Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults
Neural substrates of empathy are mainly investigated through task-related functional MRI. However, the functional neural mechanisms at rest underlying the empathic response have been poorly studied. We aimed to investigate neuroanatomical and functional substrates of cognitive and affective empathy....
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doaj-6a29f31198a7415e88a58233dfb6efd32020-11-25T01:48:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532019-05-011310.3389/fnbeh.2019.00085435121Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy AdultsCarme Uribe0Arnau Puig-Davi1Alexandra Abos2Hugo C. Baggio3Carme Junque4Carme Junque5Carme Junque6Barbara Segura7Barbara Segura8Medical Psychology Unit, Department of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainMedical Psychology Unit, Department of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainMedical Psychology Unit, Department of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainMedical Psychology Unit, Department of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainMedical Psychology Unit, Department of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainInstitut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, SpainMedical Psychology Unit, Department of Medicine, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainNeural substrates of empathy are mainly investigated through task-related functional MRI. However, the functional neural mechanisms at rest underlying the empathic response have been poorly studied. We aimed to investigate neuroanatomical and functional substrates of cognitive and affective empathy. The self-reported empathy questionnaire Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test (TECA), T1 and T2∗-weighted 3-Tesla MRI were obtained from 22 healthy young females (mean age: 19.6 ± 2.4) and 20 males (mean age: 22.5 ± 4.4). Groups of low and high empathy were established for each scale. FreeSurfer v6.0 was used to estimate cortical thickness and to automatically segment the subcortical structures. FSL v5.0.10 was used to compare resting-state connectivity differences between empathy groups in six defined regions: the orbitofrontal, cingulate, and insular cortices, and the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus using a non-parametric permutation approach. The high empathy group in the Perspective Taking subscale (cognitive empathy) had greater thickness in the left orbitofrontal and ventrolateral frontal cortices, bilateral anterior cingulate, superior frontal, and occipital regions. Within the affective empathy scales, subjects with high Empathic Distress had higher thalamic volumes than the low-empathy group. Regarding resting-state connectivity analyses, low-empathy individuals in the Empathic Happiness scale had increased connectivity between the orbitofrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate when compared with the high-empathy group. In conclusion, from a structural point of view, there is a clear dissociation between the brain correlates of affective and cognitive factors of empathy. Neocortical correlates were found for the cognitive empathy dimension, whereas affective empathy is related to lower volumes in subcortical structures. Functionally, affective empathy is linked to connectivity between the orbital and cingulate cortices.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00085/fullcognitive empathyaffective empathyhealthy subjectscortical thicknessfMRIresting-state connectivity |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Carme Uribe Arnau Puig-Davi Alexandra Abos Hugo C. Baggio Carme Junque Carme Junque Carme Junque Barbara Segura Barbara Segura |
spellingShingle |
Carme Uribe Arnau Puig-Davi Alexandra Abos Hugo C. Baggio Carme Junque Carme Junque Carme Junque Barbara Segura Barbara Segura Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience cognitive empathy affective empathy healthy subjects cortical thickness fMRI resting-state connectivity |
author_facet |
Carme Uribe Arnau Puig-Davi Alexandra Abos Hugo C. Baggio Carme Junque Carme Junque Carme Junque Barbara Segura Barbara Segura |
author_sort |
Carme Uribe |
title |
Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults |
title_short |
Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults |
title_full |
Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults |
title_fullStr |
Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults |
title_full_unstemmed |
Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults |
title_sort |
neuroanatomical and functional correlates of cognitive and affective empathy in young healthy adults |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
issn |
1662-5153 |
publishDate |
2019-05-01 |
description |
Neural substrates of empathy are mainly investigated through task-related functional MRI. However, the functional neural mechanisms at rest underlying the empathic response have been poorly studied. We aimed to investigate neuroanatomical and functional substrates of cognitive and affective empathy. The self-reported empathy questionnaire Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test (TECA), T1 and T2∗-weighted 3-Tesla MRI were obtained from 22 healthy young females (mean age: 19.6 ± 2.4) and 20 males (mean age: 22.5 ± 4.4). Groups of low and high empathy were established for each scale. FreeSurfer v6.0 was used to estimate cortical thickness and to automatically segment the subcortical structures. FSL v5.0.10 was used to compare resting-state connectivity differences between empathy groups in six defined regions: the orbitofrontal, cingulate, and insular cortices, and the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus using a non-parametric permutation approach. The high empathy group in the Perspective Taking subscale (cognitive empathy) had greater thickness in the left orbitofrontal and ventrolateral frontal cortices, bilateral anterior cingulate, superior frontal, and occipital regions. Within the affective empathy scales, subjects with high Empathic Distress had higher thalamic volumes than the low-empathy group. Regarding resting-state connectivity analyses, low-empathy individuals in the Empathic Happiness scale had increased connectivity between the orbitofrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate when compared with the high-empathy group. In conclusion, from a structural point of view, there is a clear dissociation between the brain correlates of affective and cognitive factors of empathy. Neocortical correlates were found for the cognitive empathy dimension, whereas affective empathy is related to lower volumes in subcortical structures. Functionally, affective empathy is linked to connectivity between the orbital and cingulate cortices. |
topic |
cognitive empathy affective empathy healthy subjects cortical thickness fMRI resting-state connectivity |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00085/full |
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