Sex differences in the brain response to affective scenes with or without humans
Abstract
Recent findings have demonstrated that women might be more reactive than men to viewing painful stimuli (vicarious response to pain), and therefore more empathic [Han, S., Fan, Y., & Mao, L. (2008). Gender difference in empathy for pain: An electrophysiological investigation. Brain Research, 1196, 85-93]. We investigated whether the two sexes differed in their cerebral responses to affective pictures portraying humans in different positive or negative contexts compared to natural or urban scenarios. 440 IAPS slides were presented to 24 Italian students (12 women and 12 men). Half the pictures displayed humans while the remaining scenes lacked visible persons. ERPs were recorded from 128 electrodes and swLORETA (standardized weighted Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography) source reconstruction was performed. Occipital P115 was greater in response to persons than to scenes and was affected by the emotional valence of the human pictures. This suggests that processing of biologically relevant stimuli is prioritized. Orbitofrontal N2 was greater in response to positive than negative human pictures in women but not in men, and not to scenes. A late positivity (LP) to suffering humans far exceeded the response to negative scenes in women but not in men. In both sexes, the contrast suffering-minus-happy humans revealed a difference in the activation of the occipito/temporal, right occipital (BA19), bilateral parahippocampal, left dorsal prefrontal cortex (DPFC) and left amygdala. However, increased right amygdala and right frontal area activities were observed only in women. The humans-minus-scenes contrast revealed a difference in the activation of the middle occipital gyrus (MOG) in men, and of the left inferior parietal (BA40), left superior temporal gyrus (STG, BA38) and right cingulate (BA31) in women (270-290 ms). These data indicate a sex-related difference in the brain response to humans, possibly supporting human empathy.
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Static images may be effective in eliciting putative MNS activity if the images contain implied movement.
“static images may be effective in eliciting putative MNS activity if images used contain implied movement (dynamic information within static images, or 'implicit motion'; Proverbio et al., 2009; Urgesi et al., 2006).”
From Is the Putative Mirror Neuron System Associated with Empathy? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2021) · cites this paper as Proverbio et al., 2009
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References 83 · Cited by 159
- Authors
- Proverbio, A. M., Adorni, R., Zani, A., & Trestianu, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
- Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Proverbio, Alice Mado
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-10
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2374-2388
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2133595197
- Cited by
- 159
- References
- 83
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 3.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- sex differences, emotional pictures, human face, empathy, emotional valence, p115, N2, late positive potential, amygdala, parahippocampal cortex, dorsal prefrontal cortex, occipital cortex, International Affective Picture System, event-related potentials
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Animals, Brain, Brain Mapping, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Visual, Facial Expression, Female, Humans, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Sex Characteristics, Time Factors, Young Adult
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