PosterPDF Available

Human and animal-directed empathy during social interactions: A multi-method approach with hemodynamic (fNIRS), electrocortical (EEG) and autonomic measures

September 2015
Clinical Neurophysiology 127(3):e51

DOI:10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.168

Conference: 15th European Congress on Clinical Neurophysiology
At: Brno, Czech Republic

Authors:

Maria Elide Vanutelli

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

Michela Balconi

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

Objective Our relationships are characterized by interactions with other humans, but also with animal companions. Such interactions are mediated by empathic competencies which, however, conventionally refers to emotional concerns for another person. Research revealed that human–animal relationships provide opportunities to increase empathy, but the presence of animal-directed empathy and its neural correlates have still to be explored. The present study aimed to investigate common and specific neural correlates while viewing intra and interspecies interactions, with particular attention to their valence, and to personality components. Methods Participants were submitted to positive, negative and neutral pictures while hemodynamic (NIRS), electrocortical (EEG) and autonomic measures (heart rate, HR; electrodermal activity, EDA) were simultaneously recorded. Results Data showed the presence of common patterns of activation for both interactions (human- and animal-directed), suggesting they are not mutually exclusive, but differentially predominant. Anyway the presence of some differences also emerged, suggesting the way we process different interactions may also be specific. Conclusions Results suggest that empathy is not a response we save for our conspecific, but can also be extended to animals. Key message The presence of homologous but also partially differentiated channels for the development of empathic competencies through types of interactions was underlined.

Content uploaded by Maria Elide Vanutelli

Content may be subject to copyright.

Background

In the last years social neuroscience research attempted to identify the neural networks underlying the human ability to perceive others'

emotions, a core process in establishing meaningful social bonds. However, whereas these mechanisms were explored in depth during

human interactions, limited research focused on non-human social contexts. Actually we do not establish relations only with humans, but

also with other animals, even if it’s not clear whether we can experience similar empathic responses while viewing both human-human

(HH) and human-animal (HA) interactions (Vanutelli & Balconi, 2015a,b). To answer this issue we measured prefrontal brain responses and

autonomic reactions in empathic tendencies toward different interpersonal affective conditions.

PARTICIPANTS: Mage=25.88; SD=2.03

1) Both electrophysiological and hemodynamic components were modulated by valence, with a specific prefrontal left/right lateralization

effect related to positive/negative interactions, according to the Approach-Withdrawal model of emotion (Davidson, 1983).

2) EEG data showed that intra- and inter-species contexts evoked similar ERP patterns, with higher frontal N200 amplitudes to positive and

negative stimuli. This component was found to be directly related to the emotional relevance of the context (Balconi & Pozzoli, 2007). Thus, it can

be hypothesized that both contexts elicit an affective component, finalized to alert the emotional behavior in response to highly significant

situations.

3) Nevertheless fNIRS showed some specificities as a function of valence, with higher responses for HH negative and HA positive stimuli,

which could be supposed to be the most salient contexts to be processed.

4) Nonetheless, irrespective of valence, autonomic data showed that HA contexts were related to higher bodily reactions, probably related

to the presence of a non-conspecific.

Results

Balconi, M., & Pozzoli, U. (2007). Event-related oscillations (EROs) and event-related

potentials (ERPs) comparison in facial expression recognition. Journal of

Neuropsychology, 1(Pt 2), 283-294.

Davidson, R. J. (1983). Hemispheric specialization for cognition and affect. In: A. Gale, & J.

Edwards (Eds.) Physiological Correlates of Human Behavior. London: Academic Press. pp.

203–216.

STIMULI and PROCEDURE: Subjects were required

to observe 48 affective pictures depicting interactions

between humans-humans (HH) and humans-animals

(HA), with positive, negative and neutral valence

EEG: 16-channel System

over AFF3, AFF4, Fz, AFp1,

AFp2, C3, C4, Cz, P3, P4, Pz,

T7, T8, O1, O2.

Human and animal-directed empathy during social interactions:

A multi-method approach with hemodynamic (fNIRS), electrocortical (EEG) and autonomic measures.

Vanutelli, M. E.1,2, Balconi, M.1,2

1Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy;

2Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy

fNIRS: 6-channels with4 light

sources (AF3-AF4 and F5-

F6) and 4 detectors (AFF1-

AFF2 and F3-F4).

AUTONOMIC MEASURES:

Electrocardiographic activity

(ECG), skin conductance

response (SCR) and level (SCL).

Vanutelli, M. E., & Balconi, M. (2015a). Empathy and prosocial behaviors: Insights from

intra- and inter-species interactions. The International Journal of Phylosophy and

Psychology, 6(1), 88-109.

Vanutelli, M. E., & Balconi, M. (2015b). Perceiving emotions in human-human and human-

animal interactions: Hemodynamic prefrontal activity (fNIRS) and empathic concern.

Neuroscience Letters, 605, 1-6.

Methods

Discussion and Conclusions

MariaElide.Vanutelli@unicatt.it

ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.

Core Affect and the Psychological Construction of Emotion

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2003

James A Russell

At the heart of emotion, mood, and any other emotionally charged event are states experienced as simply feeling good or bad, energized or enervated. These states - called core affect - influence reflexes, perception, cognition, and behavior and are influenced by many causes internal and external, but people have no direct access to these causal connections. Core affect can therefore be experienced as free-floating (mood) or can be attributed to some cause (and thereby begin an emotional episode). These basic processes spawn a broad framework that includes perception of the core-affect-altering properties of stimuli, motives, empathy, emotional meta-experience, and affect versus emotion regulation; it accounts for prototypical emotional episodes, such as fear and anger, as core affect attributed to something plus various nonemotional processes.

The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia scale—I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1994
J PSYCHOSOM RES

Addressing shortcomings of the self-report Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), two studies were conducted to reconstruct the item domain of the scale. The first study resulted in the development of a new twenty-item version of the scale—the TAS-20. The TAS-20 demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and a three-factor structure theoretically congruent with the alexithymia construct. The stability and replicability of this three-factor structure were demonstrated in the second study with both clinical and nonclinical populations by the use of confirmatory factor analysis.

Prefrontal cortex regulates inhibition and excitation in distributed neural networks

Article

Full-text available

Apr 1999
ACTA PSYCHOL

Prefrontal cortex provides both inhibitory and excitatory input to distributed neural circuits required to support performance in diverse tasks. Neurological patients with prefrontal damage are impaired in their ability to inhibit task-irrelevant information during behavioral tasks requiring performance over a delay. The observed enhancements of primary auditory and somatosensory cortical responses to task-irrelevant distractors suggest that prefrontal damage disrupts inhibitory modulation of inputs to primary sensory cortex, perhaps through abnormalities in a prefrontal-thalamic sensory gating system. Failure to suppress irrelevant sensory information results in increased neural noise, contributing to the deficits in decision making routinely observed in these patients. In addition to a critical role in inhibitory control of sensory flow to primary cortical regions, and tertiary prefrontal cortex also exerts excitatory input to activity in multiple sub-regions of secondary association cortex. Unilateral prefrontal damage results in multi-modal decreases in neural activity in posterior association cortex in the hemisphere ipsilateral to damage. This excitatory modulation is necessary to sustain neural activity during working memory. Thus, prefrontal cortex is able to sculpt behavior through parallel inhibitory and excitatory regulation of neural activity in distributed neural networks.

Validità della versione Italiana delle Scale BIS/BAS di Carver e White (1994): Generalizzabilita della struttura e relazioni con costrutti affini

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2002

Keywords: Building on Gray's constructs (e.g., 1982, 1990), Carver and White (1994) developed measurement scales for the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS). Carver and White's scales focus primarily on the affective self-regulatory functions of the BIS and BAS constructs. In this study 426 participants filled out the Italian version of the scales. Structural generalizability was assessed splitting the sample in two sub-samples of 213 each, and performing simultaneous confirmatory factor analysis. Factor loadings, error components, reliability, and factor variances-covariances were found to be invariant across groups. Associations of the BIS/BAS scales with other constructs (Big Five, Impulsivity, Attentional Control, and Action Orientation) were also investigated. Interesting associations were found among the BIS/BAS scales and other constructs pertaining to self-regulation. Discriminant validity between the BIS and Neuroticism is discussed. The multiple regulatory functions assessed by the BAS scales are also addressed. The scales can be used as research tools in a wide array of topics concerning motivational and emotional processes.

Appetitive‐aversive interactions and inhibitory processes

Article