Empathy matters: ERP evidence for inter-individual differences in social language processing.

ABSTRACT: When an adult claims he cannot sleep without his teddy bear, people tend to react surprised. Language interpretation is, thus, influenced by social context, such as who the speaker is. The present study reveals inter-individual differences in brain reactivity to social aspects of language. Whereas women showed brain reactivity when stereotype-based inferences about a speaker conflicted with the content of the message, men did not. This sex difference in social information processing can be explained by a specific cognitive trait, one's ability to empathize. Individuals who empathize to a greater degree revealed larger N400 effects (as well as a larger increase in γ-band power) to socially relevant information. These results indicate that individuals with high-empathizing skills are able to

SUBMITTER: van den Brink D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3277364 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature