Neural Basis of Observational Fear Learning: A Potential Model of Affective Empathy
Open accessAbstract
Observational fear learning in rodents is a type of context-dependent fear conditioning in which an unconditioned stimulus (US) is provided vicariously by observing conspecific others receiving foot shocks. This suggests the involvement of affective empathy, with several recent studies showing many similarities between this behavior and human empathy. Neurobiologically, it is important to understand the neural mechanisms by which the vicarious US activates the fear circuit via the affective pain system, obviating the sensory pain pathway and eventually leading to fear memory formation. This paper reviews current studies on the neural mechanisms underlying observational fear learning and provides a perspective on future research on this subject.
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Trait empathy while watching someone else go through a distressing scenario is a risk factor for fear-based pathology.
“Trait empathy while watching someone else go through a distressing scenario is also a risk factor for fear-based pathology (e.g., Debiec et al., 2017; Keum & Shin, 2019; Olsson et al., 2016).”
From I've Seen Enough: Measuring the Toll of Content Moderation on Mental Health (2025) · cites this paper as Keum & Shin, 2019
The only matching text in our copy is the paper’s title, which links observational fear learning to a potential model of affective empathy. Searches for trait empathy, vulnerability to anxiety, and fear-based pathology found no passage addressing whether empathy while observing distress is a risk factor. (LLM, conf=0.70)
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I've Seen Enough: Measuring the Toll of Content Moderation on Mental Health
Gauthier, G. M., Ali, E., Asim, A., Cornell-Maier, S., & Zoellner, L. A. (2025) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.09813
- Authors
- Keum, S., & Shin, H.-S.
- Affiliations
- Institute for Basic Science (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Keum, Sehoon
- Shin, Hee-Sup
- Venue
- Neuron
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-10
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 78-86
- ISSN
- 0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2979884473
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuron (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Korea Basic Science Institute (IBS-R001-D1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- affective empathy, fear circuit, rodent models, social learning
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Animals, Conditioning, Classical, Empathy, Fear, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Learning, Pain, Observation
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