Age-related differences in negative cognitive empathy but similarities in positive affective empathy

Abstract

Empathy, among other social-cognitive processes, changes across adulthood. More specifically, cognitive components of empathy (understanding another's perspective) appear to decline with age, while findings for affective empathy (sharing another's emotional states) are rather mixed. Not well understood yet are the neural correlates underlying cognitive and affective empathy and the extent to which valence modulates these components of empathy in aging. To fill these research gaps, young and older participants completed a modified version of the Multifaceted Empathy Test, which measures both cognitive and affective empathy, while brain images were acquired in the MRI scanner. Multivariate analysis showed that regions of the salience network, including anterior insula and anterior cingulate, were more involved in cognitive empathy to negative emotions, in older than in younger participants. For affective empathy to positive emotions, in contrast, young and older participants recruited a similar brain network including the main nodes of the default mode network. These results provide novel insights into the neural networks subserving cognitive and affective empathy in young and older adults and highlight a modulatory role of valence on empathy in aging. Our findings highlight the importance of valence for the study of higher-order social-cognitive processes such as empathy in aging.