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Motivation & Emotion > Problem 7 > Flashcards

Problem 7 Flashcards

1
Q

Empathy

A

Refers to the process of sharing feelings with others

–> resonating with someone else’s feelings, regardless of valence but with explicit knowledge that the other person is the origin of that emotion

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2
Q

Which brain regions becomes active when feeling empathy ?

A

Shared neural activation of

  1. Anterior insula
  2. aMCC

–> activate whenever we witness suffering of others

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3
Q

Compassion

A

Refers to feelings of concern + warmth when witnessing the suffering others

–> linked to the motivation to help

THUS: counteracts negative emotions that are excited by others suffering by generating position emotions

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4
Q

Which brain processes are activated when feeling compassion ?

A

Activates networks that are associated with Reward/affiliation:

  1. Ventral Striatum
  2. NAC
  3. VTA
  4. mOFC
  5. sACC
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5
Q

Socio cognition

or else referred to as ToM

A

Ability to take another persons perspective

–> cognitive empathy

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6
Q

Wich brain regions activate when taking another persons perspective ?

A
  1. Temporoparietal junction
  2. Superior temporal sulcus
  3. Temporal poles
  4. mPFC
  5. PCC
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7
Q

Empa-ToM task

A

Is used to study how the brain processes are related + work together to achieve adaptive social behavior

–> thus stimulates both functions concurrently

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8
Q

How come that Strong empathizers may not necessarily be proficient mentalizers and vice versa?

A

Because the the functions of ToM + empathy are independent of each other on a neural level

BUT: both NWs are jointly required to be active in complex social situations

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9
Q

Empa-ToM Task

A
  1. Picture based paradigm
    - -> visual depictions of someone in painful situation
  2. Cue-based paradigm
    - -> hint that someone else is receiving a painful simulation
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10
Q

Results of the Empt-Task showed that the typical empathy related core network is commonly activated.

However, the 2 paradigms resulted in differing core activations.

Elaborate.

A
  1. Picture based paradigm
    - -> co-activated the action-observation NW to decode the potential affective consequences of a certain action
  2. Cue-based paradigm
    - -> co-activated the ToM NW because these cues required additional inference of the others affective state from an abstract cue
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11
Q

What can we conclude from the fact that each paradigm of the Empt-Task lead to different co-activations of brain networks ?

A

That dependent on the provided info in a given context, different networks will be co-activated together with the core empathy-related NW

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12
Q

The 2 NWs associated with empathy + ToM are jointly activated for …. ?

A

Complex evaluations of someone else feelings

—> Empathic accuracy

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13
Q

How does the fact that both empathy + ToM NWs also directly influence each other show, on a neural level ?

A

Anterior insula inhibits activity in TPJ

  1. AI
    - -> negative affect sharing, affective part
  2. TPJ
    - -> mentalizing, cognitive part

THUS: shows in people who react very emotionally to other peoples suffering

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14
Q

Why is the self vs other distinction so important ?

Which brain regions are most critical for this distinction ?

A
  1. Enables us to differentiate between ones own emotional or mental states vs the states shared with others
  2. TPJ + rSMG
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15
Q

Egocentricity bias

A

Refers to the tendency to project ones own emotional state on someone else

–> results of failure of self-other distinction

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16
Q

Altercentric bias

A

Refers to the influence of others’ states on the judgments about oneself

–> results from failure of self-other distinction

17
Q

Cognitive egocentricity

A

Occurs when the own knowledge about a situation influences the reasoning about what someone see thinks about the situation

18
Q

Emotional egocentricity

A

Occurs when ones own emotional states influences the judgment of someone else’s affective state

19
Q

On a neural level, which brain regions seems to be critical to overcome cognitive egocentricity ?

A

right TPJ

–> also functionally connected to

  1. mPFC + vlPFC
  2. PCC

=> parts of the ToM network

20
Q

On a neural level, which brain regions seem to be critical to overcome emotional egocentricity ?

A

right Supramarginal gyrus (SMG)

–> also has connections to AI

AND: coupling with dlPFC will also lead to reduced emotional egocentricity

21
Q

Why can you rather call compassion a ER strategy ?

A

Because an original adaptive empathic response to the suffering of others can leas to a maladaptive repose which is empathic distress

–> BUT: this can be reversed by learning how to turn it into compassion

22
Q

Empathic distress

A

Refers to a strong aversive and self-oriented response to the suffering of others

–> accompanied by the desire to withdraw from a situation in order to protect one’s self from excessive negative feelings

23
Q

Cognitive empathy

A

Ability to

  1. recognize
  2. understand
  3. react

appropriately to others emotional states

–> ToM

24
Q

Affective empathy

A

Ability to feel + share others emotions

25
Q

Empathy-altrusim hypothesis

A

States that empathic concern for others produces the altruistic motivation that underlies subsequent prosocial behavior

–> since it produces either sympathy or personal distress

26
Q

What may be the potential negative effects of having an empathic capacity in terms of its relationship with affective distress?

A

There seem to be positive associations + correlations between

  1. affective empathic stress + depressive symptoms
  2. symptoms of anxiety + affective empathy
  3. emotional empathy + gender role stress

–> but there are challenges to these statements

27
Q

Tully et al. hypothesized that the link between individual differences in the capacity for empathy + symptoms of affective distress may be moderated by common ER mechanisms.

Which predictions were accurate and in line with this hypothesis ?

A

Affective empathy has a positive linear association with measures of affective distress

–> cognitive empathy has negative

because: The more you get emotionally involved, the more you will get affective distress

28
Q

Previously it was assumed that the ER strategy suppression is detrimental to mental health state - especially when being high in empathic affectivity.

Does this still always apply to all people ?

A

No,

Higher levels of suppression have a potentially beneficial effect on levels of depression + stress for people who are higher in AFFECTIVE empathy!

–> BUT: being high in cognitive empathy and using suppression is still a bad ER strategy

29
Q

Which ER strategy seems to be best to avoid distressing outcomes if you’re high in affective empathy ?

A

Re-appraisal

30
Q

Why do people generally prefer to avoid empathy ?

A

Because of the inherent cognitive costs that result from empathizing

31
Q

Empathy selection task

A

Used to examine how cognitive costs can deter empathy

–> assesses situation selection, which is an ER strategy

32
Q

Procedure of the empathy-selection task

A

Participants had to choose in repeated trials between 2 card decks

–> after choosing they saw a photo of a person with instructions differing depending on the deck

  1. Empathy deck
    - -> sharing the experiences of the person + indicating the persons internal experiences
  2. Objective deck
    - -> remaining detached + indicating external features of person
33
Q

Why could empathy be costly ?

A

Cognitive costs may arise from

  1. uncertainty about others experiences
  2. risk of making errors
  3. Inefficacy at empathizing
  4. Cognitive effort
    - -> subjective intensification of mental activity

THUS: decreasing the costs of empathy can increase the willingness to empathize

34
Q

Negative Effets of empathy

A
  1. Unfairness
  2. Bias
  3. Ingorup favoritism/bias
  4. Innumerate
    - -> one can empathize with a single individual but not a million at once

THUS: poor guide to moral decision making since it overrules our moral compass

35
Q

Identifiable victim effect

A

People only empathize with an identifiable person

e.g.: 6 year old sick girl vs increasing tax to prevent more preventable deaths

–> 6 year old girl is empathized with

36
Q

Empathy can be used as a tool.

Elaborate.

A

Empathy works as an important motivating force

–> we can shift our empathic focus + use empathy to encourage all sorts of good action

37
Q

Lesions to the TPJ will lead to …?

A

Inability to make self vs other distinctions
–> in perceptual processing, specifically in speech

THUS: elicits hallucinations of voices

Motivation & Emotion (8 decks)

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