Problem 7

Question 1

Empathy

Answer 1

Refers to the process of sharing feelings with others

–> resonating with someone else’s feelings, regardless of valence but with explicit knowledge that the other person is the origin of that emotion

Question 2

Which brain regions becomes active when feeling empathy ?

Answer 2

Shared neural activation of

1. Anterior insula
2. aMCC

–> activate whenever we witness suffering of others

Question 3

Compassion

Answer 3

Refers to feelings of concern + warmth when witnessing the suffering others

–> linked to the motivation to help

THUS: counteracts negative emotions that are excited by others suffering by generating position emotions

Question 4

Which brain processes are activated when feeling compassion ?

Answer 4

Activates networks that are associated with Reward/affiliation:

1. Ventral Striatum
2. NAC
3. VTA
4. mOFC
5. sACC

Question 5

Socio cognition

or else referred to as ToM

Answer 5

Ability to take another persons perspective

–> cognitive empathy

Question 6

Wich brain regions activate when taking another persons perspective ?

Answer 6

1. Temporoparietal junction
2. Superior temporal sulcus
3. Temporal poles
4. mPFC
5. PCC

Question 7

Empa-ToM task

Answer 7

Is used to study how the brain processes are related + work together to achieve adaptive social behavior

–> thus stimulates both functions concurrently

Question 8

How come that Strong empathizers may not necessarily be proficient mentalizers and vice versa?

Answer 8

Because the the functions of ToM + empathy are independent of each other on a neural level

BUT: both NWs are jointly required to be active in complex social situations

Question 9

Empa-ToM Task

Answer 9

1. Picture based paradigm
   - -> visual depictions of someone in painful situation
2. Cue-based paradigm
   - -> hint that someone else is receiving a painful simulation

Question 10

Results of the Empt-Task showed that the typical empathy related core network is commonly activated.

However, the 2 paradigms resulted in differing core activations.

Elaborate.

Answer 10

1. Picture based paradigm
   - -> co-activated the action-observation NW to decode the potential affective consequences of a certain action
2. Cue-based paradigm
   - -> co-activated the ToM NW because these cues required additional inference of the others affective state from an abstract cue

Question 11

What can we conclude from the fact that each paradigm of the Empt-Task lead to different co-activations of brain networks ?

Answer 11

That dependent on the provided info in a given context, different networks will be co-activated together with the core empathy-related NW

Question 12

The 2 NWs associated with empathy + ToM are jointly activated for …. ?

Answer 12

Complex evaluations of someone else feelings

—> Empathic accuracy

Question 13

How does the fact that both empathy + ToM NWs also directly influence each other show, on a neural level ?

Answer 13

Anterior insula inhibits activity in TPJ

1. AI
   - -> negative affect sharing, affective part
2. TPJ
   - -> mentalizing, cognitive part

THUS: shows in people who react very emotionally to other peoples suffering

Question 14

Why is the self vs other distinction so important ?

Which brain regions are most critical for this distinction ?

Answer 14

1. Enables us to differentiate between ones own emotional or mental states vs the states shared with others
2. TPJ + rSMG

Question 15

Egocentricity bias

Answer 15

Refers to the tendency to project ones own emotional state on someone else

–> results of failure of self-other distinction

Question 16

Altercentric bias

Answer 16

Refers to the influence of others’ states on the judgments about oneself

–> results from failure of self-other distinction

Question 17

Cognitive egocentricity

Answer 17

Occurs when the own knowledge about a situation influences the reasoning about what someone see thinks about the situation

Question 18

Emotional egocentricity

Answer 18

Occurs when ones own emotional states influences the judgment of someone else’s affective state

Question 19

On a neural level, which brain regions seems to be critical to overcome cognitive egocentricity ?

Answer 19

right TPJ

–> also functionally connected to

1. mPFC + vlPFC
2. PCC

=> parts of the ToM network

Question 20

On a neural level, which brain regions seem to be critical to overcome emotional egocentricity ?

Answer 20

right Supramarginal gyrus (SMG)

–> also has connections to AI

AND: coupling with dlPFC will also lead to reduced emotional egocentricity

Question 21

Why can you rather call compassion a ER strategy ?

Answer 21

Because an original adaptive empathic response to the suffering of others can leas to a maladaptive repose which is empathic distress

–> BUT: this can be reversed by learning how to turn it into compassion

Question 22

Empathic distress

Answer 22

Refers to a strong aversive and self-oriented response to the suffering of others

–> accompanied by the desire to withdraw from a situation in order to protect one’s self from excessive negative feelings

Question 23

Cognitive empathy

Answer 23

Ability to

1. recognize
2. understand
3. react

appropriately to others emotional states

–> ToM

Question 24

Affective empathy

Answer 24

Ability to feel + share others emotions

Question 25

Empathy-altrusim hypothesis

Answer 25

States that empathic concern for others produces the altruistic motivation that underlies subsequent prosocial behavior --> since it produces either sympathy or personal distress

Question 26

What may be the potential negative effects of having an empathic capacity in terms of its relationship with affective distress?

Answer 26

There seem to be positive associations + correlations between 1. affective empathic stress + depressive symptoms 2. symptoms of anxiety + affective empathy 3. emotional empathy + gender role stress --> but there are challenges to these statements

Question 27

Tully et al. hypothesized that the link between individual differences in the capacity for empathy + symptoms of affective distress may be moderated by common ER mechanisms. Which predictions were accurate and in line with this hypothesis ?

Answer 27

Affective empathy has a positive linear association with measures of affective distress --> cognitive empathy has negative because: The more you get emotionally involved, the more you will get affective distress

Question 28

Previously it was assumed that the ER strategy suppression is detrimental to mental health state - especially when being high in empathic affectivity. Does this still always apply to all people ?

Answer 28

No, Higher levels of suppression have a potentially beneficial effect on levels of depression + stress for people who are higher in AFFECTIVE empathy! --> BUT: being high in cognitive empathy and using suppression is still a bad ER strategy

Question 29

Which ER strategy seems to be best to avoid distressing outcomes if you're high in affective empathy ?

Answer 29

Re-appraisal

Question 30

Why do people generally prefer to avoid empathy ?

Answer 30

Because of the inherent cognitive costs that result from empathizing

Question 31

Empathy selection task

Answer 31

Used to examine how cognitive costs can deter empathy --> assesses situation selection, which is an ER strategy

Question 32

Procedure of the empathy-selection task

Answer 32

Participants had to choose in repeated trials between 2 card decks --> after choosing they saw a photo of a person with instructions differing depending on the deck 1. Empathy deck - -> sharing the experiences of the person + indicating the persons internal experiences 2. Objective deck - -> remaining detached + indicating external features of person

Question 33

Why could empathy be costly ?

Answer 33

Cognitive costs may arise from 1. uncertainty about others experiences 2. risk of making errors 3. Inefficacy at empathizing 4. Cognitive effort - -> subjective intensification of mental activity THUS: decreasing the costs of empathy can increase the willingness to empathize

Question 34

Negative Effets of empathy

Answer 34

1. Unfairness 2. Bias 3. Ingorup favoritism/bias 4. Innumerate - -> one can empathize with a single individual but not a million at once THUS: poor guide to moral decision making since it overrules our moral compass

Question 35

Identifiable victim effect

Answer 35

People only empathize with an identifiable person e.g.: 6 year old sick girl vs increasing tax to prevent more preventable deaths --> 6 year old girl is empathized with

Question 36

Empathy can be used as a tool. Elaborate.

Answer 36

Empathy works as an important motivating force --> we can shift our empathic focus + use empathy to encourage all sorts of good action

Question 37

Lesions to the TPJ will lead to ...?

Answer 37

Inability to make self vs other distinctions --> in perceptual processing, specifically in speech THUS: elicits hallucinations of voices