Empathy is the ability to understand and
share the feelings of another. In an fMRI study by Dr. Slyvia Morelli at UCLA,
researchers assessed the empathetic responses of 32 participants. In the study,
participants were asked to empathize with images of people exhibiting pain,
anxiety, and happiness. For the pain condition, participants in the fMRI
scanner were presented with an image of someone in a physically painful
condition and asked to imagine how much pain that person would be in. For the
anxiety and happiness condition, participants were presented with a contextual
sentence, followed by six images depicting different people in that situation.
The participants were then asked to imagine how each person might feel in
either the happy or anxiety-inducing conditions. Finally, participants in the
neutral condition were presented with images of people performing everyday
tasks, such as ironing or preparing food. (Morelli, Rameson, & Lieberman,
2012).
The
results of the study indicate that the empathetic responses occur throughout
the brain. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the anterior insula
(AI), two brain regions associated with negative affect, were activated upon
empathizing with people experiencing pain and anxiety. The ventromedial
prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a region associated with positive affect, was active
when participants were empathizing with happy people. Additionally, the
putative mirror neuron system was more active for context-independent
empathizing (empathy with pain) than for context-dependent empathizing (empathy
with anxiety and happiness). Another
interesting finding of the study indicated that septal area was active while
empathizing with all three emotions in the study: pain, anxiety, and happiness
(Morelli et al.). Therefore, this study implicates the dACC, the AI, the VMPFC,
and the putative mirror system as important for empathizing with painful,
anxiety-inducing, and happy situations.
An
article in Science Daily explored a few studies similar to Morelli’s, which
aimed to pinpoint the areas of the brain responsible for empathizing and
performing altruistic behaviors. In one fMRI study, 20 people watched a video
of a hand being poked with a pin, and were then asked to imitate facial
expressions from a variety of emotions. The researchers determined that the
amygdala, somatosensory cortex, and the anterior insula are associated with
experiencing pain and imitating others (ScienceDaily). Another part of the same
study had participants playing the “dictator game”, in which participants were
given $10 with which they could keep for themselves or share with a stranger.
Participants with the most activity in the prefrontal cortex were more likely
to be greedy, while participants with more activity in the brain regions
associated with empathizing (perceiving pain and emotion) were more likely to
give away a greater amount of their money. These findings suggest that people
with more activation in the prefrontal cortex (an area of the brain associated
with inhibition and regulating behavior) are less likely to perform the
altruistic behaviors associated with empathy (ScienceDaily).
These
studies conducted by Dr. Sylvia Morelli and other researchers revealed the
brain regions most important in experiencing empathy. These areas include the
dACC, the AI, the VMPFC, the putative mirror neuron system, the somatosensory
cortex and the amygdala. The prefrontal cortex is also important in inhibiting
helping behavior, thus it inhibits empathy. This kind of research is important
for understanding human nature and the way in which we can relate to each
other. It allows gives us a better idea of how to encourage helping behavior.
Sources:
Morelli, S. A.,
Rameson, L. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (2012). The neural components of
empathy: predicting daily prosocial behavior. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9, 39-47. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss088
University of California - Los
Angeles. (2016, March 18). Your brain might be hard-wired for altruism:
Neuroscience research suggests an avenue for treating the empathically
challenged. ScienceDaily. Retrieved
May 2, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160318102101.htm
Image
http://impakter.com/deconstructing-empathy-in-the-digital-age/
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