a more sensitive measure of age-associated decline in grey matter compared with VBM. Our findings suggest that while VBCT selectively investigates cortical thickness, VBM provides a mixed measure of grey matter including cortical surface area or cortical folding, as well as cortical thickness. We therefore propose that used together, these techniques can separate the underlying grey matter changes, highlighting the utility of combining these complementary methods.
The phenomenon of empathy entails the ability to share the affective experiences of others. In recent years social neuroscience made considerable progress in revealing the mechanisms that enable a person to feel what another is feeling. The present review provides an in-depth and critical discussion of these findings. Consistent evidence shows that sharing the emotions of others is associated with activation in neural structures that are also active during the first-hand experience of that emotion. Part of the neural activation shared between self- and other-related experiences seems to be rather automatically activated. However, recent studies also show that empathy is a highly flexible phenomenon, and that vicarious responses are malleable with respect to a number of factors--such as contextual appraisal, the interpersonal relationship between empathizer and other, or the perspective adopted during observation of the other. Future investigations are needed to provide more detailed insights into these factors and their neural underpinnings. Questions such as whether individual differences in empathy can be explained by stable personality traits, whether we can train ourselves to be more empathic, and how empathy relates to prosocial behavior are of utmost relevance for both science and society.
Recent evidence suggests that there are two possible systems for empathy: a basic emotional contagion system and a more advanced cognitive perspective-taking system. However, it is not clear whether these two systems are part of a single interacting empathy system or whether they are independent. Additionally, the neuroanatomical bases of these systems are largely unknown. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that emotional empathic abilities (involving the mirror neuron system) are distinct from those related to cognitive empathy and that the two depend on separate anatomical substrates. Subjects with lesions in the ventromedial prefrontal (VM) or inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) cortices and two control groups were assessed with measures of empathy that incorporate both cognitive and affective dimensions. The findings reveal a remarkable behavioural and anatomic double dissociation between deficits in cognitive empathy (VM) and emotional empathy (IFG). Furthermore, precise anatomical mapping of lesions revealed Brodmann area 44 to be critical for emotional empathy while areas 11 and 10 were found necessary for cognitive empathy. These findings are consistent with these cortices being different in terms of synaptic hierarchy and phylogenetic age. The pattern of empathy deficits among patients with VM and IFG lesions represents a first direct evidence of a double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy using the lesion method.
Structural MRIs of the brains of humans with extensive navigation experience, licensed London taxi drivers, were analyzed and compared with those of control subjects who did not drive taxis. The posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those of control subjects. A more anterior hippocampal region was larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers. Hippocampal volume correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver (positively in the posterior and negatively in the anterior hippocampus). These data are in accordance with the idea that the posterior hippocampus stores a spatial representation of the environment and can expand regionally to accommodate elaboration of this representation in people with a high dependence on navigational skills. It seems that there is a capacity for local plastic change in the structure of the healthy adult human brain in response to environmental demands.
We performed successive H(2)(15)O-PET scans on volunteers as they ate chocolate to beyond satiety. Thus, the sensory stimulus and act (eating) were held constant while the reward value of the chocolate and motivation of the subject to eat were manipulated by feeding. Non-specific effects of satiety (such as feelings of fullness and autonomic changes) were also present and probably contributed to the modulation of brain activity. After eating each piece of chocolate, subjects gave ratings of how pleasant/unpleasant the chocolate was and of how much they did or did not want another piece of chocolate. Regional cerebral blood flow was then regressed against subjects' ratings. Different groups of structures were recruited selectively depending on whether subjects were eating chocolate when they were highly motivated to eat and rated the chocolate as very pleasant [subcallosal region, caudomedial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), insula/operculum, striatum and midbrain] or whether they ate chocolate despite being satiated (parahippocampal gyrus, caudolateral OFC and prefrontal regions). As predicted, modulation was observed in cortical chemosensory areas, including the insula and caudomedial and caudolateral OFC, suggesting that the reward value of food is represented here. Of particular interest, the medial and lateral caudal OFC showed opposite patterns of activity. This pattern of activity indicates that there may be a functional segregation of the neural representation of reward and punishment within this region. The only brain region that was active during both positive and negative compared with neutral conditions was the posterior cingulate cortex. Therefore, these results support the hypothesis that there are two separate motivational systems: one orchestrating approach and another avoidance behaviours.
Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate the neural correlates of feeling sympathy for someone else (i.e. the affinity, association, or relationship between persons wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other). While undergoing PET scans, subjects were presented with a series of video-clips showing individuals (who were semi-professional stage actors) telling sad and neutral stories, as if they had personally experienced them. These stories were told with either congruent or incongruent motor expression of emotion (MEE). At the end of each movie, subjects were asked to rate the mood of the communicator and also how likable they found that person. Watching sad stories versus neutral stories was associated with increased activity in emotion processing-related structures, as well as in a set of cortical areas that belong to a "shared representation" network, including the right inferior parietal cortex. Motor expression of emotion, regardless of the narrative content of the stories, resulted in a specific regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) increase in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The condition of mismatch between the narrative content of the stories and the motor expression of emotion elicited a significant skin conductance response and strong rCBF increase in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and superior frontal gyrus which are involved in dealing with social conflict. Taken together, these results are consistent with a model of feeling sympathy that relies on both the shared representation and the affective networks. Interestingly, this network was not activated when subjects watched inappropriate social behavior.
There is disagreement in the literature about the exact nature of the phenomenon of empathy. There are emotional, cognitive, and conditioning views, applying in varying degrees across species. An adequate description of the ultimate and proximate mechanism can integrate these views. Proximately, the perception of an object's state activates the subject's corresponding representations, which in turn activate somatic and autonomic responses. This mechanism supports basic behaviors (e.g., alarm, social facilitation, vicariousness of emotions, mother-infant responsiveness, and the modeling of competitors and predators) that are crucial for the reproductive success of animals living in groups. The Perception-Action Model (PAM), together with an understanding of how representations change with experience, can explain the major empirical effects in the literature (similarity, familiarity, past experience, explicit teaching, and salience). It can also predict a variety of empathy disorders. The interaction between the PAM and prefrontal functioning can also explain different levels of empathy across species and age groups. This view can advance our evolutionary understanding of empathy beyond inclusive fitness and reciprocal altruism and can explain different levels of empathy across individuals, species, stages of development, and situations.
How do we empathize with others? A mechanism according to which action representation modulates emotional activity may provide an essential functional architecture for empathy. The superior temporal and inferior frontal cortices are critical areas for action representation and are connected to the limbic system via the insula. Thus, the insula may be a critical relay from action representation to emotion. We used functional MRI while subjects were either imitating or simply observing emotional facial expressions. Imitation and observation of emotions activated a largely similar network of brain areas. Within this network, there was greater activity during imitation, compared with observation of emotions, in premotor areas including the inferior frontal cortex, as well as in the superior temporal cortex, insula, and amygdala. We understand what others feel by a mechanism of action representation that allows empathy and modulates our emotional content. The insula plays a fundamental role in this mechanism.
Our ability to have an experience of another's pain is characteristic of empathy. Using functional imaging, we assessed brain
activity while volunteers experienced a painful stimulus and compared it to that elicited when they observed a signal indicating
that their loved one—present in the same room—was receiving a similar pain stimulus. Bilateral anterior insula (AI), rostral
anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brainstem, and cerebellum were activated when subjects received pain and also by a signal
that a loved one experienced pain. AIand ACC activation correlated with individual empathy scores. Activity in the posterior
insula/secondary somatosensory cortex, the sensorimotor cortex (SI/MI), and the caudal ACC was specific to receiving pain.
Thus, a neural response in AIand rostral ACC, activated in common for “self” and “other” conditions, suggests that the neural
substrate for empathic experience does not involve the entire “pain matrix.” We conclude that only that part of the pain network
associated with its affective qualities, but not its sensory qualities, mediates empathy.
Results obtained with functional magnetic resonance imaging show that both feeling a moderately painful pinprick stimulus to the fingertips and witnessing another person's hand undergo similar stimulation are associated with common activity in a pain-related area in the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Common activity in response to noxious tactile and visual stimulation was restricted to the right inferior Brodmann's area 24b. These results suggest a shared neural substrate for felt and seen pain for aversive ecological events happening to strangers and in the absence of overt symbolic cues. In contrast to ACC 24b, the primary somatosensory cortex showed significant activations in response to both noxious and innocuous tactile, but not visual, stimuli. The different response patterns in the two areas are consistent with the ACC's role in coding the motivational-affective dimension of pain, which is associated with the preparation of behavioral responses to aversive events.
Pain is intimately linked with action systems that are involved in observational learning and imitation. Motor responses to one's own pain allow freezing or escape reactions and ultimately survival. Here we show that similar motor responses occur as a result of observation of painful events in others. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to record changes in corticospinal motor representations of hand muscles of individuals observing needles penetrating hands or feet of a human model or noncorporeal objects. We found a reduction in amplitude of motor-evoked potentials that was specific to the muscle that subjects observed being pricked. This inhibition correlated with the observer's subjective rating of the sensory qualities of the pain attributed to the model and with sensory, but not emotional, state or trait empathy measures. The empathic inference about the sensory qualities of others' pain and their automatic embodiment in the observer's motor system may be crucial for the social learning of reactions to pain.
