Dissociable systems for empathy.

R J R Blair

doi:10.1002/9780470030585.ch10

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Dissociable systems for empathy.

R J R Blair

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Abstract

Empathy is a lay term that is becoming increasingly used in the field of cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, it is argued that empathy is a loose collection of partially dissociable neurocognitive systems. Two forms of 'emotional' empathy were considered: First, responding to emotional expressions, particularly angry expressions, leading to response reversal. Secondly, responding to emotional expressions, particularly fearful and sad expressions, leading to stimulus-reinforcement learning. The implications of these forms of empathy for understanding specific psychiatric conditions are briefly considered.

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Affect Anger Brain Emotions Empathy Facial Expression Humans Social Perception Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Review

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R J R Blair. 2007. Dissociable systems for empathy.. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470030585.ch10

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