How learning shapes the empathic brain

How learning shapes the empathic brain.

Deficits in empathy enhance conflicts and human suffering. Thus, it is crucial to understand how empathy can be learned and how learning experiences shape empathy-related processes in the human brain. As a model of empathy deficits, we used the well-established suppression of empathy-related brain responses for the suffering of out-groups and tested whether and how out-group empathy is boosted ...

The empathic brain: how, when and why?

Recent imaging results suggest that individuals automatically share the emotions of others when exposed to their emotions. We question the assumption of the automaticity and propose a contextual approach, suggesting several modulatory factors that might influence empathic brain responses. Contextual appraisal could occur early in emotional cue evaluation, which then might or might not lead to a...

How Mediated Immersion Shapes Learning

The brain timewise: how timing shapes and supports brain function

We discuss the importance of timing in brain function: how temporal dynamics of the world has left its traces in the brain during evolution and how we can monitor the dynamics of the human brain with non-invasive measurements. Accurate timing is important for the interplay of neurons, neuronal circuitries, brain areas and human individuals. In the human brain, multiple temporal integration wind...

How Situational Context Impacts Empathic Responses and Brain Activation Patterns

Clinical empathy, which is defined as the ability to understand the patient's experience and feelings from the patient's perspective, is acknowledged to be an important aspect of quality healthcare. However, how work experience modulates the empathic responses and brain activation patterns in medical professions remains elusive. This fMRI study recruited one hundred female nurses, who varied th...