Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand

Abstract Previous research revealed an active network of brain areas such as insula and anterior cingulate cortex when witnessing somebody else in pain and feeling empathy. But numerous studies also suggested a role of the somatosensory cortices for state and trait empathy. While recent studies high...

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Autores principales:	Michael Schaefer, Anja Kühnel, Franziska Rumpel, Matti Gärtner
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/78e3c75f337b445fb737bc483883fc1c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:78e3c75f337b445fb737bc483883fc1c2021-12-02T15:49:31ZDispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand10.1038/s41598-021-90344-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/78e3c75f337b445fb737bc483883fc1c2021-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90344-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Previous research revealed an active network of brain areas such as insula and anterior cingulate cortex when witnessing somebody else in pain and feeling empathy. But numerous studies also suggested a role of the somatosensory cortices for state and trait empathy. While recent studies highlight the role of the observer’s primary somatosensory cortex when seeing painful or nonpainful touch, the interaction of somatosensory cortex activity with empathy when receiving touch on the own body is unknown. The current study examines the relationship of touch related somatosensory cortex activity with dispositional empathy by employing an fMRI approach. Participants were touched on the palm of the hand either by the hand of an experimenter or by a rubber hand. We found that the BOLD responses in the primary somatosensory cortex were associated with empathy personality traits personal distress and perspective taking. This relationship was observed when participants were touched both with the experimenter’s real hand or a rubber hand. What is the reason for this link between touch perception and trait empathy? We argue that more empathic individuals may express stronger attention both to other’s human perceptions as well as to the own sensations. In this way, higher dispositional empathy levels might enhance tactile processing by top-down processes. We discuss possible implications of these findings.Michael SchaeferAnja KühnelFranziska RumpelMatti GärtnerNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Michael Schaefer Anja Kühnel Franziska Rumpel Matti Gärtner Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
description	Abstract Previous research revealed an active network of brain areas such as insula and anterior cingulate cortex when witnessing somebody else in pain and feeling empathy. But numerous studies also suggested a role of the somatosensory cortices for state and trait empathy. While recent studies highlight the role of the observer’s primary somatosensory cortex when seeing painful or nonpainful touch, the interaction of somatosensory cortex activity with empathy when receiving touch on the own body is unknown. The current study examines the relationship of touch related somatosensory cortex activity with dispositional empathy by employing an fMRI approach. Participants were touched on the palm of the hand either by the hand of an experimenter or by a rubber hand. We found that the BOLD responses in the primary somatosensory cortex were associated with empathy personality traits personal distress and perspective taking. This relationship was observed when participants were touched both with the experimenter’s real hand or a rubber hand. What is the reason for this link between touch perception and trait empathy? We argue that more empathic individuals may express stronger attention both to other’s human perceptions as well as to the own sensations. In this way, higher dispositional empathy levels might enhance tactile processing by top-down processes. We discuss possible implications of these findings.
format	article
author	Michael Schaefer Anja Kühnel Franziska Rumpel Matti Gärtner
author_facet	Michael Schaefer Anja Kühnel Franziska Rumpel Matti Gärtner
author_sort	Michael Schaefer
title	Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
title_short	Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
title_full	Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
title_fullStr	Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
title_full_unstemmed	Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
title_sort	dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/78e3c75f337b445fb737bc483883fc1c
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Dispositional empathy predicts primary somatosensory cortex activity while receiving touch by a hand

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