The Neural Bases for Empathy

Dados Bibliográficos

ID23367669
AutoresSimone Shamay-Tsoory (0000-0003-1088-5212, University of Haifa, autor correspondente), Simone G Shamay-Tsoory (University of Haifa)
Ano2011
Volume17
Fascículo1
Páginas18-24
Data de publicação2011-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Neuroscientist (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1073-8584 • E-ISSN: 1089-4098
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1073858410379268
PMID21071616
OpenAlexW2149260122
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas96
Referências citadas36

Human empathy relies on the ability to share emotions as well as the ability to understand the other’s thoughts, desires, and feelings. Recent evidence points to 2 separate systems for empathy: an emotional system that supports our ability to empathize emotionally and a cognitive system that involves cognitive understanding of the other’s perspective. Converging evidence from neuroimaging and lesion studies shows that a neural network that includes the inferior frontal gyrus and the inferior parietal lobule is necessary for emotion recognition and emotional contagion. On the other hand, the involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and the medial temporal lobe in self-reflection and autobiographical memory places these key regions as necessary for cognitive empathy. The proposed dissociation between these systems is supported by recent neurochemical experiments involving administration of oxytocin as well as by ethological, psychiatric, and developmental studies. Finally, although the emotional and cognitive systems appear to work independently, every empathic response may still evoke both components to some extent, depending on the social context.

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Context (archaeology) · Dissociation (chemistry) · Empathy · Inferior frontal gyrus · Inferior parietal lobule · Mirror neuron · Prefrontal cortex · Temporoparietal junction · Ventromedial prefrontal cortex · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Memory Processes and Influences · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology