scholarly journals Reduced Multivoxel Pattern Similarity of Vicarious Neural Pain Responses in Psychopathy

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 628-649
Author(s):  
Kathryn Berluti ◽  
Katherine M. O'Connell ◽  
Shawn A. Rhoads ◽  
Kristin M. Brethel-Haurwitz ◽  
Elise M. Cardinale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Live Video ◽  
Experienced Pain ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Personality Construct ◽  
Pain Responses

Psychopathy is a personality construct characterized by interpersonal callousness, boldness, and disinhibition, traits that vary continuously across the population and are linked to impaired empathic responding to others’ distress and suffering. Following suggestions that empathy reflects neural self–other mapping—for example, the similarity of neural responses to experienced and observed pain, measurable at the voxel level—we used a multivoxel approach to assess associations between psychopathy and empathic neural responses to pain. During fMRI scanning, 21 community-recruited participants varying in psychopathy experienced painful pressure stimulation and watched a live video of a stranger undergoing the same stimulation. As total psychopathy, coldheartedness, and self-centered impulsivity increased, multivoxel similarity of vicarious and experienced pain in the left anterior insula decreased, effects that were not observed following an empathy prompt. Our data provide preliminary evidence that psychopathy is characterized by disrupted spontaneous empathic representations of others’ pain that may be reduced by instructions to empathize.

scholarly journals Oxytocin increases the pleasantness of affective touch and orbitofrontal cortex activity independent of valence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanshu Chen ◽  
Benjamin Becker ◽  
Yingying Zhang ◽  
Han Cui ◽  
Jun Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Affiliative Behavior ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Affective Touch ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
C Fibers ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Male Subjects

AbstractTouch plays a crucial role in affiliative behavior and social communication. The neuropeptide oxytocin is released in response to touch and may act to facilitate the rewarding effects of social touch. However, no studies to date have determined whether oxytocin facilitates behavioral or neural responses to non-socially administered affective touch and possible differential effects of touch valence. In a functional MRI experiment using a randomized placebo-controlled, within-subject design in 40 male subjects we investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin (24IU) on behavioral and neural responses to positive, neutral and negative valence touch administered to the arm via different types of materials at a frequency aimed to optimally stimulate C-fibers. Results showed that oxytocin significantly increased both the perceived pleasantness of touch and activation of the orbitofrontal cortex independent of touch valence. The effects of OT on touch-evoked orbitofrontal activation were also positively associated with basal oxytocin concentrations in blood. Additionally, anterior insula activity and the functional connectivity between the amygdala and right anterior insula were enhanced only in response to negative valence touch. Overall, the present study provides the first evidence that oxytocin may facilitate the rewarding effects of all types of touch, irrespective of valence.

scholarly journals Preliminary Evidence for the Cross-Cultural Utility of the Type D Personality Construct in the Ukraine

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne S. Pedersen ◽  
Andriy Yagensky ◽  
Otto R. F. Smith ◽  
Oksana Yagenska ◽  
Volodymyr Shpak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Type D Personality ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Type D ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Personality Construct

scholarly journals Soothing the emotional brain: modulation of neural activity to personal emotional stimulation by social touch

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 1179-1185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Kraus ◽  
Andreas Frick ◽  
Robert Roman ◽  
Lenka Jurkovičová ◽  
Radek Mareček ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Romantic Partner ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
Physical Touch ◽  
Connectivity Strength

Abstract Social touch may modulate emotions, but the neurobehavioral correlates are poorly understood. Here, we investigated neural responses to a picture of a deceased close person and if neural activity and connectivity are modulated by social touch from one’s romantic partner. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found altered reactivity in several brain areas including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the anterior insula in response to the personal picture compared to a picture of an unfamiliar person. Hand holding with the romantic partner, compared to being alone, reduced reactivity in the ACC and cerebellum and provided subjective comfort. To separate physical touch from the emotional effect of partner presence, we evaluated hand holding with the partner relative to a stranger and found reduced reactivity in the anterior insula. Connectivity between the anterior insula and the ACC was reduced during partner touch, and the connectivity strength was negatively related to attachment security, with higher reported partner security associated with weaker connectivity. Overall, holding hands with one’s partner attenuates reactivity in emotional brain areas and reduces between-region connectivity.

Preliminary evidence of sex differences in behavioral and neural responses to palatable food reward in rats

2017 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 165-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine B. Sinclair ◽  
Britny A. Hildebrandt ◽  
Kristen M. Culbert ◽  
Kelly L. Klump ◽  
Cheryl L. Sisk
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Food Reward ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Palatable Food

scholarly journals Extraordinary altruists exhibit enhanced self-other overlap in neural responses to distress

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin M. Brethel-Haurwitz ◽  
Elise Cardinale ◽  
Kruti Vekaria ◽  
Emily Lynne Robertson ◽  
Brian Walitt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Neural Simulation ◽  
Responses To Distress

Shared neural representations during experienced and observed distress are hypothesized to reflect empathic neural simulation, which may support altruism. But the correspondence between real-world altruism and shared neural representations has not been directly tested, and empathy’s role in promoting altruism toward strangers has been questioned. Here we show that individuals who have performed costly altruism (donating a kidney to a stranger; n=25) exhibit greater self-other overlap than matched controls (n=27) in neural representations of pain and threat (fearful anticipation) in anterior insula (AI) in an empathic pain paradigm. Altruists exhibited greater self-other correspondence in pain-related activation in left AI, highlighting that group-level overlap was supported by individual-level associations between empathic pain and first-hand pain. Altruists exhibited enhanced functional coupling of left AI with left mid-insula during empathic pain and threat. Results show that heightened neural instantiations of empathy correspond to real-world altruism and highlight limitations of self-report.

scholarly journals Pigeon nidopallium caudolaterale, entopallium, and mesopallium ventrolaterale neural responses during categorisation of Monet and Picasso paintings

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catrona Anderson ◽  
Renelyn S. Parra ◽  
Hayley Chapman ◽  
Alina Steinemer ◽  
Blake Porter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Visual Area ◽  
Extrastriate Cortex ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Stimulus Information ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance

Abstract Pigeons can successfully discriminate between sets of Picasso and Monet paintings. We recorded from three pallial brain areas: the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), an analogue of mammalian prefrontal cortex; the entopallium (ENTO), an intermediary visual area similar to primate extrastriate cortex; and the mesopallium ventrolaterale (MVL), a higher-order visual area similar to primate higher-order extrastriate cortex, while pigeons performed an S+/S− Picasso versus Monet discrimination task. In NCL, we found that activity reflected reward-driven categorisation, with a strong left-hemisphere dominance. In ENTO, we found that activity reflected stimulus-driven categorisation, also with a strong left-hemisphere dominance. Finally, in MVL, we found that activity reflected stimulus-driven categorisation, but no hemispheric differences were apparent. We argue that while NCL and ENTO primarily use reward and stimulus information, respectively, to discriminate Picasso and Monet paintings, both areas are also capable of integrating the other type of information during categorisation. We also argue that MVL functions similarly to ENTO in that it uses stimulus information to discriminate paintings, although not in an identical way. The current study adds some preliminary evidence to previous literature which emphasises visual lateralisation during discrimination learning in pigeons.

scholarly journals Is the cardiac monitoring function related to the self in both the default network and right anterior insula?

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1708) ◽  
pp. 20160004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Babo-Rebelo ◽  
Nicolai Wolpert ◽  
Claude Adam ◽  
Dominique Hasboun ◽  
Catherine Tallon-Baudry
Keyword(s):  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cardiac Monitoring ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Default Network ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
The Right ◽  
Neural Monitoring ◽  
Intracranial Electroencephalography

The self has been proposed to be rooted in the neural monitoring of internal bodily signals and might thus involve interoceptive areas, notably the right anterior insula (rAI). However, studies on the self consistently showed the involvement of midline default network (DN) nodes, without referring to visceral monitoring. Here, we investigate this apparent discrepancy. We previously showed that neural responses to heartbeats in the DN encode two different self-dimensions, the agentive ‘I’ and the introspective ‘Me’, in a whole-brain analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG) data. Here, we confirm and anatomically refine this result with intracranial recordings (intracranial electroencephalography, iEEG). In two patients, we show a parametric modulation of neural responses to heartbeats by the self-relatedness of thoughts, at the single trial level. A region-of-interest analysis of the insula reveals that MEG responses to heartbeats in the rAI encode the ‘I’ self-dimension. The effect in rAI was weaker than in the DN and was replicated in iEEG data in one patient out of two. We propose that a common mechanism, the neural monitoring of cardiac signals, underlies the self in both the DN and rAI. This might reconcile studies on the self highlighting the DN, with studies on interoception focusing on the insula. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Interoception beyond homeostasis: affect, cognition and mental health’.

scholarly journals Pattern similarity and connectivity of hippocampal-neocortical regions support empathy for pain

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-284
Author(s):  
Isabella C Wagner ◽  
Markus Rütgen ◽  
Claus Lamm
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Mental Simulation ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Hand Pain ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Empathy For Pain ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Similarity Pattern

Abstract Empathy is thought to engage mental simulation, which in turn is known to rely on hippocampal-neocortical processing. Here, we tested how hippocampal-neocortical pattern similarity and connectivity contributed to pain empathy. Using this approach, we analyzed a data set of 102 human participants who underwent functional MRI while painful and non-painful electrical stimulation was delivered to themselves or to a confederate. As hypothesized, results revealed increased pattern similarity between first-hand pain and pain empathy (compared to non-painful control conditions) within the hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex, the temporo-parietal junction and anterior insula. While representations in these regions were unaffected by confederate similarity, pattern similarity in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex was increased the more dissimilar the other individual was perceived. Hippocampal-neocortical connectivity during first-hand pain and pain empathy engaged largely distinct but neighboring primary motor regions, and empathy-related hippocampal coupling with the fusiform gyrus positively scaled with trait measures of perspective taking. These findings suggest that shared representations and mental simulation might contribute to pain empathy via hippocampal-neocortical pattern similarity and connectivity, partially affected by personality traits and the similarity of the observed individual.

scholarly journals Bounded Empathy: Neural Responses to Outgroup Targets' (Mis)fortunes

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3791-3803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Cikara ◽  
Susan T. Fiske
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Middle Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Behavioral Consequences ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
The Brain

The current study investigates whether mere stereotypes are sufficient to modulate empathic responses to other people's (mis)fortunes, how these modulations manifest in the brain, and whether affective and neural responses relate to endorsing harm against different outgroup targets. Participants feel least bad when misfortunes befall envied targets and worst when misfortunes befall pitied targets, as compared with ingroup targets. Participants are also least willing to endorse harming pitied targets, despite pitied targets being outgroup members. However, those participants who exhibit increased activation in functionally defined insula/middle frontal gyrus when viewing pity targets experience positive events not only report feeling worse about those events but also more willing to harm pity targets in a tradeoff scenario. Similarly, increased activation in anatomically defined bilateral anterior insula, in response to positive events, predicts increased willingness to harm envy targets, but decreased willingness to harm ingroup targets, above and beyond self-reported affect in response to the events. Stereotypes' specific content and not just outgroup membership modulates empathic responses and related behavioral consequences including harm.

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