Insula and somatosensory cortical myelination and iron markers underlie individual differences in empathy.

ABSTRACT: Empathy is a key component of our ability to engage and interact with others. In recent years, the neural mechanisms underlying affective and cognitive empathy have garnered intense interest. This work demonstrates that empathy for others depends upon a distributed network of regions such as the insula, parietal cortex, and somatosensory areas, which are also activated when we ourselves experience an empathized-with emotion (e.g., pain). Individuals vary markedly in their ability to empathize with others, which predicts the tendency to help others and relates to individual differences in the neuroanatomy of these areas. Here, we use a newly developed, high-resolution (800 μm isotropic), quantitative MRI technique to better elucidate the neuroanatomical underpinnings of individual differenc

SUBMITTER: Allen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5335674 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature