Neural Correlates

This section is categorized by name of scale.

Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) has been shown to positively correlate with the magnitude of neural activity related to empathy Multidimensional Individual Difference measure of Empathy. These studies also looked at neuroimaging to see what part(s) of the brain were used for empathy.

• Hooker, C. I., Verosky, S. C., Germine, L. T., Knight, R. T., & D’Esposito, M. (2010) Neural activity during social signal perception correlates with self-reported empathy. Brain Research, 1308, 100-113.

• Lamm, C., Decety, J., & Singer, T. (2011). Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. NeuroImage, 54, 2492-502.

• Mathur, V., Harada, T., Lipke, T., & Chiao, J. Y. (2010). Neural basis of extraordinary empathy and altruistic motivation. NeuroImage, 51, 1468-75.

• Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Aharon-Peretz, J., & Perry, D. (2009). Two systems for empathy: A double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy in inferior frontal gyrus versus ventromedial prefrontal lesions. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 132, 617-627.

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MKDA — a whole-brain based quantitative meta-analysis of recent fMRI studies of empathy was performed to see if there is a core neural network for empathy.

• Fan, Y., Duncan, N., de Greck, M., & Northoff, G. (2011) Is there a core neural network in empathy? An fMRI based quantitative meta-analysis. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 35(3), 903-11.

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Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) is used to 1) identify areas in the brain that exhibit significant co-variation with the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) during pain empathy across the three perspectives; and 2) to elucidate the role of these regions in perspective taking and empathy.

• Cheng, Y., Chen, C., Lin, C., Chou, K., & Decety, J. (2010). Love hurts: an fMRI study. NeuroImage, 51, 923-929.

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Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task assesses individual differences in the ability to infer the affective mental states of strangers.

• Rodrigues, S. M., Saslow, L. R., Garcia, N., John, O. P., & Keltner, D. (2009)Oxytocin receptor genetic variation relates to empathy and stress reactivity in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(50), 21437-41.

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Mesolimbic reward system is engaged by donations in the same way as when monetary rewards are obtained.

• Moll, J., Krueger, F., Zahn, R., Pardini, M., Oliveira-Souza, R., & Grafman, J. (2006). Human fronto-mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(42), 15623-8.

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Self-report experience in response to evocative stimuli (video/audio) task measure compassionate reactions to different kinds of stimuli.

• Simon-Thomas, E., Godzik, J., Castle, E., Antonenko, O., Ponz, A., Kogan, A., & Keltner. D. (2011). An fMRI study of caring vs self-focus during induced compassion and pride. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. In Press.

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fMRI:

fMRI to measure psycho-physiological expression of compassion in the brain.

• Boyatzis, R., Jack, A., Cesaro, R., Khawaja, M., & Passarelli, A. (2010). Coaching with compassion: An fMRI study of coaching to the positive or negative emotional attractor. Organizational Behavior, Cognitive Science, 1-39.

 

fMRI to view the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) activity when the participants are given to option to donate or invest money.

• Cooper, J. C., Kreps, Tamar A., Wiebe, T., Pirkl, T., & Knutson, B. (2010). When giving is good: ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation for others’ intentions. Neuron, 67, 511-521.

 

fMRI to explore differences in neural response to empathy-eliciting stimuli in adolescents with and without aggressive CD. Areas of the pain matrix, dmPFC, OFC and temporo-parietal junction all have been associated with empathy for pain and mentalizing in previous studies,

• Decety, J., Michalska, K. J., Akitsuki, Y., & Lahey, B. B. (2009) Atypical empathic responses in adolescents with aggressive conduct disorder: a functional MRI investigation.Biological psychology, 80(2), 203-11.

 

fMRI — and measured the sequential interaction between interoception and empathy.

• Ernst, J., Northoff, G., Boker, H., Seifritz, E., & Grimm, S. (2012). Interoceptive awareness enhances neural activity during empathy. Hum Brain Mapp. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22014.

 

fMRI — Participants assumed neutral or compassionate attitude to sad/neutral face during fMRI. The main effect of a compassionate attitude was observed in the medial frontal cortex, the subgenual frontal cortex, the inferior frontal cortex and the midbrain regions.The results of this study suggest that taking a compassionate attitude towards other people’s sad expressions modulate the activities of the midbrain-ventral striatum/septal region network, which is known to play a role in the prosocial/social approach motivation and its accompanied rewarding feeling.

• Kim, J., Kim, S., Kim, J., Jeong, B., Park, C., Son, A. R., Song, J. E, & Ki, S. W., (2009). Compassionate attitude towards others’ suffering activates the mesolimbic neural system.Neuropsychologia, 47(10), 2073-81.

 

fMRI to see the effects of focused-attention meditation (FAM) and metta loving- kindness meditation (LKM).

• Lee, T., Leung, M., Hou, W., Tang, J., Yin, J., So, K., .. Chan, C. (2012). Distinct neural activity associated with focused- attention meditation and loving-kindness meditation. PLOS ONE, 7, e40054.

 

fMRI to measure empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior (self report as well, in first section).

• Masten, C. L., Morelli, S. A., & Eisenberger N. I. (2011). An fMRI investigation of empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior. Neuroimage, 55(1): 381-388. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.060.

 

fMRI study found that empathy for friends vs strangers activated different regions in the brain.

• Meyer, M., Masten, C., Ma, Y., Wang, C., Shi, Z., Eisenberger, N., & Han, S. (2012). Empathy for the social suffering of friends and strangers recruits distinct patterns of brain activation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.