Empathy in Negative and Positive Interpersonal Interactions. What is the Relationship Between Central (EEG, fNIRS) and Peripheral (Autonomic) Neurophysiological Responses?

Abstract

in Affective and social neuroscience, catholic University of the sacred heart, Milan, italy 2 department of Psychology, catholic University of the sacred heart, Milan, italy interpersonal empathy, positive/negative interactions, fnirs, brain oscillations; autonomic activity emotional empathy is crucial to understand how we respond to interpersonal positive or negative situations. in the present research, we aim at identifying the neural networks and the autonomic responsiveness underlying the human ability to perceive and empathize with others' emotions when positive (cooperative) or negative (uncooperative) interactions are observed. A multimethodological approach was adopted to elucidate the reciprocal interplay of autonomic (peripheral) and central (cortical) activities in empathic behavior. electroencephalography (eeg, frequency band analysis) and hemodynamic (functional near-infrared spectroscopy, fnirs) activity were all recorded simultaneously with systemic skin conductance response (scr) and heart rate (hr) measurements as potential biological markers of emotional empathy. subjects were required to empathize in interpersonal interactions. As shown by fnirs/eeg measures, negative situations elicited increased brain responses within the right prefrontal cortex (PFc), whereas positive situations elicited greater responses within the left PFc. therefore, a relevant lateralization effect was induced by the specific valence (mainly for negative conditions) of the emotional interactions. Also, scr was modulated by positive/negative conditions. Finally, eeg activity (mainly low-frequency theta and delta bands) intrinsically correlated with the cortical hemodynamic responsiveness, and they both predicted autonomic activity. the integrated central and autonomic measures better elucidated the significance of empathic behavior in interpersonal interactions.

College Students’ Interpersonal Relationship and Empathy Level Predict Internet Altruistic Behavior—Empathy Level and Online Social Support as Mediators

“…Common method bias is due to the same data source or the rater, the same measurement environment or the same project context, or the artificial covariation caused by the predicted variables and calibration variables with the characteristics of the project. This kind of covariation was a systematic error, which could cause serious interference in the research results [30]. According to the single factor test of Hurman [30], the result of data fitting index made by structural equation model analysis was that χ2/df =2.319, NFI =0.897, CFI =0.938, RMSEA =0.064, which showed that this study does not include serious common method bias.…”

“…This kind of covariation was a systematic error, which could cause serious interference in the research results [30]. According to the single factor test of Hurman [30], the result of data fitting index made by structural equation model analysis was that χ2/df =2.319, NFI =0.897, CFI =0.938, RMSEA =0.064, which showed that this study does not include serious common method bias.…”

“…At the same time, Qin [29] pointed out that the individual's empathy level greatly influences the quality of interpersonal relationship. From the perspective of cognitive neuroscience, Balconi and Me [30] examined the differences in empathy during positive and negative interpersonal interaction respectively. Brain imaging results showed that negative interpersonal interaction scenarios activated the right prefrontal cortex, and positive interpersonal interaction under induced activation in the left prefrontal cortex.…”

When gratitude and cooperation between friends affect inter-brain connectivity for EEG

“…Indeed, as demonstrated by previous studies [60,75], theta and delta modulations were considered as specific markers of motivational and emotional components of the subjects' engagement. In particular, greater activation in the delta band can be attributed to the fact that the latter represents a significant indicator of emotional behavior, cognition and social skills [56,76]. Moreover, delta activity results to be involved in motivational systems and emotional salience detection [60].…”

Neuronal correlates of spider phobia in a combined fNIRS-EEG study

“…For example, Al-Shargie et al found a significant improvement of stress detection when combining fNIRS and EEG 31 . Further, results of another study show that both signals correlate intrinsically, especially for low-frequency theta and delta bands 32 . Assessing fNIRS and EEG provides an immense advantage compared to fMRI in regard to insensitivity to movement artifacts and electrical noise 33 – 35 .…”