How we empathize with others: A neurobiological perspective

Jankowiak-Siuda, Kamila; Rymarczyk, Krystyna; Grabowska, Anna

doi:10.12659/msm.881324

Cited by 37 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Empathy, the ability to share another's feelings, is an important contributor to successful social interaction and allows for the prediction and understanding of another's behavior and for reacting accordingly. The anterior cingulate cortex, with the medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior insula, and the temporo-parietal junction, with the somatosensory cortex, the superior temporal sulcus and the temporal pole, have been identified as key brain structures involved in empathy 20,21 . Recent research on empathy in humans has sought to dissociate its cognitive and emotional dimensions 22 .…”

Section: The Experience Of Motherhood Is One Of the Most Salient Evenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, according to the first expectation, in response to emotional infant faces, mothers showed greater activation in the somatosensory cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the middle and inferior temporal gyri, which are proposed to be part of the brain structures involved in emotional empathy (see Table 2 and Table S1) 20,21,23 . The greater response of these brain regions to emotional infant faces in new mothers may reflect a tagging of the infant stimuli as the current focus, which promotes further processing in maternal brain networks.…”

Section: Group Interaction Of Happy -Neutralmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brain Responses to Emotional Infant Faces in New Mothers and Nulliparous Women

Zhang

Rigo

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The experience of motherhood is one of the most salient events in a woman’s life. Motherhood is associated with a series of neurophysiological, psychological, and behavioral changes that allow women to better adapt to their new role as mothers. Infants communicate their needs and physiological states mainly through salient emotional expressions, and maternal responses to infant signals are critical for infant survival and development. In this study, we investigated the whole brain functional response to emotional infant faces in 20 new mothers and 22 nulliparous women during functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. New mothers showed higher brain activation in regions involved in infant facial expression processing and empathic and mentalizing networks than nulliparous women. Furthermore, magnitudes of the activation of the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left fusiform gyrus, recruited during facial expression processing, were positively correlated with empathic concern (EC) scores in new mothers when viewing emotional (happy-sad) faces contrasted to neutral faces. Taken together, these results indicate that the experience of being a mother affects human brain responses in visual and social cognitive brain areas and in brain areas associated with theory-of-mind related and empathic processing.

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Section: The Experience Of Motherhood Is One Of the Most Salient Evenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Group Interaction Of Happy -Neutralmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain Responses to Emotional Infant Faces in New Mothers and Nulliparous Women

Zhang

Rigo

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…In the last decade, researchers have focused on empathy as an essential component of human social interaction. The term ‘empathy’ – derived from Greek empatheia – ‘passion’ – is a multifaceted construct that is thought to involve both cognitive (i.e., understanding of another’s beliefs and feelings) and affective (i.e., ability to share another’s feelings) components (Jankowiak-Siuda et al, 2011; Betti and Aglioti, 2016). It is believed that people empathize with others by simulating their mental states or feelings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy in Facial Mimicry of Fear and Disgust: Simultaneous EMG-fMRI Recordings During Observation of Static and Dynamic Facial Expressions

et al. 2019

Self Cite

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Real-life faces are dynamic by nature, particularly when expressing emotion. Increasing evidence suggests that the perception of dynamic displays enhances facial mimicry and induces activation in widespread brain structures considered to be part of the mirror neuron system, a neuronal network linked to empathy. The present study is the first to investigate the relations among facial muscle responses, brain activity, and empathy traits while participants observed static and dynamic (videos) facial expressions of fear and disgust. During display presentation, blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal as well as muscle reactions of the corrugator supercilii and levator labii were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals (21 females). It was shown that both fear and disgust faces caused activity in the corrugator supercilii muscle, while perception of disgust produced facial activity additionally in the levator labii muscle, supporting a specific pattern of facial mimicry for these emotions. Moreover, individuals with higher, compared to individuals with lower, empathy traits showed greater activity in the corrugator supercilii and levator labii muscles; however, these responses were not differentiable between static and dynamic mode. Conversely, neuroimaging data revealed motion and emotional-related brain structures in response to dynamic rather than static stimuli among high empathy individuals. In line with this, there was a correlation between electromyography (EMG) responses and brain activity suggesting that the Mirror Neuron System, the anterior insula and the amygdala might constitute the neural correlates of automatic facial mimicry for fear and disgust. These results revealed that the dynamic property of (emotional) stimuli facilitates the emotional-related processing of facial expressions, especially among whose with high trait empathy.

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“…The second is neurobiological in nature, repairing the impaired self within a top-down, bottom-up attachment theory model that harnesses the power of empathy within the interpersonal psychotherapeutic connection through empathic resonance. Within this interpersonal neurobiological model, "the top-down process involves cognitive perspective taking, while the bottomup process, achieved through neuronal mirroring representation systems, plays a key role in the direct sharing of the emotional state of the other" [32]. Rapid Resolution Therapy (RRT) represents a form of neurobiological intervention, specifically designed to achieve the resolution of trauma.…”

Section: Neurophysiological Interventions Integrate Mind Brain Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reclaiming the Lost Self in the Treatment of Bulimia Nervosa: A Neurobiological Approach to Recovery That Integrates Mind, Brain, and Body

Natenshon¹

2019

Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa

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The pathology of bulimia nervosa reflects the 'dis-integration' of the structure of the self within the distributed nervous system, resulting in the patient's impaired sense of self and incapacity to sense self-experience. The twenty-first century definition of self as 'an embodied, sensory-based process grounded in kinesthetic experience' not only refutes the long-held myth of mind-body dualism, but also sheds light on the influence of neurobiological factors in disease onset and on how people make recovery changes within psychotherapy. The capacity to create, or reinstate, self-integration is built into the nervous system through the neuroplastic brain's ability to change its structure and function in response to thought, sensation, feeling, and motor activity. The introduction of neurophysiological (sensorimotor) and neurobiological (interpersonal, attachment-based) interventions into mainstream clinical treatment for bulimia nervosa increases exposure to embodied experience, fostering mind, brain, and body connectivity. By stimulating integrative neuronal firing and synaptic activity, top-down and bottom-up transactions enhance acuity in self-sensing, self-perception, and body image coherence, supporting the unification of the disparate self. The current focus of mainstream clinical eating disorder treatment on symptom reduction alone neglects the neurological underpinnings of the disease. This chapter describes a range of treatment options for bulimia nervosa designed to support sustainable changes at the brain level.Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa 2 disconnection. Scientists propose that somatic, autonomic, and visceral information is aberrantly processed in people who are vulnerable to developing AN and/or BN [2]. Engaging the distributed nervous system in the treatment of BN through adjunctive interventions that combine top-down and bottom-up neurophysiological mechanisms, and/or through the psychobiological attachment bond of emotional communication and interactive regulation between the patient and therapist, heals neurobiological aberrations at their source by accessing the roots of these disorders, which are embedded in neurobiological dysfunction. By capturing images of the neuroplastic brain as it changes in real time, modern brain-scanning technology reveals that harnessing body-based movement and sensory experience in conjunction with psychotherapy facilitates the neurological convergence of the mind, brain, and body, which fosters the integration of the structure of the healthy self. The current focus of mainstream conventional BN treatment, however, is on the psychological and environmental origins of the disorder, neglecting the neurological underpinnings of disease. Scientific evidence points to the need to expand the parameters of the treatment field to promote the neurobiological reintegration of the recovering bulimic patient's healthy self through treatment modalities that sustain changes at the brain level. Recruiting brain circuitry enhances and promotes the integration of the nervous syste...

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How we empathize with others: A neurobiological perspective

Cited by 37 publications

References 71 publications

Brain Responses to Emotional Infant Faces in New Mothers and Nulliparous Women

Brain Responses to Emotional Infant Faces in New Mothers and Nulliparous Women

Empathy in Facial Mimicry of Fear and Disgust: Simultaneous EMG-fMRI Recordings During Observation of Static and Dynamic Facial Expressions

Reclaiming the Lost Self in the Treatment of Bulimia Nervosa: A Neurobiological Approach to Recovery That Integrates Mind, Brain, and Body

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