Empathy and Pro-Social Behavior in Rats

Bartal, Inbal Ben-Ami; Decety, Jean; Mason, Peggy

doi:10.1126/science.1210789

Cited by 741 publications

(816 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…theory of mind), it takes as its basis bodily connections and involuntary mimicry, also known as the perception-action core of empathic processing [1]. There are now studies of empathy in mammals, from mice (Mus musculus) [2], rats (Rattus norvegicus) [3] and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) [4] to elephants (Loxodonta africana) [5], and also in birds [6,7]. One common behavioural measure is contagious yawning (CY), which appears to fit the empathy framework because of four key findings: (i) human adults high on other measures of empathy show more CY [8]; (ii) humans with developmental and personality disorders in which empathy is impaired show diminished CY [8][9][10][11]; (iii) CY is positively biased by familiarity in humans (Homo sapiens) [12], chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) [13], bonobos (Pan paniscus) [14], gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelada) [15] and dogs [16][17][18], as is typical of other measures of empathy; and (iv) presented with a variety of body movements apes exclusively increase yawning in response to observed yawning, suggesting CY's high specificity [19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees empathize with group mates and humans, but not with baboons or unfamiliar chimpanzees

Campbell

Waal

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Human empathy can extend to strangers and even other species, but it is unknown whether non-humans are similarly broad in their empathic responses. We explored the breadth and flexibility of empathy in chimpanzees, a close relative of humans. We used contagious yawning to measure involuntary empathy and showed chimpanzees videos of familiar humans, unfamiliar humans and gelada baboons (an unfamiliar species). We tested whether each class of stimuli elicited contagion by comparing the effect of yawn and control videos. After including previous data on the response to ingroup and outgroup chimpanzees, we found that familiar and unfamiliar humans elicited contagion equal to that of ingroup chimpanzees. Gelada baboons did not elicit contagion, and the response to them was equal to that of outgroup chimpanzees. However, the chimpanzees watched the outgroup chimpanzee videos more than any other. The combination of high interest and low contagion may stem from hostility towards unfamiliar chimpanzees, which may interfere with an empathic response. Overall, chimpanzees showed flexibility in that they formed an empathic connection with a different species, including unknown members of that species. These results imply that human empathic flexibility is shared with related species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees empathize with group mates and humans, but not with baboons or unfamiliar chimpanzees

Campbell

Waal

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Rats are also attuned to the affective cues of others and exhibit emotional contagion via empathic distress vocalizations, physiological reactivity, and activity in emotion-relevant brain structures (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala) when in the presence of another rat in distress. These reactions motivate prosocial helping behavior (42,43). Thus, emotional contagion is a simple form of affect sharing that is at the core of more sophisticated forms of empathy and is not dependent on higher-order cognitive processing.…”

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confidence: 99%

Heightened emotional contagion in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease is associated with temporal lobe degeneration

Sturm

Yokoyama

Seeley

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

145

133

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Emotional changes are common in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Intrinsic connectivity imaging studies suggest that default mode network degradation in AD is accompanied by the release of an emotion-relevant salience network. We investigated whether emotional contagion, an evolutionarily conserved affect-sharing mechanism, is higher in MCI and AD secondary to biological alterations in neural networks that support emotion. We measured emotional contagion in 237 participants (111 healthy controls, 62 patients with MCI, and 64 patients with AD) with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index Personal Distress subscale. Depressive symptoms were evaluated with the Geriatric Depression Scale. Participants underwent structural MRI, and voxel-based morphometry was used to relate whole-brain maps to emotional contagion. Analyses of covariance found significantly higher emotional contagion at each stage of disease progression [controls < MCI (P < 0.01) and MCI < AD (P < 0.001)]. Depressive symptoms were also higher in patients compared with controls [controls < MCI (P < 0.01) and controls < AD (P < 0.0001)]. Higher emotional contagion (but not depressive symptoms) was associated with smaller volume in right inferior, middle, and superior temporal gyri (P FWE < 0.05); right temporal pole, anterior hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus; and left middle temporal gyrus (all P < 0.001, uncorrected). These findings suggest that in MCI and AD, neurodegeneration of temporal lobe structures important for affective signal detection and emotion inhibition are associated with up-regulation of emotion-generating mechanisms. Emotional contagion, a quantifiable index of empathic reactivity that is present in other species, may be a useful tool with which to study emotional alterations in animal models of AD.empathy | social behavior | simulation | affective resonance P rogressive deterioration of memory and other cognitive functions characterizes Alzheimer's disease (AD) (1) and its prodromal stage, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (2). Deposition of beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the hallmark pathological changes in AD (3), is hypothesized to begin decades before the emergence of cognitive symptoms and subsequent functional decline (4). Emotional symptoms are also common and have been found in 35-85% of patients with MCI (5-7) and up to 75% of patients with AD (8), with depression and anxiety the most frequent symptoms seen. Individuals with MCI who have comorbid emotional complaints are more likely to progress to dementia than those without such symptoms (9-13). Taken together, these studies suggest that a clinical presentation that includes both cognitive decline and emotion dysregulation may point to an underlying AD process and that emotional symptoms themselves may portend or even exacerbate disease progression (9,11,14).The medial temporal lobe is among the earliest sites of disease in MCI and AD (2, 15), and hippocampal atrophy is associated with worse episodic memory performance on standardi...

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“…The existence of empathy among humans is commonly inferred from actions such as verbal report, consolation behaviour, donating money and helping another in distress. Rats perform similar actions including grooming another who has been shocked, interpreted as consolation, and releasing a trapped rat which the senior author and others have argued constitutes a rodent version of human empathy [6][7]. However, it is plausible that humans express a human version of the rat motivation to help another in distress.…”

Section: Should Rats or Humans Serve As The Standard?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A valence-free definition of sociality as any violation of inter-individual independence

Mason

Shan

2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Well over 90% of studies in biomedical sciences are performed on single animals. While knowledge of the genetics, development and physiology of single individuals accrues, an understanding of the biological mechanisms by which individuals interact has barely budged. Yet many of society's greatest problems derive from an inability of humans to get along with each other. Studies in social neuroscience are primarily observational and rarely employ subjects who physically interact. Thus, social interaction represents a largely unexplored frontier of biology. The neuroscience that underlies social behaviour and interactions can and should be studied using the scientific method. However, a workable and objective definitional framework of sociality is needed for scientific progress in this field. Here we propose a definition that uses a test of independence from the presence of others. The null hypothesis is that a behaviour is independent from the influence of others. Rejection of this null hypothesis means that the actions of an individual depend on the actions of one or more other individuals. This definition has the advantages of not being contaminated by moral judgements or biases in favour of pro-social behaviour, and of being applicable to a wide range of physiological processes. The definition of a social behaviour proposed here says nothing regarding the valence of the behaviour with respect to others. Thus, a behaviour that is influenced by the presence of others may benefit, harm, or have no effect on others. It is hoped that this definitional framework for sociality will facilitate our understanding of the origins and mechanisms of social behaviour among animals including humans as well as offer efficacious approaches to social disorders such as autism.

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Empathy and Pro-Social Behavior in Rats

Cited by 741 publications

References 28 publications

Chimpanzees empathize with group mates and humans, but not with baboons or unfamiliar chimpanzees

Chimpanzees empathize with group mates and humans, but not with baboons or unfamiliar chimpanzees

Heightened emotional contagion in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease is associated with temporal lobe degeneration

A valence-free definition of sociality as any violation of inter-individual independence

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