EEG and fMRI evidence for autobiographical memory reactivation in empathy

Meconi, F., Linde-Domingo, J., Ferreira, C. S., Michelmann, S., Staresina, B., Apperly, I. A. and Hanslmayr, S. (2021) EEG and fMRI evidence for autobiographical memory reactivation in empathy. Human Brain Mapping, 42(14), pp. 4448-4464. (doi: 10.1002/hbm.25557) (PMID:34121270) (PMCID:PMC8410563)

Abstract

Empathy relies on the ability to mirror and to explicitly infer others' inner states. Theoretical accounts suggest that memories play a role in empathy, but direct evidence of reactivation of autobiographical memories (AM) in empathy is yet to be shown. We addressed this question in two experiments. In Experiment 1, electrophysiological activity (EEG) was recorded from 28 participants. Participants performed an empathy task in which targets for empathy were depicted in contexts for which participants either did or did not have an AM, followed by a task that explicitly required memory retrieval of the AM and non-AM contexts. The retrieval task was implemented to extract the neural fingerprints of AM and non-AM contexts, which were then used to probe data from the empathy task. An EEG pattern classifier was trained and tested across tasks and showed evidence for AM reactivation when participants were preparing their judgement in the empathy task. Participants self-reported higher empathy for people depicted in situations they had experienced themselves as compared to situations they had not experienced. A second independent fMRI experiment replicated this behavioural finding and showed increased activation for AM compared to non-AM in the brain networks underlying empathy: precuneus, posterior parietal cortex, superior and inferior parietal lobule, and superior frontal gyrus. Together, our study reports behavioural, electrophysiological, and fMRI evidence that robustly supports AM reactivation in empathy.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020, MSCA-IF-2015 (Nº702530), and by the ESRC (NºES/S001964/1) awarded to F.M. S.H. is supported by grants from the ERC (Nº647954), the ESRC (NºES/R010072/1), and the Wolfson Society and Royal Society.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hanslmayr, Professor Simon
• Authors: Meconi, F., Linde-Domingo, J., Ferreira, C. S., Michelmann, S., Staresina, B., Apperly, I. A., and Hanslmayr, S.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Human Brain Mapping
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1065-9471
• ISSN (Online): 1097-0193
• Published Online: 14 June 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Human Brain Mapping 42(14): 4448-4464
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
313261		Neural oscillations - a code for memory	Simon Hanslmayr	European Commission (EC)	N/A	NP - Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (CCNi)
314597		TIME - GLUING CROSS-MODAL MEMORIES VIA SYNCHRONISATION	Simon Hanslmayr	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/R010072/2	NP - Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (CCNi)