Abstract
Most instances of social interaction provide a wealth of information about the states of other people, be it sensations, feelings, thoughts, or convictions. How we represent these states has been a major question in social neuroscience, leading to the identification of two routes to understanding others: an affective route for the direct sharing of others’ emotions (empathy) that involves, among others, anterior insula and middle anterior cingulate cortex and a cognitive route for representing and reasoning about others’ states (Theory of Mind) that entails, among others, ventral temporoparietal junction and anterior and posterior midline regions. Additionally, research has revealed a number of situational and personal factors that shape the functioning of empathy and Theory of Mind. Concerning situational modulators, it has been shown, for instance, that ingroup membership enhances empathic responding and that Theory of Mind performance seems to be susceptible to stress. Personal modulators include psychopathological conditions, for which alterations in empathy and mentalizing have consistently been demonstrated; people on the autism spectrum, for instance, are impaired specifically in mentalizing, while spontaneous empathic responding seems selectively reduced in psychopathy. Given the multifaceted evidence for separability of the two routes, current research endeavors aiming at fostering interpersonal cooperation explore the differential malleability of affective and cognitive understanding of others.
Philipp Kanske and Anne Böckler are joint first authors/contributed equally.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aichhorn M, Perner J, Weiss B, Kronbichler M, Staffen W, Ladurner G (2009) Temporo-parietal junction activity in theory-of-mind tasks: falseness, beliefs, or attention. J Cogn Neurosci 21(6):1179–1192. doi:10.1162/jocn.2009.21082
Apperly IA (2012) What is “theory of mind”? Concepts, cognitive processes and individual differences. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 65(5):825–839. doi:10.1080/17470218.2012.676055
Avenanti A, Bueti D, Galati G, Aglioti SM (2005) Transcranial magnetic stimulation highlights the sensorimotor side of empathy for pain. Nat Neurosci 8(7):955–960. doi:10.1038/nn1481
Baron-Cohen S, Leslie AM, Frith U (1985) Does the autistic-child have a theory of mind. Cognition 21(1):37–46. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8
Batson CD (2011) Altruism in humans. Oxford University Press, New York
Begeer S, Gevers C, Clifford P, Verhoeve M, Kat K, Hoddenbach E, Boer F (2011) Theory of mind training in children with autism: a randomized controlled trial. J Autism Dev Disord 41(8):997–1006. doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1121-9
Bernhardt BC, Valk SL, Silani G, Bird G, Frith U, Singer T (2014) Selective disruption of sociocognitive structural brain networks in autism and alexithymia. Cereb Cortex 24(12):3258–3267. doi:10.1093/cercor/bht182
Bird G, Silani G, Brindley R, White S, Frith U, Singer T (2010) Empathic brain responses in insula are modulated by levels of alexithymia but not autism. Brain 133(Pt 5):1515–1525. doi:10.1093/brain/awq060
Blair RJ (2008) Fine cuts of empathy and the amygdala: dissociable deficits in psychopathy and autism. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 61(1):157–170. doi:10.1080/17470210701508855
Blair RJ, Sellars C, Strickland I, Clark F, Williams A, Smith M, Jones L (1996) Theory of mind in the psychopath. J Forensic Psychiatry 7(1):15–25. doi:10.1080/09585189608409914
Blakemore SJ, Sarfati Y, Bazin N, Decety J (2003) The detection of intentional contingencies in simple animations in patients with delusions of persecution. Psychol Med 33(8):1433–1441
Bockler A, Zwickel J (2013) Influences of spontaneous perspective taking on spatial and identity processing of faces. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 8(7):735–740. doi:10.1093/scan/nss061
Bruneau EG, Pluta A, Saxe R (2012) Distinct roles of the ‘shared pain’ and ‘theory of mind’ networks in processing others’ emotional suffering. Neuropsychologia 50(2):219–231. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.11.008
Bzdok D, Schilbach L, Vogeley K, Schneider K, Laird AR, Langner R, Eickhoff SB (2012) Parsing the neural correlates of moral cognition: ALE meta-analysis on morality, theory of mind, and empathy. Brain Struct Funct 217(4):783–796. doi:10.1007/s00429-012-0380-y
Caputi M, Lecce S, Pagnin A, Banerjee R (2012) Longitudinal effects of theory of mind on later peer relations: the role of prosocial behavior. Dev Psychol 48(1):257–270. doi:10.1037/a0025402
Carr L, Iacoboni M, Dubeau MC, Mazziotta JC, Lenzi GL (2003) Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: a relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100(9):5497–5502. doi:10.1073/pnas.0935845100
Cutting AL, Dunn J (1999) Theory of mind, emotion understanding, language, and family background: Individual differences and interrelations. Child Dev 70(4):853–865. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00061
de Vignemont F, Singer T (2006) The empathic brain: how, when and why? Trends Cogn Sci 10(10):435–441. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.08.008
Decety J (2010) To what extent is the experience of empathy mediated by shared neural circuits? Emot Rev 2(3):204–207. doi:10.1177/1754073910361981
Dodell-Feder D, Koster-Hale J, Bedny M, Saxe R (2011) fMRI item analysis in a theory of mind task. Neuroimage 55(2):705–712. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.12.040
Dziobek I, Fleck S, Kalbe E, Rogers K, Hassenstab J, Brand M, Convit A (2006) Introducing MASC: a movie for the assessment of social cognition. J Autism Dev Disord 36(5):623–636. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0107-0
Dziobek I, Preissler S, Grozdanovic Z, Heuser I, Heekeren HR, Roepke S (2011) Neuronal correlates of altered empathy and social cognition in borderline personality disorder. Neuroimage 57(2):539–548. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.005
Fan Y, Duncan NW, de Greck M, Northoff G (2011) Is there a core neural network in empathy? An fMRI based quantitative meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 35(3):903–911. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.10.009
Frith C, Frith U (2005) Theory of mind. Curr Biol 15(17):R644–R646. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.08.041
Gu X, Han S (2007) Attention and reality constraints on the neural processes of empathy for pain. Neuroimage 36(1):256–267. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.02.025
Hein G, Silani G, Preuschoff K, Batson CD, Singer T (2010) Neural responses to ingroup and outgroup members’ suffering predict individual differences in costly helping. Neuron 68(1):149–160
Kanske P, Heissler J, Schonfelder S, Forneck J, Wessa M (2013a) Neural correlates of emotional distractibility in bipolar disorder patients, unaffected relatives, and individuals with hypomanic personality. Am J Psychiatry 170(12):1487–1496. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12081044
Kanske P, Schonfelder S, Wessa M (2013b) Emotional modulation of the attentional blink and the relation to interpersonal reactivity. Front Hum Neurosci 7:641. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00641
Kanske P, Böckler A, Trautwein FM, Singer T (2015) Dissecting the social brain: introducing the EmpaToM to separate empathy and theory of mind in brain and behavior. Neuroimage 122:6–19
Keysers C, Wicker B, Gazzola V, Anton JL, Fogassi L, Gallese V (2004) A touching sight: SII/PV activation during the observation and experience of touch. Neuron 42(2):335–346
Klimecki OM, Leiberg S, Lamm C, Singer T (2013) Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect after compassion training. Cereb Cortex 23(7):1552–1561. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs142
Klimecki OM, Leiberg S, Ricard M, Singer T (2014) Differential pattern of functional brain plasticity after compassion and empathy training. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 9(6):873–879. doi:10.1093/scan/nst060
Lamm C, Nusbaum HC, Meltzoff AN, Decety J (2007) What are you feeling? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the modulation of sensory and affective responses during empathy for pain. PLoS ONE 2(12):e1292. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001292
Lamm C, Decety J, Singer T (2011) Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. Neuroimage 54(3):2492–2502. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.014
Leiberg S, Klimecki O, Singer T (2011) Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game. PLoS ONE 6(3):e17798. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017798
Mason RA, Williams DL, Kana RK, Minshew N, Just MA (2008) Theory of mind disruption and recruitment of the right hemisphere during narrative comprehension in autism. Neuropsychologia 46(1):269–280. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.07.018
Masten CL, Morelli SA, Eisenberger NI (2011) An fMRI investigation of empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior. Neuroimage 55(1):381–388. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.060
Meffert H, Gazzola V, den Boer JA, Bartels AAJ, Keysers C (2013) Reduced spontaneous but relatively normal deliberate vicarious representations in psychopathy, vol 136
Mobbs D, Yu R, Meyer M, Passamonti L, Seymour B, Calder AJ, Dalgleish T (2009) A key role for similarity in vicarious reward. Science 324(5929):900. doi:10.1126/science.1170539
Mohnke S, Erk S, Schnell K, Schutz C, Romanczuk-Seiferth N, Grimm O, Walter H (2014) Further evidence for the impact of a genome-wide-supported psychosis risk variant in ZNF804A on the theory of mind network. Neuropsychopharmacology 39(5):1196–1205. doi:10.1038/npp.2013.321
Muller-Pinzler L, Gazzola V, Keysers C, Sommer J, Jansen A, Frassle S, Krach S (2015) Neural pathways of embarrassment and their modulation by social anxiety. Neuroimage 119:252–261. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.036
Paulus FM, Muller-Pinzler L, Westermann S, Krach S (2013) On the distinction of empathic and vicarious emotions. Front Hum Neurosci 7:196. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00196
Pears KC, Moses LJ (2003) Demographics, parenting, and theory of mind in preschool children. Soc Dev 12(1):1–20. doi:10.1111/1467-9507.00219
Premack D, Woodruff G (1978) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behav Brain Sci 515–526
Rueckert L, Naybar N (2008) Gender differences in empathy: the role of the right hemisphere. Brain Cogn 67(2):162–167. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2008.01.002
Schulte-Ruther M, Markowitsch HJ, Shah NJ, Fink GR, Piefke M (2008) Gender differences in brain networks supporting empathy. Neuroimage 42(1):393–403. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.180
Schurz M, Radua J, Aichhorn M, Richlan F, Perner J (2014) Fractionating theory of mind: a meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 42C:9–34. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.01.009
Shamay-Tsoory SG, Aharon-Peretz J (2007) Dissociable prefrontal networks for cognitive and affective theory of mind: a lesion study. Neuropsychologia 45(13):3054–3067. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.05.021
Silani G, Lamm C, Ruff CC, Singer T (2013) Right supramarginal gyrus is crucial to overcome emotional egocentricity bias in social judgments. J Neurosci 33(39):15466–15476. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1488-13.2013
Singer T (2006) The neuronal basis and ontogeny of empathy and mind reading: review of literature and implications for future research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 30(6):855–863. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.06.011
Singer T, Lamm C (2009) The social neuroscience of empathy. Ann NY Acad Sci 1156:81–96. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04418.x
Singer T, Seymour B, O’Doherty J, Kaube H, Dolan RJ, Frith CD (2004) Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science 303(5661):1157–1162. doi:10.1126/science.1093535
Singer T, Seymour B, O’Doherty JP, Stephan KE, Dolan RJ, Frith CD (2006) Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others. Nature 439(7075):466–469. doi:10.1038/nature04271
Smeets T, Dziobek I, Wolf OT (2009) Social cognition under stress: differential effects of stress-induced cortisol elevations in healthy young men and women. Horm Behav 55(4):507–513. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2009.01.011
Walter H, Adenzato M, Ciaramidaro A, Enrici I, Pia L, Bara BG (2004) Understanding intentions in social interaction: the role of the anterior paracingulate cortex. J Cogn Neurosci 16(10):1854–1863. doi:10.1162/0898929042947838
Wicker B, Keysers C, Plailly J, Royet JP, Gallese V, Rizzolatti G (2003) Both of us disgusted in My insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust. Neuron 40(3):655–664
Wimmer H, Perner J (1983) Beliefs about beliefs—representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young childrens understanding of deception. Cognition 13(1):103–128. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5
Wolf I, Dziobek I, Heekeren HR (2010) Neural correlates of social cognition in naturalistic settings: a model-free analysis approach. Neuroimage 49(1):894–904
Wolkenstein L, Schönenberg M, Schirm E, Hautzinger M (2011) I can see what you feel, but I can’t deal with it: impaired theory of mind in depression. J Affect Disord 132(1–2):104–111. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.02.010
Xu X, Zuo X, Wang X, Han S (2009) Do you feel my pain? Racial group membership modulates empathic neural responses. J Neurosci 29(26):8525–8529. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2418-09.2009
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kanske, P., Böckler, A., Singer, T. (2015). Models, Mechanisms and Moderators Dissociating Empathy and Theory of Mind. In: Wöhr, M., Krach, S. (eds) Social Behavior from Rodents to Humans. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2015_412
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2015_412
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47427-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47429-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)