Lecture 2

Question 1

Routes of understanding others

Answer 1

1. action understanding: somatosensorisch en motorische empathie
2. mentalizing: bewust denken over andere individuen hun overtuigingen, wensen en intenties (theory of mind)
3. empathy: affectieve empathie = emotionele route van andere begrijpen. Breed gedefinieerd
   als ‘’de capaciteit om te begrijpen, delen en reageren volgens anderen hun affectieve staten’’

Question 2

action understanding (somatosensory and motor empathy)

Answer 2

perceivoing ones emotion based on bodily movements, vocalizations, facial expressions, and activity glands
(could also refer to feeling into the movements of another individual

Question 3

mentalizing (theory of mind or perspective taking)

Answer 3

Consciously thinking about another individuals beliefs, desires and intentions

Question 4

Empathy

Answer 4

Numerous definitions, first mentioned in 1967, broadly defined as the capacity to understand, to share, and to respond accordingly to others affective states

Question 5

Self other distinction

Answer 5

. De witness of toekijker ervaart de emotionele staat
vicariously (plaatsvervangend). Het object triggert de emotionele staat van de witness

Question 6

Components of empathy

Answer 6

1. precursors of empathy
   Mimicry, , emotional contagion
2. empathy proper
   Feeling with: when resemblance of emotional states happens between the witness and the object, and the witness is aware that these states are triggered by the object.
3. consequences of empathy
   - compassion: witness conveys prosocial emotions needed ot extend to help to the object (other oriented) - feeling for (pro social motivations)
   - empathic distress: witness experiences aversive and self oriented emotional response to the objects suffering, leads withdrawal

Question 7

Mirror neurons

Answer 7

motor neurons (ventral premotor cortex) that respond both when a macaque monkey performs a goal-directed action and when withnessing the same action performed by another.

Witnessing action of others triggers a motor representation for performing similar actions in the witness.

Question 8

what needs to remembered about research on mirror neurons.

Answer 8

Although mirror neurons still need to be established in humans (single cell recordings), similar vicarious activations have been observed in fMRI studies

Question 9

Neural correlates of Empathy

Answer 9

• Neuroimaging studies –> fMRI studies
• Vicarious activations –> humans activate a network of brain regions involved in their own actions, sensations and emotions while witnessing the actions, sensations, and emotions of others
• Neural correlates –> mainly observed in limbic and paralimbic areas such as the Anterior Insula (AI) and Anterior Coingulate Cortex (ACC)

Question 10

First-hand pain. what activates the first hand pain in your brain?

Answer 10

Complex brain network called the pain matrix

Question 11

Pain matrix

Answer 11

1. Affective motivational component: processing unpleasantness of pain
2. sensory-discriminative component: processing the intensity, duration and localization of pain

Question 12

Does the pain matrix gets triggered when we’re speaking of empathy or vicarious pain?

Answer 12

Yes

Question 13

What is vicarious pain?

Answer 13

experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person.

Question 14

What was the conclusion of the study with 16 couples and given shocks in their hand about the pain matrix?

Answer 14

• Both first-hand and empathic pain activated the affective component of the pain matrix: the AI and the ACC
• strength of activation of vicarious pain in ACC and AI correlated with empathy trait scores

Question 15

In what kind of ways in which pain was elicited from participants?

Answer 15

• real life pain stimulation
• Faces expressing pain
• photos and videos of body parts in painful situation

Question 16

What can influence vicarious pain activations?

Answer 16

-Personal specific
- contextual factors

Question 17

modulation of empathy: 3 components

Answer 17

1. relationsjip between witness and objects
2. caracteristics of the witness
3. situational context

Question 18

Study for relationship between witness and object with one fair player and unfair player in an economic game, followed by a cue based pain stimulation: electric shock. 16 male and 16 female

Answer 18

Found similar activations in ACC and AI. However, the activations is modulated by perceived fairness of the confederate. They show more empathy for the fair player, than the unfair player.

Another interesting finding: the male participants showed activation in the nucleus Accumbens (known for reward processing) when seeing the unfair participant in pain. Is positively correlated with their desire for revenge!

Question 19

Shadenfreude

Answer 19

Activation pattern for men that enjoyed the pain of unfair players in the study suggest the experience of Shadenfreude = the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another

Question 20

What can we conclude from a study: compare vicaripus pain activations between physicians acupuncture experts vs naive participant (control). For the paradigm they showed picture-based elicitation of empathy body parts being pricked by a needle (pain condition) vs a q tip (no pain condition)?

Answer 20

Experts showed less vicarious pain activations in the somatosensory cortex (sensory-discriminative component of pain matrix). They get exposed to this thing on the regular.

Question 21

What can we conclude out of a study with looking at the degree of empathic response for patients with aids in relation to their responsibility form their infection (through transfusion vs drug used)

Answer 21

self reported empathy of participant for patients with AIDS and healthy individuals is modulated by responsibility. Participants felt less pain nor empathy for the people who got aids through drug use.

Question 22

Prosocial behavior

Answer 22

Refers to the actions intended to increase the welfare of another individual –> empathy can motivate prosocial behavior

Question 23

What can we conclude out of the study based on the the relationship between empathy and prosociality: confederate receiving painful stimulation and can donate bonus money to lessen the pain of the next stimulation or they can keep it as an incentive?

Answer 23

Intensity ratings, positively correlated with donations. but when somatosensory cortex was INHIBITED, participants can no longer accurately access pain intensity of the confederate.

Question 24

Is there a causal link between empathy and prosocial behavior?

Answer 24

Yes, when empathy gets interrupted, prosocial behavior is not really how it was before. People can’t really estimate the intensity of pain anymore.