Grasping an object requires processing visuospatial information about the extrinsic features (spatial location) and intrinsic features (size, shape, orientation) of the object. Accordingly, manual prehension has been subdivided into a reach component, guiding the hand toward the object on the basis of its extrinsic features, and a grasp component, preshaping the fingers around the center of mass of the object on the basis of its intrinsic features. In neural terms, this distinction has been linked to a dedicated dorsomedial "reaching" circuit and a dorsolateral "grasping" circuit that process extrinsic and intrinsic features, linking occipital areas via parietal regions with the dorsal and ventral premotor cortex, respectively. We have tested an alternative possibility, namely that the relative contribution of the two circuits is related to the degree of on-line control required by the prehension movement.We used dynamic causal modeling of functional magnetic resonance imaging time series to assess how parieto-frontal connectivity is modulated by planning and executing prehension movements toward objects of different size and width. This experimental manipulation evoked different movements, with different planning and execution phases for the different objects. Crucially, grasping large objects increased inter-regional couplings within the dorsomedial circuit, whereas grasping small objects increased the effective connectivity of a mainly dorsolateral circuit, with a degree of overlap between these circuits. These results argue against the presence of dedicated cerebral circuits for reaching and grasping, suggesting that the contributions of the dorsolateral and the dorsomedial circuits are a function of the degree of on-line control required by the movement.

In the last decade, the phenomenon of empathy has received widespread attention by the field of social neuroscience. This has provided fresh insights for theoretical models of empathy, and substantially influenced the academic and public conceptions about this complex social skill. The present paper highlights three key issues which are often linked to empathy, but which at the same time might obscure our understanding of it. These issues are: (1) shared neural activations and whether these can be interpreted as evidence for simulation accounts of empathy; (2) the causal link of empathy to our presumed mirror neuron system; and (3) the question whether increasing empathy will result in better moral decisions and behaviors. The aim of our review is to provide the basis for critically evaluating our current understanding of empathy, and its public reception, and to inspire new research directions.

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Recent behavioral investigations suggest that acute stress can increase prosocial behavior. Here, we investigated whether increased empathy represents a potential mechanism for this finding. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed the effects of acute stress on neural responses related to automatic and regulatory components of empathy for pain as well as subsequent prosocial behavior. Stress increased activation in brain areas associated with the automatic sharing of others’ pain, such as the anterior insula, the anterior midcingulate cortex, and the primary somatosensory cortex. In addition, we found increased prosocial behavior under stress. Furthermore, activation in the anterior midcingulate cortex mediated the effects of stress on prosocial behavior. However, stressed participants also displayed stronger and inappropriate other-related responses in situations which required them to take the perspective of another person, and to regulate their automatic affective responses. Thus, while acute stress may increase prosocial behavior by intensifying the sharing of others’ emotions, this comes at the cost of reduced cognitive appraisal abilities. Depending on the contextual constraints, stress may therefore affect empathy in ways that are either beneficial or detrimental.

Mimicry has been ascribed affiliative functions. In three experiments, we used a newly developed social-affective mimicry task (SAMT) to investigate mimicry´s modulation by emotional facial expressions (happy, angry) and ethnic group-membership (White in-group, Black out-group). Experiment 1 established the main consistent effect across experiments, which was enhanced mimicry to angry out-group faces compared to angry in-group faces. Hence the SAMT was useful for experimentally investigating the modulation of mimicry. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these effects were not confounded by general aspects of response conflict, as a Simon task resulted in different response patterns than the SAMT. Experiment 2 and pooled analysis of Experiments 1 and 2 also corroborated the finding of enhanced mimicry to angry out-group faces. Experiment 3 tested whether this effect was related to perceptions of threat, by framing angry persons as physically threatening, or not. Selective enhancement of mimicry to out-group persons framed as physically threatening confirmed this hypothesis. Further support for the role of threat was derived from implicit measures showing, in all experiments, that black persons were more strongly associated with threat. Furthermore, enhanced mimicry was consistently related to response facilitation in the execution of congruent movements. This suggests that mimicry acted as a social congruency signal. Our findings suggest that mimicry may serve as an appeasement signal in response to negative affiliative intent. This extends previous models of mimicry, which have predominantly focused on its role in reciprocating affiliation. It suggests that mimicry might not only be used to maintain and establish affiliative bonds, but also to ameliorate a negative social situation.

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There are several models of premotor cortex contributions to sensorimotor behavior. For instance, the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) appears to be involved in processing visuospatial object properties for grasping, whereas the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) is involved in using arbitrary rules to guide advance motor planning. These models have focused on individual movements. Here, we examine the premotor responses evoked during the processing of individual movements functionally embedded in an action. We tested whether processing hand–object interactions and action end states would differentially engage PMv and PMd. We used a repetition suppression (RS)–functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm in which we independently manipulated the observed grip, the end position of the object (independent of its spatial location), and the hand trajectory. By comparing novel and repeated trials for each of these action components, we could isolate RS effects specific to each of them. Repeating the grasp component attenuated activity in right PMv, whereas repeating the end state of the action reduced blood oxygen level–dependent activity in the left PMd. These results suggest that PMv is involved in controlling the kinematic means of an appropriate hand–object interaction, whereas PMd is focused on specifying the desired end state of an action.

The extent to which people regard others as full-blown individuals with mental states (“humanization”) seems crucial for their prosocial motivation towards them. Previous research has shown that decisions about moral dilemmas in which one person can be sacrificed to save multiple others do not consistently follow utilitarian principles. We hypothesized that this behavior can be explained by the potential victim’s perceived humanness and an ensuing increase in vicarious emotions and emotional conflict during decision making. Using fMRI, we assessed neural activity underlying moral decisions that affected fictitious persons that had or had not been experimentally humanized. In implicit priming trials, participants either engaged in mentalizing about these persons (Humanized condition) or not (Neutral condition). In subsequent moral dilemmas, participants had to decide about sacrificing these persons’ lives in order to save the lives of numerous others. Humanized persons were sacrificed less often, and the activation pattern during decisions about them indicated increased negative affect, emotional conflict, vicarious emotions, and behavioral control (pgACC/mOFC, anterior insula/IFG, aMCC and precuneus/PCC). Besides, we found enhanced effective connectivity between aMCC and anterior insula, which suggests increased emotion regulation during decisions affecting humanized victims. These findings highlight the importance of others’ perceived humanness for prosocial behavior - with aversive affect and other-related concern when imagining harming more “human-like” persons acting against purely utilitarian decisions.