Niloufar Zebarjadi, Eliyahu Adler, Annika Kluge, Mikko Sams, Jonathan Levy
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Several studies in political psychology reported higher levels of empathy among political leftists (i.e. liberals) as compared to political rightists (i.e. conservatives). Yet, all those studies lean on self-reports, which are often limited by subjective bias and conformity to social norms. Here, we tested this putative asymmetry using neuroimaging: we recorded oscillatory neural activity using magnetoencephalography while 55 participants completed a well-validated neuroimaging paradigm for empathy to vicarious suffering. The findings revealed a typical rhythmic alpha-band 'empathy response' in the temporal-parietal junction. This neural empathy response was significantly stronger in the leftist than in the rightist group. In addition to this dichotomous division, the neural response was parametrically associated with both self-reported political inclination and right-wing ideological values. This is the first study to reveal an asymmetry in the neural empathy response as a function of political ideology. The findings reported in this study are in line with the current literature in political psychology and provide a novel neural perspective to support the ideological asymmetry in empathy. This study opens new vistas for addressing questions in political psychology by using neuroimaging.
期刊介绍:
SCAN will consider research that uses neuroimaging (fMRI, MRI, PET, EEG, MEG), neuropsychological patient studies, animal lesion studies, single-cell recording, pharmacological perturbation, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. SCAN will also consider submissions that examine the mediational role of neural processes in linking social phenomena to physiological, neuroendocrine, immunological, developmental, and genetic processes. Additionally, SCAN will publish papers that address issues of mental and physical health as they relate to social and affective processes (e.g., autism, anxiety disorders, depression, stress, effects of child rearing) as long as cognitive neuroscience methods are used.