Empathy by default: correlates in the brain at rest

Background: Empathy, defi ned as the ability to access and respond to the inner world of another person, is a multidimensional construct involving cognitive, emotional and self-regulatory mechanisms. Neuroimaging studies report that empathy recruits brain regions which are part of the social cogniti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psicothema 2018, Vol.30 (1), p.97-103
Main Authors: Oliveira-Silva, Patrícia, Maia, Liliana, Coutinho, Joana, Frank, Brandon, Soares, José Miguel, Sampaio, Adriana, Gonçalves, Óscar
Format: Article
Language:eng ; spa
Subjects:
Adult
Brain Mapping
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive empathy
Computer Simulation
Default mode network
Emotional empathy
Empathy
Empathy - physiology
Female
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical imaging
Memory, Episodic
Models, Neurological
Models, Psychological
Monte Carlo Method
Nerve Net - physiology
Neuroimaging
Self Report
Theory of Mind - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary:Background: Empathy, defi ned as the ability to access and respond to the inner world of another person, is a multidimensional construct involving cognitive, emotional and self-regulatory mechanisms. Neuroimaging studies report that empathy recruits brain regions which are part of the social cognition network. Among the different resting state networks, the Default Mode Network (DMN) may be of particular interest for the study of empathy since it has been implicated in social cognition tasks. Method: The current study compared the cognitive and emotional empathy scores, as measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, with the patterns of activation within the DMN, through the neuroimaging methodology of resting-state functional magnetic resonance. Results: Results suggest a signifi cant positive correlation between cognitive empathy and activation of the bilateral superior medial frontal cortex nodes of the DMN. Contrastingly, a negative correlation was found between emotional empathy and the same brain region. Conclusions: Overall, this data highlights a critical role of the medial cortical regions of the DMN, specifi cally its anterior node, for both cognitive and emotional domains of the empathic process.
ISSN:0214-9915
1886-144X
DOI:10.7334/psicothema2016.366