A research team has discovered the underlying neural mechanism that allows us to feel empathy. The group’s study on mice hinted that empathy is induced by the synchronized neural oscillations in the right hemisphere of the brain, which allows the animals to perceive and share each other’s fear.
Empathy is the ability that allows us to perceive and understand another individual’s emotions, such as joy, sadness, or fear. It is an essential function for human sociality, and its impairment has been observed in numerous psychiatric and neurological disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease. The precise mechanisms within the brain that form the basis of empathy have not been identified, and few studies have been conducted on uncovering its origins.
This capacity to sense the feelings of others is not unique to humans, and its biological mechanisms are shared with other mammals including rodents. ‘Observational fear’, which is a rodent model for emotional contagion, is the basic form of affective empathy. This model has been well-established and is frequently used for studying the neurobiology of empathy (Figure. 1A). During the observational fear experiment, a “demonstrator” mouse is given an electric shock, while an “observer” mouse watches from behind a transparent screen. When witnessing another animal receiving a shock, the observer mouse displays an immediate fear response, as demonstrated by its freezing behavior. The observer mouse is also known to be able to recall the experience at a later time.
The team combined this observational fear model with optogenetic experiments to explore the origin of empathy. Notably, this study showed that the synchronized brain rhythms within multiple brain areas are essential for triggering empathy. In particular, the synchronization between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) is unique to empathic fear by indirect exposure to others’ distress, not to fear by first-hand experience.
First, they showed that the reciprocal circuit between the ACC-BLA in the right hemisphere is essential for observational freezing behavior. When they optogenetically inhibited the ACC-BLA circuits only in the right brain, mice showed reduced observational freezing (Figure 1B & 1C). On the other hand, the mice were unaffected when only the left side was inhibited.
Furthermore, the researchers recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) in the ACC and BLA. As a result, they found that brain rhythms with the range of 5-7 Hz selectively increased in the ACC and BLA at the specific moment within the observer mice at the time they showed empathic freezing behavior. On the other hand, the demonstrator mice which experienced the electric shock first hand showed increase in the lower 3-5 Hz range only within the BLA but not in the ACC.
The author states, “Synchronous neural oscillations within the networks could allow enhanced communications among multiple brain areas for various cognitive and emotional functions. However, their causal relationship has rarely been demonstrated.”
To test the causal relationship between 5-7 Hz rhythms and empathic behavior, the team performed an experiment called ‘closed-loop manipulations’, which involves using optogenetics to inhibit specific neural functions and monitoring the brain waves using EEG. Through the closed-loop experiment, they could selectively disrupt 5-7 Hz rhythms in the ACC-BLA circuit, which in turn resulted in significant impairment of observational fear induced freezing during the conditioning sessions. These results indicate that 5-7 Hz rhythms in the ACC-BLA circuit are causally involved in empathic behaviors.
As such, the researchers hypothesized that hippocampal theta (4-12 Hz) rhythms may tune the synchronized activities within the ACC-BLA circuit. It has been suggested that hippocampal theta rhythm provides an oscillatory framework that synchronizes activities between different brain areas. They selectively modulated the lower range of hippocampal theta by optogenetic manipulations during observational fear. Following the changes in hippocampal theta power, 5-7 Hz rhythm in the ACC-BLA circuits and empathic responses were bi-directionally modulated.
This study strongly indicates that hippocampal-dependent 5-7 Hz synchronized oscillations in the ACC-BLA specifically drive empathic responses in mice.
The author remarked, “Considering the universality of observational fear across mammals, it is reasonable to suppose a similar neural signature critical for affective empathy may be found in humans and could be used to identify empathy dysfunction in humans with psychiatric disorders involving severe social deficits.” The author added, “At the moment, we do not know how hippocampal theta rhythms control the ACC-BLA rhythms. Future studies should address how multiple brain regions are simultaneously mobilized during observational fear.”
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)01000-5
Synchronized neural oscillations in the right brain induce empathic behavior
- 899 views
- Added
Latest News
New origin of deep brain waves
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Starving cells hijack prote…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Miniature battery-free epid…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Molecular causes of differe…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Apr
Cell's 'garbage disposal' h…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Apr
Other Top Stories
Pro inflammatory molecule modulates brain function
Read more
Antibodies as 'messengers' in the nervous system
Read more
Microbiota-initiated antibody formation in mice
Read more
Universal immune mechanism as a regulator of sleep
Read more
Monoclonal antibody given to preterm babies may reduce wheeze later
Read more
Protocols
MemPrep, a new technology f…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
A tangible method to assess…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
Stem cell-derived vessels-o…
By newseditor
Posted 06 Apr
Single-cell biclustering fo…
By newseditor
Posted 01 Apr
Modular dual-color BiAD sen…
By newseditor
Posted 31 Mar
Publications
The immunobiology of herpes…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Circulating microbiome DNA…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Spindle oscillations in com…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Oligodendroglial macroautop…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
COPII with ALG2 and ESCRTs…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Apr
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar