EEG and fMRI evidence for autobiographical memory reactivation in empathy

Abstract

Empathy relies on the ability to mirror and to explicitly infer others' inner states. Theoretical accounts suggest that memories play a role in empathy, but direct evidence of reactivation of autobiographical memories (AM) in empathy is yet to be shown. We addressed this question in two experiments. In Experiment 1, electrophysiological activity (EEG) was recorded from 28 participants. Participants performed an empathy task in which targets for empathy were depicted in contexts for which participants either did or did not have an AM, followed by a task that explicitly required memory retrieval of the AM and non‐AM contexts. The retrieval task was implemented to extract the neural fingerprints of AM and non‐AM contexts, which were then used to probe data from the empathy task. An EEG pattern classifier was trained and tested across tasks and showed evidence for AM reactivation when participants were preparing their judgement in the empathy task. Participants self‐reported higher empathy for people depicted in situations they had experienced themselves as compared to situations they had not experienced. A second independent fMRI experiment replicated this behavioural finding and showed increased activation for AM compared to non‐AM in the brain networks underlying empathy: precuneus, posterior parietal cortex, superior and inferior parietal lobule, and superior frontal gyrus. Together, our study reports behavioural, electrophysiological, and fMRI evidence that robustly supports AM reactivation in empathy.

Remember as we empathize. Do brain mechanisms engaged in autobiographical memory retrieval causally affect empathy awareness? A combined TMS and EEG registered report

“…In our previous EEG experiment (Meconi et al, 2021), the size of the main effect of increased empathy ratings for AM compared with non-AM contexts was Cohen's d = 0.89, as obtained in a sample of mainly female participants (four males). The finding was replicated in the second fMRI experiment from the same project with Cohen's d = 0.51 as obtained in a sample composed of 11 males and 17 females.…”

“…In two previous experiments from our laboratory (Meconi et al, 2021), we observed that participants judged their self‐perceived cognitive empathy as higher for individuals described to experience similar events as the participants experienced themselves when compared with non‐autobiographical memory (AM) contexts. Similarly, Bluck et al (2013) showed behavioral measures for increased explicit self‐perceived empathy when the observers (i.e., the participants) shared past experience of general physical pain with the person described in the task.…”

“…Therefore, AM retrieval will not be explicitly prompted to preserve the spontaneous nature of its involvement in empathic processes. In our previous study (Meconi et al, 2021) and in a pilot study (reported in the Supporting Information), such a paradigm yielded clear effects of AM on both the behavioral measure, that is the empathy rates, and the ERP signal. In the current study, we expect to replicate these results when the control site is stimulated, see Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2 in the Hypotheses section.…”

“…In two previous experiments from our laboratory (Meconi et al, 2021), we observed that participants judged their self-perceived cognitive empathy as higher for individuals described to experience similar events as the participants experienced themselves when compared with non-autobiographical memory (AM) contexts.…”

Fading boundaries between the physical and the social world: Insights and novel techniques from the intersection of these two fields

“…Along with other evidence ( Rütgen et al, 2015 , 2018 ), these findings are in line with those studies showing that incidental ( Forkmann et al, 2015 ) and voluntary ( Fairhurst et al, 2012 ) reinstatement of an autobiographical pain, involves the partial recruitment of the brain areas that encoded nociceptive stimuli at the time of memory formation. Indeed, memories of autobiographical physical pain augment participants’ cognitive empathy for other individuals depicted in similar physically painful situations ( Meconi et al, 2021 ).…”