Subgenual cingulate activity reflects individual differences in empathic concern

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

卷:457

Article

Zahn, Roland^1,2  de Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo^2,3  Bramati, Ivanei²  Garrido, Griselda^2,4  Moll, Jorge² 

[1] Univ Manchester, Sch Psychol Sci, Neurosci & Aphasia Res Unit, Manchester M13 9PL, Lancs, England

[2] LABS DOr Hosp Network, Cognit & Behav Neurosci Unit, BR-22280080 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

[3] Gafree & Guinle Univ Hosp, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Heart Inst InCor, Div Informat, BR-05403000 Sao Paulo, Brazil

关键词: Major depression;    Moral emotions;    Individual differences;    Subgenual cingulate cortex;    Social cognition;    Empathy;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neulet.2009.03.090

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Recent fMRI studies linked subgenual cingulate cortex (SCC) activity with feelings of guilt for acting counter to social values and altruistic donations towards societal causes. We hypothesized that SCC activity across those different tasks was driven by feelings of attachment. In order to investigate this further, we used fMRI to probe the association of empathic concern and strength of SCC activation in response to guilt- and compassion-evoking verbal descriptions of social behaviour. We were able to confirm our prediction that participants with higher empathic concern had increased activity in the SCC in the guilt condition, whereas there was no association for compassion. These results shed new light on the role of the SCC which shows abnormalities in clinical depression. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free