Are strong empathizers better mentalizers? Evidence for independence and interaction between the routes of social cognition

“Employing questionnaires such as the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983) or the Questionnaire of Affective and Cognitive Empathy (Reniers et al., 2011), researchers showed correlations between participants’ tendencies to describe and/or perceive themselves as empathic and as willing to…”

“ToM, in contrast, refers to cognitively representing and reasoning on others’ mental (or affective) states (Premack and Woodruff 1978; Frith and Frith, 2005).”

“The adaptive function of this down-regulation, on the other hand, may be to efficiently draw attention to those aspects of a social situation that require immediate action, such as others’ emotions (Menon and Uddin, 2010).”

“…empathy and ToM are coordinated in an individual brain in the process of understanding another person, we used DCM. DCM allows the characterization of temporal causal influences between core brain regions and their modulation by experimental conditions (Friston et al., 2003; Stephan et al., 2007).”

“SPM8 and DPARSF were applied to analyse the resting state data (Chao-Gan and Yu-Feng, 2010).”

“Meta-analyses yielded a core network including anterior insula (AI), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for empathy for pain (Lamm et al., 2011).”

“…in the EmpaToM because (1) meta-analyses identified these as the most consistently activated regions for empathy and ToM (Lamm et al., 2011; Schurz et al., 2014) and because (2) seeding from these peaks in resting state scans corroborated their embedding in separate networks in taskfree…”

“…when confronted with others’ suffering, empathy would refer to sharing the suffering and hence be associated to negative affect, whereas compassion would include feelings of warmth, lovingkindness and concern and a strong motivation to alleviate the others’ suffering (Singer and Klimecki, 2014).”

“Hence, empathy can be described as ‘feeling with’ rather than ‘feeling for’ another, the latter referring to empathic concern and compassion (Batson et al., 1987).”

“As the down-regulation of TPJ can come at the cost of impaired mentalizing, the questions is whether chronified variants may be a precursor for mental disorders [as has been hypothesized in borderline personality disorder (Fonagy and Luyten, 2009)].”

“…on the TPJ particularly during emotional videos, suggesting that the AI has a role in modulating ongoing processes in TPJ, such as taking others’ perspectives, reasoning about others’ mental states or, more generally, shifting between different sources of information (Decety and Lamm, 2007).”

“Though previous studies have compared cognitive and affective aspects of ToM (i.e. mentalizing on others’ cognitive, perceptual or affective states; Vollm et al., 2006; Schulte-Ruther et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al.,…”

“Employing questionnaires such as the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983) or the Questionnaire of Affective and Cognitive Empathy (Reniers et al., 2011), researchers showed correlations between participants’ tendencies to describe and/or perceive themselves as empathic and as willing to…”

“…and affective aspects of ToM (i.e. mentalizing on others’ cognitive, perceptual or affective states; Vollm et al., 2006; Schulte-Ruther et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al., 2014; Bruneau…”

“20); they are therefore not interpreted (Stephan et al., 2010).”

“…showed significant relations to performance in the Imposing Memory Task (Kinderman et al., 1998), a verbal high-level mentalizing task and the reverse egocentricity bias in the Samson Task, a measure of ability to overcome an egocentric bias in visual perspective taking (Samson et al., 2010).”

“, 2014), while empathy seems to be preserved when controlling for comorbid alexithymia (Bird et al., 2010; Bird and Viding, 2014).”

“The (5) ToM-related activation overlapped with activity during a false-belief task (Dodell-Feder et al., 2011) and a meta-analysis on ToM studies (Bzdok et al., 2012).”

“In autism spectrum disorder, for instance, deficient ToM abilities have been reliably reported (Frith, 2001; Table 1.”

“Additionally, we behaviorally assessed two established tasks: In the empathy task [Socio-affective Video Task (SoVT; Klimecki et al., 2013)], participants are presented with silent vid-”

“…have compared cognitive and affective aspects of ToM (i.e. mentalizing on others’ cognitive, perceptual or affective states; Vollm et al., 2006; Schulte-Ruther et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012;…”

“, 2014), while empathy seems to be preserved when controlling for comorbid alexithymia (Bird et al., 2010; Bird and Viding, 2014).”

“One-hundred ninety-one participants were tested in the context of a longitudinal study at baseline (ReSource study; Kanske et al., 2015b; Singer et al., 2015)1.”

“pathy measure (valence ratings) of the SoVT while (3) the ToM measure of the EmpaToM showed significant relations to performance in the Imposing Memory Task (Kinderman et al., 1998), a verbal high-level mentalizing task and the reverse egocentricity bias in the Samson Task, a measure of ability to”

“, 2003), the information transfer from V1 to the other nodes of the network, can be estimated without including further relay regions during the information transfer (Eickhoff et al., 2009; Grefkes et al., 2010).”

“The (5) ToM-related activation overlapped with activity during a false-belief task (Dodell-Feder et al., 2011) and a meta-analysis on ToM studies (Bzdok et al., 2012).”

“responding (Blair, 2008), at least if empathic responding is not explicitly encouraged (Meffert et al., 2013).”

“Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that individual differences in people’s tendency to rather engage empathy or mentalizing in complex social settings predict differences in prosocial decision-making (Tusche et al., 2016).”

“…2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al., 2014; Bruneau et al., 2015) or have studied empathy and ToM in separation (Dziobek et al., 2011), the interaction of empathy and ToM within individuals has received only little attention (c.f. Lockwood et al., 2013).”

“D ow nloaded from https://academ ic.oup.com /scan/article-abstract/11/9/1383/2223804 by M PI C ognitive and Brain Science user on 31 January 2019 Schwenck et al., 2012; Kana et al., 2014), while empathy seems to be preserved when controlling for comorbid alexithymia (Bird et al., 2010; Bird and…”

“Interestingly, social animations activate the left insular cortex (Schurz et al., 2014) and the amygdala (Martin and Weisberg, 2003) and also elicit subjective emotional responses since they depict affective scenarios (e.g. tricking, coaxing; Rimé et al., 1985).”

“To further reduce influence of potential noise-artifacts, we used the RobustWLS Toolbox (Diedrichsen and Shadmehr, 2005), which down-weights images with higher noise variance through a weighted-least-squares approach.”

“responding (Blair, 2008), at least if empathic responding is not explicitly encouraged (Meffert et al.”

“, 2003), the information transfer from V1 to the other nodes of the network, can be estimated without including further relay regions during the information transfer (Eickhoff et al., 2009; Grefkes et al., 2010).”

“…and Cognitive Empathy (Reniers et al., 2011), researchers showed correlations between participants’ tendencies to describe and/or perceive themselves as empathic and as willing to take other people’s perspectives (Davis, 1983; Reniers et al., 2011; Georgi et al., 2014; Lockwood et al., 2014).”

“…empathy and ToM are coordinated in an individual brain in the process of understanding another person, we used DCM. DCM allows the characterization of temporal causal influences between core brain regions and their modulation by experimental conditions (Friston et al., 2003; Stephan et al., 2007).”

“This would point toward a general capacity underlying social understanding, analogously to the proposed g-factor in intelligence research (Jensen, 1998; Garlick, 2002).”

“Previous research indicates that socio-cognitive skills change over the lifespan, showing reduced ToM capacities in younger, but also in older age (Moran, 2013).”

“…on others’ cognitive, perceptual or affective states; Vollm et al., 2006; Schulte-Ruther et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al., 2014; Bruneau et al., 2015) or have studied empathy…”

“…deficits in social interaction have been described, for example D ow nloaded from https://academ ic.oup.com /scan/article-abstract/11/9/1383/2223804 by M PI C ognitive and Brain Science user on 31 January 2019 in personality disorders and depression (Arntz et al., 2009; Wolkenstein et al., 2011).”

“…from https://academ ic.oup.com /scan/article-abstract/11/9/1383/2223804 by M PI C ognitive and Brain Science user on 31 January 2019 Schwenck et al., 2012; Kana et al., 2014), while empathy seems to be preserved when controlling for comorbid alexithymia (Bird et al., 2010; Bird and Viding, 2014).”

“Also in the neuro-typical population, autistic and psychopathic traits are selectively correlated with reduced capacities in perspectivetaking and empathy, respectively (Lockwood et al., 2013).”

“This example illustrates that successful social interaction relies on our ability to share others’ emotions (empathy) and comprehend their thoughts and intentions [mentalizing, Theory of Mind (ToM)] (Frith and Frith, 2005; Singer, 2012; Kanske et al., 2015a).”

“V1, defined anatomically, was included in the model as a sensory seed region (Lu et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2014), to model the direct influence of the stimuli onto the system (Friston et al.”

“…et al., 2006; Schulte-Ruther et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al., 2014; Bruneau et al., 2015) or have studied empathy and ToM in separation (Dziobek et al., 2011), the interaction of…”

“…perceptual or affective states; Vollm et al., 2006; Schulte-Ruther et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al., 2014; Bruneau et al., 2015) or have studied empathy and ToM in separation…”

“For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com 1383 ic.oup.com /scan/article-abstract/11/9/1383/2223804 by M PI C ognitive and Brain Science user on 31 January 2019 et al., 2015; Valk et al., 2016)].”

“As the literature varies in the definition of the concepts empathy and ToM (Schurz and Perner, 2015), we want to clarify that we define empathy as an emotional state that is isomorphic to and elicited by observing or imagining another’s affective state (de Vignemont and Singer, 2006).”

“…deficits in social interaction have been described, for example D ow nloaded from https://academ ic.oup.com /scan/article-abstract/11/9/1383/2223804 by M PI C ognitive and Brain Science user on 31 January 2019 in personality disorders and depression (Arntz et al., 2009; Wolkenstein et al., 2011).”

“V1, defined anatomically, was included in the model as a sensory seed region (Lu et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2014), to model the direct influence of the stimuli onto the system (Friston et al.”

“…al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Schnell et al., 2011; Bruneau et al., 2012; Sebastian et al., 2012; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al., 2014; Bruneau et al., 2015) or have studied empathy and ToM in separation (Dziobek et al., 2011), the interaction of empathy and ToM within individuals…”

“This would allow investigation of social cognitive processes elicited by observing another person, but also the processes that result from being empathized with or understood by another (Seehausen et al., 2012).”

“Interestingly, social animations activate the left insular cortex (Schurz et al., 2014) and the amygdala (Martin and Weisberg, 2003) and also elicit subjective emotional responses since they depict affective scenarios (e.g. tricking, coaxing; Rimé et al., 1985).”

“One-hundred ninety-one participants were tested in the context of a longitudinal study at baseline (ReSource study; Kanske et al., 2015b; Singer et al., 2015)1.”

“On a more general level, an interesting question will be whether inhibitory relations characterize the influence of highly emotional states on socio-cognitive functioning (Kanske et al., 2013; Wessa et al., 2013).”

“On a more general level, an interesting question will be whether inhibitory relations characterize the influence of highly emotional states on socio-cognitive functioning (Kanske et al., 2013; Wessa et al., 2013).”

“…and Cognitive Empathy (Reniers et al., 2011), researchers showed correlations between participants’ tendencies to describe and/or perceive themselves as empathic and as willing to take other people’s perspectives (Davis, 1983; Reniers et al., 2011; Georgi et al., 2014; Lockwood et al., 2014).”

“Such a relationship could be found across different modalities such as pain, disgust, or unfairness (CorradiDell’Acqua, Tusche, Vuilleumier, & Singer, 2016; but see Krishnan et al., 2016), which suggests that parts of these brain areas encode affective rather than sensory features of stimuli.”

“Current experimental evidence is available in support of both hypotheses (Bons et al., 2013; Cook, Brewer, Shah, & Bird, 2013; Erle & Topolinski, 2015, 2017; Hamilton et al., 2009; Kanske et al., 2016; Mattan et al., 2016; Maurage et al., 2016; Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon-Peretz, 2007).”

“Distinctions among multiple systems are central to recent conceptualizations of empathy and compassion (Ashar et al., 2016a; de Waal, 2008; Kanske et al., 2016; Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2009; Singer and Klimecki, 2014; Zaki and Ochsner, 2012).”

“These measures are complemented by an attention marker (Trautwein, Singer, & Kanske, 2016) which was selected as an outcome of the Presence Module because: (1) In parallel to compassion and ToM being directly linked to the Affect and Perspective modules, attention is a core hypothesized outcome of…”

“Arguing against the possibility that these networks represent subcomponents of a single overarching social cognition network, empathizing and mentalizing capacities appear to be independent and predict distinct behavioral outcomes [30]; empathizing may even inhibit mentalizing in response to strong negative emotions […”

“The abilities that have been focused on most are empathizing and mentalizing, which we regard here as separable but related constructs (Kanske et al., 2016).”

“Direct contrasts of both functions confirmed these networks with functional (Kanske, Böckler, Trautwein, & Singer, 2015) and structural neuroimaging (Eres, Decety, Louis, & Molenberghs, 2015; Valk et al., 2017; Valk, Bernhardt, Bockler, Kanske, & Singer, 2016).”

“related activity in the temporoparietal junction is indeed inhibited by empathy-related activation in the anterior insula, when the video content is emotionally negative (Kanske et al. 2016).”

“On the other hand, cognitive empathy refers to putting oneself in the shoes of the other, which is thought to depend on the effortful cognitive process of perspective taking [5,8], which some authors however consider a precursor or precondition of empathy [9].”

“The differential effects of the program on the two types of empathy are consistent with research showing that the capacity to empathize is independent from the capacity to mentalize, behaviorally and neurally (Kanske et al., 2016).”

“A recent study measuring affect sharing and the cognitive understanding of others’ mental states simultaneously provided evidence for the constructs’ behavioural and neural independence (Kanske et al. 2016).”

“, sharing others’ emotions), given the more robust association of cognitive empathy with accurate social understanding and effective communication (Davis, 1980; Kanske et al., 2016; Zaki et al., 2008).”

“A series of studies comparing ToM and empathy found the SMG to be involved in overcoming egocentric biases when judging others’ emotional states in both adults (34, 35) and children (37).”

“Most importantly for the present review, neurophysiological research showed that empathy and perspective-taking are clearly independent and distinguishable processes, both on a behavioral and neurophysiological basis (Kanske, Böckler, Trautwein, Parianen Lesemann, & Singer, 2016).”

“Another recent and interesting research (Kanske et al., 2016) has further looked into the relationship between emotion sharing and the comprehension of others’ mental state during social interactions.”

“, empathic sharing of another’s bodily or emotional state; Vignemont and Singer 2006) both on the level of brain and behavior (Kanske et al. 2015; Kanske et al. 2016; Lamm et al. 2011; Singer 2006).”

“Socioaffective and sociocognitive processes encompass different facets (e.g., Kanske et al., 2016; Reniers et al., 2011; Wieck & Kunzmann, 2015).”

“However, in highly emotional situations, empathic sharing may inhibit mental performance (Kanske et al. 2016), while artificial suppression of emotions may reduce interactional abilities (Butler and Egloff 2003).”

“Indeed, recent work demonstrates that cognitive and emotional empathy can flexibly interact (Christov-Moore and Iacoboni, 2016; Kanske et al., 2016).”

“Consistent with its role as a causal hub between inwardly and outwardly directed processing systems (Menon and Uddin 2010; Kanske et al. 2016), this suggests that AI may down-regulate distracting processes in the DMN when capacity limits are reached.”

“MRI assessment will last for 60 min and will encompass three experimental paradigms that probe neural activation in social brain systems that have shown altered activity in ASD in previous studies (emotional matching [adapted from: [91]], social orienting, social reward anticipation and consumption [adapted from: [95,…”

“Accordingly, elevated affEMP (emotional sharing) can obstruct cogEMP (perspective-taking) during highly emotional situations (46).”

“…it is possible to attune to another person via third-party observation (e.g., when watching somebody who is telling a sad autobiographical story; Kanske et al., 2015, 2016), real interpersonal (second-person) situations generate a stronger drive to do so, making the relationship between two…”

“By identifying distinct neural networks associated with affect sharing (empathizing/empathy), and inference of others’ mental and affective states (ToM), social neuroscience has provided support for the existence of these two separate paths to understanding others (Kanske, Böckler, et al., 2015; Kanske et al., 2016; S…”

“In this review, we highlighted individual studies that showcase how this move toward a network-based investigation of the social brain might reshape our understanding of social affect and cognition in terms of overall network organization (2, 13), network configuration and interaction (18, 27), flexible network reconf…”

“It can be distinguished from prosocial behaviors driven by other motivations (e.g., strategic considerations or social norm compliance) (Böckler et al., 2016).”

“For this paradigm we may for example use the AI and the dACC as ROIs, because these regions have consistently been identified with empathy [45, 46].”

“In the field of social neuroscience, SC is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that relies on two main subsystems, or routes, to construct the understanding of others with whom we interact (7, 8).”

“Empathy is a multifaceted construct that consists of at least two different aspects: a “neural resonance” process, which is the automatic tendency to simulate the states of others, including sensory, motor and emotional components, and a mentalizing process, through which would be possible to explicitly assign affecti…”

“The latter is the case when self-other distinction is impaired, e.g. because of individual predispositions or as a consequence of strong negative emotions (Kanske, Böckler, Trautwein, Parianen Lesemann, & Singer, 2016; Klimecki & Singer, 2012).”

“Behavioral and neural evidence indicate the independence of socio-affective social processing and ToM abilities (Kanske et al., 2016).”

“There is also evidence for interactions between the constructs in such a way that higher EC can inhibit PT in affectively loaded situations (Kanske et al., 2016).”

“Third, we operationalized performance in emotion recognition as the agreement between perceivers ’ ratings of targets ’ emotions with targets ’ self-reported emotion ratings (see also [7,60]).”