Authors
Tania Singer, Ben Seymour, John O'doherty, Holger Kaube, Raymond J Dolan, Chris D Frith
Publication date
2004/2/20
Journal
Science
Volume
303
Issue
5661
Pages
1157-1162
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Description
Our ability to have an experience of another's pain is characteristic of empathy. Using functional imaging, we assessed brain activity while volunteers experienced a painful stimulus and compared it to that elicited when they observed a signal indicating that their loved one—present in the same room—was receiving a similar pain stimulus. Bilateral anterior insula (AI), rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brainstem, and cerebellum were activated when subjects received pain and also by a signal that a loved one experienced pain. AIand ACC activation correlated with individual empathy scores. Activity in the posterior insula/secondary somatosensory cortex, the sensorimotor cortex (SI/MI), and the caudal ACC was specific to receiving pain. Thus, a neural response in AIand rostral ACC, activated in common for “self” and “other” conditions, suggests that the neural substrate for empathic experience does not involve …
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Scholar articles
T Singer, B Seymour, J O'doherty, H Kaube, RJ Dolan… - Science, 2004