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Distinct neural correlates of emotional and cognitive empathy in older adults - PubMed

️Thu Jan 01 2015

Distinct neural correlates of emotional and cognitive empathy in older adults

Raeanne C Moore et al. Psychiatry Res. 2015.

Abstract

Empathy is thought to be a mechanism underlying prosocial behavior across the lifespan, yet little is known about how levels of empathy relate to individual differences in brain functioning among older adults. In this exploratory study, we examined the neural correlates of affective and cognitive empathy in older adults. Thirty older adults (M=79 years) underwent fMRI scanning and neuropsychological testing and completed a test of affective and cognitive empathy. Brain response during processing of cognitive and emotional stimuli was measured by fMRI in a priori and task-related regions and was correlated with levels of empathy. Older adults with higher levels of affective empathy showed more deactivation in the amygdala and insula during a working memory task, whereas those with higher cognitive empathy showed greater insula activation during a response inhibition task. Our preliminary findings suggest that brain systems linked to emotional and social processing respond differently among older adults with more or less affective and cognitive empathy. That these relationships can be seen both during affective and non-emotional tasks of "cold" cognitive abilities suggests that empathy may impact social behavior through both emotional and cognitive mechanisms.

Keywords: Affective empathy; Aging; Cognitive empathy; Compassion; Emotion processing; Working memory.

Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

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Figures

**Figure 1**
Images demonstrating clusters of significant changes in BOLD activation during functional tasks. Regions of interest (ROIs) in green indicate regions of significant differential response (whole-brain p < 0.05) for angry and fearful faces vs. shapes during the Facial Affect Matching task, ROIs in blue indicate regions of significant differential response for go versus no go trials during the Go/No-go Task, and ROIs in red demonstrate regions of significant differential response for 2-back versus 1-back during the n-Back Task. F1 = left fusiform gyrus; F2 = right frontal lobe; F3 = left frontal lobe; F4 = midline precuneus; F5 = left middle temporal gyrus; F6 = left inferior parietal gyrus. G1 = left post-central gyrus; G2 = left frontal lobe; G3 = right frontal lobe; G4 = right superior frontal gyrus; G5 = right inferior parietal gyrus. N1 = left inferior parietal gyrus; N2 = right inferior parietal gyrus; N3 = right frontal lobe; N4 = left frontal lobe.

**Figure 2**
Bilateral amygdala and insula *a priori* regions of interest. Image is presented in radiological convention (right=left). Bilateral amygdala (cyan) and insula (purple) a priori regions of interest defined in standard space using AFNI's Talairach Atlas daemon.

**Figure 3**
Scatterplot of correlations between brain response (y-axis = mean beta weight for contrast of interest) and cognitive or affective empathy scores from the Multi-faceted Empathy Test for all significant associations.

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Distinct neural correlates of emotional and cognitive empathy in older adults - PubMed