Empathy correlates with insula and cingulate cortex activity during encoding but not enactment of manual imitation
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1
University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, United Kingdom
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2
University of Aberdeen, Clinical Research Centre, United Kingdom
Imitation is thought to be closely related to empathy, as both processes involve simulation and interpretation of another's intentions, yet it is not known what neural mechanisms might mediate this relationship. Adaptation of a touchscreen to the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) environment enabled us to investigate how empathic ability relates to neural activation during kinematic imitation.
18 participants were asked to draw shapes based on videos of a model drawing, without seeing the actual shape. During functional MRI, videos were shown with either the model drawing (Imitate) or a dot tracing out the same shape (Ghost), and participants drew on an MRI-compatible touchscreen with their finger to copy the shape and speed being demonstrated. They also completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ; Baron-Cohen, 2004).
Overall, EQ correlated positively with brain activity during Imitate > Ghost in right frontal gyrus, insula, medial temporal gyrus and putamen. After separating instances where participants were watching from those where they were drawing, it was further found that EQ correlated positively with Imitate-Drawing > Ghost-Drawing in the right hippocampus only, but much more extensively with Imitate-Watching > Ghost-Watching in the bilateral insula, anterior cingulate, left medial frontal lobe, calcarine sulcus, midcingulate, superior temporal lobe and right caudate. EQ was not correlated to imitative performance, eliminating the possibility of this being a mediating factor.
When encoding a model's manual action with the goal to imitate it, people with greater empathic abilities make greater use of areas traditionally associated with empathic emotional responses. This is in contrast with the enactment component of imitation whereby only memory is implicated in the relationship. These findings suggest that the link between manual imitation and empathy is best explained by action perception activating viscero-motor mechanisms in more empathic individuals rather than a simulation mechanism.
Keywords:
Empathy,
simulation,
functional MRI,
kinematics,
encoding,
manual imitation,
touchscreen technology
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Emotional and Social Processes
Citation:
Braadbaart
L,
Williams
J and
Waiter
G
(2015). Empathy correlates with insula and cingulate cortex activity during encoding but not enactment of manual imitation.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00089
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Lieke Braadbaart, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, l.braadbaart@abdn.ac.uk