Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Getting to Know Ourselves Through Recognizing Ourselves in Others: Neuroanatomy of Empathy in a Social Neuroscientific Model

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Multidisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity in Health

Part of the book series: Integrated Science ((IS,volume 6))

  • 1072 Accesses

Summary

This chapter revisits the intricate notion of ‘human being’ elaborated by Duns Scotus to argue that empathy is a broad concept overlapping emotional, cognitive, and social components, allowing people to recognize another’s mental and physical states and to motivate prosocial behaviors. Also, an analytical review is offered and initiated with the German term einfühlung used in esthetics and phenomenology. It was then translated as empathy, with meanings used in the contemporary cognitive sciences and evolutionary perspectives. The analytical review guided a critical revision of neuroimaging studies to provide a neuroanatomical mapping of empathy useful for mental health issues and the analysis of social behaviors in response to others’ needs. The mapping involves overlapped neural functions related to emotional and motor experiences (insula and anterior cingulate cortex), emotional contagion and recognition (amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobe, and premotor cortex), cognitive perspective-taking and mentalizing (medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal sulcus, temporal pole, temporoparietal junction, and precuneus), inference of emotional states (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), and the distinction between the self and the other (dorsomedial and ventromedial regions of the prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobe). The neuroanatomical mapping is interpreted under the social neuroscience proposal, which examines neurobiological processes related to social interactions. The chapter concludes with a pictorial representation to illustrate and explain empathic processes expressed in the human social world. An interdisciplinary model to comprehend empathy through neurosciences, experimental biology, ethology, sociology, anthropology, history, philosophy, and psychology is finally depicted.

‘Empathic Being’

[Made by Roberto E. Mercadillo, 2019; Photography by Cinthia Montiel].

The code of this chapter is 01100101 01110010 01101101 01001101 01111001 01101111.

“Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.”

José Saramago, Blindness

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Neurath J (2013) La vida de las imágenes. In: Arte huichol. CONACULTA, México

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mercadillo RE, García-Fuentes DO (2018) La persona de acuerdo con Duns Escoto: Una lectura desde la perspectiva neuroética. Ludus vitalis 26(49):183–206

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nomi JS, Scherfeld D, Friederichs S et al (2008) On the neural networks of empathy: a principal component analysis of an fMRI study. Behav Brain Funct 4:41. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-4-41

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Bridge H (2011) Empathy theory and Heinrich Wölfflin: a reconsideration. J Eur Stud 41(1):3–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047244110391033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zahavi D (2010) Empathy, embodiment and interpersonal understanding: from Lipps to Schutz. Inquiry 53(3):285–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00201741003784663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Walton R (2001) Fenomenología de la empatía. Philosophica 24–25:24–25

    Google Scholar 

  7. Stein E (1994) Sobre el problema de la empatía. Universidad Iberoamericana, México

    Google Scholar 

  8. Davis MH (1996) Empathy: a social psychological approach. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  9. Wispé L (1986) The distinction between sympathy and empathy: to call forth a concept, a word is needed. J Pers Soc Psychol 50(2):314. https://psycnet.apa.org/, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.50.2.314

  10. Batson CD (2009) These things called empathy: eight related but distinct phenomena. In: Decety J, Ickes W (eds) The social neuroscience of empathy. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 3–15

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. de Waal F (2008) Putting the altruism back into altruism: the evolution of empathy. Annu Rev Psychol 59:279–300. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. de Waal F (1997) Bien natural. In: Los orígenes del bien y del mal en los humanos y otros animales. Herder, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  13. Viding E, McCrory E, Seara-Cardoso A (2014) Psychopathy. Curr Biol 24(18):R871–R874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.055

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Ferrari V, Smeraldi E, Bottero G, Politi E (2014) Addiction and empathy: a preliminary analysis. Neurol Sci 35(6):855–859. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-013-1611-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Takeda A, Sturm VE, Rankin KP et al (2019) Relationship turmoil and emotional empathy in frontotemporal dementia. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 33(3):260–265. https://doi.org/10.1097/WAD.0000000000000317

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Mercadillo RE, Galvez V, Díaz R et al (2015) Social and cultural elements associated with neurocognitive dysfunctions in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 patients. Front Psychiatry 6:90. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00090

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Sacks O (2015) On the move. a life. Penguin Random House, U.S.A.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Richardson C, Percy M, Hughes J (2015) Nursing therapeutics: teaching student nurses care, compassion and empathy. Nurse Educ Today 35(5):e1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2015.01.016

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Gholamzadeh S, Khastavaneh M, Khademian Z et al (2018) The effects of empathy skills training on nursing students’ empathy and attitudes toward elderly people. BMC Med Educ 18(1):198. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1297-9

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Brice J, Kourie C (2006) Contemplation and compassion: the heart of a Franciscan spirituality of clinical pastoral supervision. J Pastoral Care Counsel 60:109–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/154230500606000111

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Mercadillo RE, Fernandez-Ruiz J, Cadena O et al (2017) The Franciscan prayer elicits empathic and cooperative intentions in atheists: a neurocognitive and phenomenological enquiry. Front Sociol 2:1–18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2017.00022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Leung MK, Chan CC, Yin J et al (2013) Increased gray matter volume in the right angular and posterior parahippocampal gyri in loving-kindness meditators. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 8(1):34–39. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss076

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Haidt J (2003) The moral emotions. In: Davidson RJ, Scherer KR, Goldsmith HH (eds) Series in affective science. Handbook of affective sciences. Oxford University Press, U.K., pp 852–870

    Google Scholar 

  24. Mercadillo RE, Barrios FA, Díaz JL (2007) Neurobiología de las emociones morales. Salud Mental 30(3):1–11

    Google Scholar 

  25. Fourie MM, Stein DJ, Solms M et al (2017) Empathy and moral emotions in post-apartheid South Africa: an fMRI investigation. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 12(6):881–892. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx019

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Pagani C, Robustelli F (2010) Young people, multiculturalism, and educational interventions for the development of empathy. Int Soc Sci J 61(200–201):247–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2011.01761.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Grande-García I (2009) Neurociencia social: el maridaje entre la psicología social y las neurociencias cognitivas. revisión e introducción a una nueva disciplina. An Psicol-Spain 25(1):1–20

    Google Scholar 

  28. Cacioppo JT, Berntson GG (1992) Social psychological contributions to the decade of the brain: doctrine of multilevel analysis. Am Psychol 47(8):1019–1028. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.47.8.1019

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Ekman P (1992) An argument for basic emotions. Cogn Emot 6(3–4):169–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939208411068

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Cacioppo JT, Gardner WL (1999) Emotion. Annu Rev Psychol 50(1):191–214. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.191

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Ekman P, Cordaro D (2011) What is meant by calling emotions basic. Emot Rev 3(4):364–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073911410740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Habel U, Klein M, Kellermann T et al (2005) Same or different? neural correlates of happy and sad mood in healthy males. Neuroimage 26(1):206–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.01.014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Lindquist KA, Satpute AB, Wager TD et al (2015) The brain basis of positive and negative affect: evidence from a meta-analysis of the human neuroimaging literature. Cereb Cortex 26(5):1910–1922. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhv001

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Norris CJ, Larsen JT, Crawford LE, Cacioppo JT (2011) Better (or worse) for some than others: individual differences in the positivity offset and negativity bias. J Res Pers 45(1):100–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2010.12.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Damasio A (2010) Y el cerebro creó al hombre. Destino, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  36. Damasio A, Carvalho GB (2013) The nature of feelings: evolutionary and neurobiological origins. Nat Rev Neurosci 14(2):143–152. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3403

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Damasio AR, Grabowski TJ, Bechara A et al (2000) Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nat Neurosci 3(10):1049–1056. https://doi.org/10.1038/79871

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Lazarus RS (1991) Cognition and motivation in emotion. Am Psychol 46(4):352. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.4.352

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Lazarus RS (1998) From psychological stress to the emotions: a history of changing outlooks. Annu Rev Psychol 44:1–21. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.44.020193.000245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Kim S, Hamann SB (2007) Neural correlates of positive and negative emotion regulation. J Cogn Neurosci 19(5):776–798. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2007.19.5.776

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Roy M, Shohamy D, Wager TD (2012) Ventromedial prefrontal-subcortical systems and the generation of affective meaning. Trends Cogn Sci 16(3):147–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.01.005

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Hoffman ML (2001) Empathy and moral development: implications for caring and justice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  43. Ding R, Ren J, Li S et al (2020) Domain-general and ___domain-preferential neural correlates underlying empathy towards physical pain, emotional situation and emotional faces: an ALE meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia 137:107286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107286

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Rozin P, Royzman EB (2001) Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 5(4):296–320. https://doi.org/10.1207%2FS15327957PSPR0504_2

  45. Lamm C, Silani G, Singer T (2015) Distinct neural networks underlying empathy for pleasant and unpleasant touch. Cortex 70(9):79–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.01.021

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Morelli SA, Rameson LT, Lieberman MD (2014) The neural components of empathy: predicting daily prosocial behavior. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 9(1):39–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss088

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Perry D, Hendler T, Shamay-Tsoory SG (2012) Can we share the joy of others? Empathic neural responses to distress vs joy. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 7(8):909–916. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsr073

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Ickes W (2009) Empathic accuracy: its links to clinical, cognitive, developmental, social, and physiological psychology. In: Decety J, Ickes W (eds) The social neuroscience of empathy. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 57–70

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  49. Hatfield E, Cacioppo JT, Rapson RL (1993) Emotional contagion. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 2(3):96–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep10770953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Hatfield E, Rapson RL, Yen-Chi L (2009) Emotional contagion and empathy. In: Decety J, Ickes W (eds) The social neuroscience of empathy. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 19–30

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  51. Elfenbein HA, Ambady N (2002) On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 128(2):203–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.2.203

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Gutsell JN, Inzlicht M (2012) Intergroup differences in the sharing of emotive states: neural evidence of an empathy gap. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 7(5):596–603. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsr035

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Soto JA, Levenson RW (2009) Emotion recognition across cultures: the influence of ethnicity on empathic accuracy and physiological linkage. Emotion 9(6):874–884. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017399

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  54. Cruz J, Gordon RM (2006) Simulation theory. In: Nadel L (ed) Encyclopedia of cognitive science. Wiley, New York, pp 9–14

    Google Scholar 

  55. Keysers C, Gazzola V (2007) Integrating simulation and theory of mind: from self to social cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 11(5):194–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.02.002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Rizzolatti G, Craighero L (2004) The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev Neurosci 1:169–192. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Gallese V (2003) The roots of empathy: the shared manifold hypothesis and the neural basis of intersubjectivity. Psychopathology 36(4):171–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01417-5

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Gazzola V, Keysers C (2009) The observation and execution of actions share motor and somatosensory voxels in all tested subjects: single-subject analyses of unsmoothed fMRI data. Cereb Cortex 19:1239–1255. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhn181

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Jabbi M, Keysers C (2008) Inferior frontal gyrus activity triggers anterior insula response to emotional facial expressions. Emotion 8(6):775. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014194

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Schmidt SNL, Sojer CA, Hass J et al (2020) fMRI adaptation reveals: the human mirror neuron system discriminates emotional valence. Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.026

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Lamm C, Majdandžić J (2015) The role of shared neural activations, mirror neurons, and morality in empathy–a critical comment. J Neurosci Res 90:15–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2014.10.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Cerri G, Cabinio M, Blasi V et al (2015) The mirror neuron system and the strange case of Broca’s area. Hum Brain Mapp 36(3):1010–1027. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22682

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Preston SD, De Waal F (2002) Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases. Behav Brain Sci 25(01):1–20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X02000018

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Christov-Moore L, Reggente N, Douglas PK et al (2020) Predicting empathy from resting state brain connectivity: a multivariate approach. Front Integr Neurosci 14:3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2020.00003

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Nummenmaa L, Hirvonen J, Parkkola R, Hietanen JK (2008) Is emotional contagion special? an fMRI study on neural systems for affective and cognitive empathy. Neuroimage 43(3):571–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.08.014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Singer T, Seymour B, O’Doherty J et al (2004) Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science 303(5661):1157–1162. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1093535

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Lamm C, Decety J, Singer T (2011) Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. Neuroimage 54(3):2492–2502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Akitsuki Y, Decety J (2009) Social context and perceived agency affects empathy for pain: an event-related fmri investigation. Neuroimage 47(2):722–734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.04.091

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  69. Decety J, Echols S, Correll J (2010) The blame game: the effect of responsibility and social stigma on empathy for pain. J Cogn Neurosci 22(5):985–997. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21266

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  70. Batson CD, Fultz J, Schoenrade PA (1987) Distress and empathy: two qualitatively distinct vicarious emotions with different motivational consequences. J Pers 55(1):19–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1987.tb00426.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Eisenberg N, Eggum ND (2009) Empathic responding: sympathy and personal distress. In: Decety J, Ickes W (eds) The social neuroscience of empathy. MIT Press, Cambridge, p 71–83. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262012973.003.0007

  72. Israelashvili J, Sauter DA, Fischer AH (2020) Different faces of empathy: feelings of similarity disrupt recognition of negative emotions. J Exp Soc Psychol 87:103912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103912

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  73. Ochsner KN, Knierim K, Ludlow DH et al (2004) Reflecting upon feelings: an fMRI study of neural systems supporting the attribution of emotion to self and other. J Cogn Neurosci 16(10):1746–1772. https://doi.org/10.1162/0898929042947829

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  74. Bruneau EG, Jacoby N, Saxe R (2015) Empathic control through coordinated interaction of amygdala, theory of mind and extended pain matrix brain regions. Neuroimage 114:105–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.04.034

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  75. Borja Jimenez KC, Abdelgabar AR, de Angelis L et al (2020) Changes in brain activity following the voluntary control of empathy. Neuroimage 116529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116529

  76. Chiao JY (2011) Towards a cultural neuroscience of empathy and prosociality. Emot Rev 3:111–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910384159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  77. de Greck M, Shi Z, Wang G et al (2012) Culture modulates brain activity during empathy with anger. Neuroimage 59(3):2871–2882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.09.052

  78. Malle BF (2011) Attribution theories: how people make sense of behavior. In: Chadee D (ed) Theories in social psychology. Wiley-Blackwell, London, pp 72–95

    Google Scholar 

  79. Kelley HH, Michela JL (1980) Attribution theory and research. Annu Rev Psychol 31(1):457–501. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.31.020180.002325

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  80. Frith D, Frith U (2008) Implicit and explicit processes in social cognition. Neuron 60(3):503–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2008.10.032

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  81. Brüne M, Brüne-Cohrs U (2006) Theory of mind—evolution, ontogeny, brain mechanisms and psychopathology. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 30(4):437–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.08.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  82. Premack D, Woodruff G (1978) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behav Brain Sci 1(04):515–526. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00076512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  83. Schaafsma SM, Pfaff DW, Spunt RP et al (2015) Deconstructing and reconstructing theory of mind. Trends Cogn Sci 19(2):65–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.11.007

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  84. Mahy CE, Moses LJ, Pfeifer JH (2014) How and where: theory-of-mind in the brain. Dev Cogn Neurosci 9:68–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2014.01.002

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  85. Harris LT, Todorov A, Fiske ST (2005) Attributions on the brain: neuro-imaging dispositional inferences, beyond theory of mind. Neuroimage 28(4):763–769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.05.021

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  86. Frith D, Frith U (2006) The neural basis of mentalizing. Neuron 50(4):531–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.001

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  87. Schurz M, Radua J, Aichhorn M et al (2014) Fractionating theory of mind: a meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 42:9–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.01.009

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  88. Decety J, Lamm C (2007) The role of the right temporoparietal junction in social interaction: how low-level computational processes contribute to meta-cognition. Neuroscientist 13(6):580–593. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858407304654

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  89. Scholz J, Triantafyllou C, Whitfield-Gabrieli S et al (2009) Distinct regions of right temporo-parietal junction are selective for theory of mind and exogenous attention. PLoS ONE 4(3):e4869. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004869

  90. Völlm BA, Taylor AN, Richardson P et al (2006) Neuronal correlates of theory of mind and empathy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in a nonverbal task. Neuroimage 29(1):90–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.07.022

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  91. Corradi-Dell’Acqua C, Hofstetter C, Vuilleumier P (2014) Cognitive and affective theory of mind share the same local patterns of activity in posterior temporal but not medial prefrontal cortex. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 9(8):1175–1184. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nst097

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  92. Tholen MG, Trautwein F, Böckler A et al (2020) Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) item analysis of empathy and theory of mind. Hum Brain Mapp 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24966

  93. Mitchell RL, Phillips LH (2015) The overlapping relationship between emotion perception and theory of mind. Neuropsychologia 70:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.02.018

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  94. Buckner RL, Carroll DC (2007) Self-projection and the brain. Trends Cogn Sci 11(2):49–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.004

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  95. Zaki J, Hennigan K, Weber J et al (2010) Social cognitive conflict resolution: contributions of ___domain-general and ___domain-specific neural systems. J Neurosci 30(25):8481–8488. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0382-10.2010

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  96. Ross L, Greene D, House P (1977) The “false consensus effect”: an egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. J Exp Soc Psychol 13(3):279–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-X

    Article  Google Scholar 

  97. Green JD, Sedikides C (2001) When do self-schemas shape social perception?: the role of descriptive ambiguity. Motiv Emot 25(1):67–83. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010611922816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  98. Van der Meer L, Groenewold NA, Nolen WA et al (2011) Inhibit yourself and understand the other: neural basis of distinct processes underlying theory of mind. Neuroimage 56(4):2364–2374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.03.053

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  99. Decety J, Chaminade T (2003) When the self represents the other: a new cognitive neuroscience view on psychological identification. Conscious Cogn 12(4):577–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8100(03)00076-X

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  100. Decety J, Sommerville JA (2003) Shared representations between self and other: a social cognitive neuroscience view. Trends Cogn Sci 7(12):527–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2003.10.004

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  101. Uddin LQ, Molnar-Szakacs I, Zaidel E et al (2006) rTMS to the right inferior parietal lobule disrupts self–other discrimination. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 1(1):65–71. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsl003

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  102. Ruby P, Decety J (2004) How would you feel versus how do you think she would feel? a neuroimaging study of perspective-taking with social emotions. J Cogn Neurosci 16(6):988–999. https://doi.org/10.1162/0898929041502661

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  103. Gallager S (2000) Philosophical conceptions of the self: implications for cognitive science. Trends Cogn Sci 4(1):14–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01417-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  104. Kim H (2012) A dual-subsystem model of the brain’s default network: self-referential processing, memory retrieval processes, and autobiographical memory retrieval. Neuroimage 61(4):966–977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.03.025

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  105. Tagini A, Raffone A (2010) The ‘I’ and the ‘Me’ in self-referential awareness: a neurocognitive hypothesis. Cogn Process 11(1):9–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-09-0336-1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  106. Gazzaniga SM (2010) ¿Qué nos hace humanos?: la explicación científica de nuestra singularidad como especie. Paidós, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  107. Hollan D, Throop JC (2008) Whatever happened to empathy?: introduction. Ethos 36(4):385–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2008.00023.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  108. Cacioppo JT, Berntson GG, Decety J (2010) Social neuroscience and its relationship to social psychology. Soc Cogn 28(6):675–685. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2010.28.6.675

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  109. Todorov A, Harris LT, Fiske ST (2006) Toward socially inspired social neuroscience. Brain Res 1079(1):76–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2005.12.114

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  110. Decety J, Jackson PL (2004) The functional architecture of human empathy. Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev 3(2):71–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  111. Perry A, Shamay-Tsoory S (2013) Understanding emotional and cognitive empathy. In: Baron-Cohen S, Lombardo M, Tager-Flusberg H, Cohen D (eds) Understanding other minds: perspectives from developmental social neuroscience. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 178–194

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  112. Smith A (2006) Cognitive empathy and emotional empathy in human behavior and evolution. Psychol Rec 56(1):3–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  113. Zaki J, Ochsner KN (2012) The neuroscience of empathy: progress, pitfalls and promise. Nat Neurosci 15(5):675–680. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3085

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  114. Kanske P, Böckler A, Trautwein FM et al (2015) Dissecting the social brain: introducing the empatom to reveal distinct neural networks and brain–behavior relations for empathy and theory of mind. Neuroimage 122:6–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.082

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  115. Decety J, Jackson PL (2006) A social-neuroscience perspective on empathy. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 15(2):54–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00406.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  116. van Overwalle F, Baetens K, Mariën P et al (2014) Social cognition and the cerebellum: a meta-analysis of over 350 fMRI studies. Neuroimage 86:554–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.033

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  117. van Overwalle F, Mariën P (2016) Functional connectivity between the cerebrum and cerebellum in social cognition: a multi-study analysis. Neuroimage 124:248–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  118. Christov-Moore L, Iacoboni M (2016) Self-other resonance, its control and prosocial inclinations: brain-behavior relationships. Hum Brain Mapp 37(4):1544–1558. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23119

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  119. Clausi S, Iacobacci C, Lupo M et al (2017) The role of the cerebellum in unconscious and conscious processing of emotions: a review. Appl Sci 7(5):521. https://doi.org/10.3390/app7050521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  120. David N, Bewernick BH, Cohen MX et al (2006) Neural representations of self-versus other: visual-spatial perspective taking and agency in a virtual ball-tossing game. J Cogn Neurosci 18(6):898–910. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2006.18.6.898

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  121. Macuga KL, Frey SH (2011) Selective responses in right inferior frontal and supramarginal gyri differentiate between observed movements of oneself vs. another. Neuropsychologia 49(5):1202–1207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.01.005

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  122. Heleven E, van Dun K, van Overwalle F (2019) The posterior cerebellum is involved in constructing social action sequences: an fMRI study. Sci Rep 9(1):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46962-7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  123. Bernhardt BC, Singer T (2012) The neural basis of empathy. Annu Rev Neurosci 35:1–23. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150536

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  124. Decety J (2011) Dissecting the neural mechanisms mediating empathy. Emot Rev 3(1):92–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910374662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  125. Melloni M, Lopez V, Ibanez A (2014) Empathy and contextual social cognition. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 14(1):407–425. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-013-0205-3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Jessica González and Paulina Barrios from Acento Traducciones for revising the text, Cinthia Montiel for the art photography, and Salvador Nava for the design of Figs. 1–4.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Council for Science and Technology, Unidad Iztapalapa. San Rafael Atlixco No. 186, Col. Vicentina, Del. Iztapalapa, C.P. 09340, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Roberto E. Mercadillo

  2. Area of Neurosciences, Department of Biology of Reproduction, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa Unit, Mexico City, Mexico

    Roberto E. Mercadillo

  3. Institute of Neurobiology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Daniel Atilano-Barbosa

Authors
  1. Roberto E. Mercadillo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel Atilano-Barbosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto E. Mercadillo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Stockholm, Sweden

    Nima Rezaei

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mercadillo, R.E., Atilano-Barbosa, D. (2022). Getting to Know Ourselves Through Recognizing Ourselves in Others: Neuroanatomy of Empathy in a Social Neuroscientific Model. In: Rezaei, N. (eds) Multidisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity in Health. Integrated Science, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96814-4_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics