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Published January 26, 2006 | Accepted Version + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others

Abstract

The neural processes underlying empathy are a subject of intense interest within the social neurosciences. However, very little is known about how brain empathic responses are modulated by the affective link between individuals. We show here that empathic responses are modulated by learned preferences, a result consistent with economic models of social preferences. We engaged male and female volunteers in an economic game, in which two confederates played fairly or unfairly, and then measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging while these same volunteers observed the confederates receiving pain. Both sexes exhibited empathy-related activation in pain-related brain areas (fronto-insular and anterior cingulate cortices) towards fair players. However, these empathy-related responses were significantly reduced in males when observing an unfair person receiving pain. This effect was accompanied by increased activation in reward-related areas, correlated with an expressed desire for revenge. We conclude that in men (at least) empathic responses are shaped by valuation of other people's social behaviour, such that they empathize with fair opponents while favouring the physical punishment of unfair opponents, a finding that echoes recent evidence for altruistic punishment.

Additional Information

© 2006 Nature Publishing Group. Received 15 June 2005; Accepted 30 September 2005; Published online 18 January 2006. We thank P. Aston, S. Kiebel and E. Featherstone for their help. This work was supported by the German Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina, Halle, from the Ministry of Education and Science, by the Medical Research Council (UK), and by Wellcome Trust Programme Grants to R.J.D. and C.D.F.

Attached Files

Accepted Version - ukmss-3669.pdf

Supplemental Material - nature04271-s1.pdf

Supplemental Material - nature04271-s2.pdf

Supplemental Material - nature04271-s3.pdf

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