Cited by 114Primate Behavior and EcologyAction Observation and SynchronizationNeuroendocrine regulation and behavior

Behavioral and mechanistic insight into rodent empathy

Sivaselvachandran, Sivaani, Acland, Erinn L., Abdallah, Salsabil, Martin, Loren J.·2018·Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Abstract

Empathy is a psychological construct that allows individuals to understand and share the emotions of others. The ability to share emotional states relies on basic social mechanisms, such as mimicry and emotional contagion, which are considered building blocks for empathy. Mimicking another's emotional or physical state is essential for successful social interactions and is found in a number of animal species. For the current review we focus on emotional state sharing in rodents, a core feature of empathy that is often measured using pain and fear as proxies; we also discuss prosociality in rodents. The evidence for empathy in rodents shows that rats and mice consistently imitate arousal states and behaviors of conspecifics and will even sacrifice personal gain to relieve the distress of a conspecific. These behaviors support basic processes that are crucial for the survival of individual animals and give us insight into the neural mechanisms that govern empathy-related behaviors.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.06.007

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Sivaselvachandran, S., Acland, E. L., Abdallah, S., & Martin, L. J.
Affiliations
University of Toronto (CA)
Corresponding author
Martin, Loren J.
Venue
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-08
Volume
91
Pages
130-137
ISSN
0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2424196396
Cited by
114
References
71
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 1
FWCI
1.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Canadian Pain Society
  • Canada Research Chairs
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
Keywords
empathy, rodents, emotional contagion, emotional mimicry, prosocial behavior, pain, fear, neural mechanisms of empathy, rats, mice
MeSH terms
Animals, Emotions, Empathy, Fear, Pain, Rodentia, Social Behavior

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review