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Neural functional correlates of empathic face processing: An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of fMRI studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

A. Del Casale ,
D. Janiri ,
G. Kotzalidis ,
G. Giuseppin ,
E. Spinazzola ,
M. Maggiora ,
C. Rapinesi ,
S.M. Tamorri ,
M. Aragona  and
A. Puzella
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A. Del Casale
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
D. Janiri
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
G. Kotzalidis
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
G. Giuseppin
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
E. Spinazzola
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
M. Maggiora
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
C. Rapinesi
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
S.M. Tamorri
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
M. Aragona
Affiliation:
Crossing dialogues association, Rome, Italy
A. Puzella
Affiliation:
Studio Multiverso, ATC-SITCC, studio multiverso, ATC-SITCC, Rome, Italy
S. Ferracuti
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, department of neurology and psychiatry, Rome, Italy
M. Pompili
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
G. Sani
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy
P. Girardi
Affiliation:
Sapienza university of Rome, faculty of medicine and psychology, NESMOS department neurosciences, mental health and sensory functions, Rome, Italy

Abstract

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Introduction

Empathy is evolutionary preserved in social organisms and emotional face processing is one of its measures. Systems possibly active during empathic processing include perspective-taking, basic emotional contagion “mirroring” and “theory of mind” systems.

Objectives

fMRI studies help clarifying neural correlates of empathic face processing; ALE meta-analysing fMRI studies allows identification of brain area activation/deactivation during empathy.

Aims

To identify brain areas most consistently involved in empathy.

Methods

We carried ALE meta-analysis of original studies focusing on cerebral activations during empathic face processing tasks and reporting data on Talairach or MNI space coordinates, converting the former in the latter. An 11-April-2016 PubMed search, using as keywords terms like empathy combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), produced 124 records of which 23 were finally included (568 participants, 247 males and 321 females; mean age 32.2 years). We followed the PRISMA statement. Whole-brain data were meta-analysed; significance was set at P = 0.0001, uncorrected.

Results

ALE meta-analysis of data from 21 experiments (totalling 527 foci) on empathic face processing during experimental task conditions showed that emotional vs. neutral/control conditions significantly correlated with activations of left anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32), right precentral gyrus (BA 6), left amygdala, right superior frontal gyrus (BA 9), left middle occipital gyrus (BA 37), right insula (BA 13), left putamen, and left posterior cingulate cortex (BA 31).

Conclusions

Empathy is a complex process correlating with activation of different brain areas, which have been involved in emotional cue processing, self-other/same-different discrimination, perspective-taking, mirror neuron activation, emotional arousal and decision-making.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
e-Poster Walk: Neuroimaging and neuroscience in psychiatry
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 41 , Issue S1: Abstract of the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2017 , pp. S345
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2017
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