Not logged in.

Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title When differences matter: rTMS/fMRI reveals how differences in dispositional empathy translate to distinct neural underpinnings of self-other distinction in empathy
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Christian Ruff
  • Henryk Bukowski
  • Martin Tik
  • Giorgia Silani
  • Christian Windischberger
  • Claus Lamm
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Cortex
Publisher Elsevier
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0010-9452
Volume 128
Number 9ndac
Page Range 143 - 161
Date 2020
Abstract Text Self-other distinction is crucial for empathy, since it prevents the confusion of self-experienced emotions with those of others. We aimed to extend our understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms of self-other distinction. Thirty-one female participants underwent continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) targeting the supramarginal gyrus (rSMG), a sub-region of the temporoparietal junction previously shown to be involved in self-other distinction, and the vertex, a cortical control site. Right after stimulation they completed a visuo-tactile empathy task in an MRI scanner. Self-other distinction performance was assessed by differences in emotion judgments and brain activity between conditions differing in the requirement for self-other distinction. Effects of rSMG-cTBS (compared to vertex cTBS) on self-other distinction depended on dispositional empathic understanding: they decreased self-other distinction in participants with lower dispositional empathic understanding, but increased it in participants with higher empathic understanding. On the neural level, this inverse relationship between disposition and self-other distinction performance translated into a reduction or an increase of cTBS-induced rSMG activity, in persons with lower and higher dispositional empathy, respectively. Moreover, the differences in rSMG activity were associated with two anatomically and functionally distinct networks. These findings open up novel perspectives on the causal role of rSMG in self-other distinction and empathy. They also suggest that considering individual differences may yield novel insights into how brain stimulation affects higher-level affect and cognition, and its neural correlates.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.009
Other Identification Number merlin-id:19245
PDF File Download from ZORA
Export BibTeX
EP3 XML (ZORA)
Keywords Empathy, fMRI, cTBS, self-other distinction, egocentric bias