New insights into brain mechanisms underlying empathy

Genova (Italy), 12th December 2024 – A specific brain mechanism modulates how animals respond empathetically to others’ emotions. This is the latest finding from the research unit Genetics of Cognition, led by Francesco Papaleo, Principal Investigator at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT - Italian Institute of Technology) and affiliated with IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genova. The study, recently published in Nature Neuroscience, provides new insights into psychiatric conditions where this socio-cognitive skill is impaired, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), autism, and schizophrenia.

Psychological studies have shown that the way humans respond to others’ emotions is strongly influenced by their own past emotional experiences. When a similar emotional situation—such as a past stressful event—is observed in another person, we can react in two different ways. On one hand, it may generate empathy, enhancing the ability to understand others’ problems and increasing sensitivity to others altered emotions. On the other hand, it may induce self-distress resulting into an avoidance towards others.

The research group at IIT has demonstrated that a similar phenomenon also occurs in animals: recalling a negative experience strongly influences how an individual responds to another who is experiencing that same altered emotional state. More specifically, animals exhibit different reactions only if the negative event they experienced in the past is identical to the one they observe in others. This indicates that even animals can specifically recognize an emotional state and react accordingly even without directly seeing the triggering stimuli.

Although the ability to respond to others’ emotions has profound impact in our everyday life and this is evolutionary conserved between humans and animals, the brain mechanisms that modulate its expression remain unclear.

Papaleo’s group has identified the crucial role of the prefrontal cortex in these socio-cognitive processes. They conducted preclinical tests and employed advanced techniques to study the brain mechanisms underlying emphatic-related behaviors. Their findings reveal that a specific group of cells is a key modulator of emotional reactions to others based on emotional self-experience. These neurons produce corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a molecule involved in the stress-response mechanism, and according to IIT researchers, they function as a sort of emotional memory, influencing reactions to socio-emotional stimuli.

“Understanding these brain mechanisms with such precision could help clarify many aspects of human reactions to others' emotions," said Francesco Papaleo, coordinator of the Genetics of Cognition unit at IIT. "For example, why, based on past emotional experience, some people tend to avoid others in stress, while others are more prone to help."

"Moreover, identifying the specific brain mechanisms involved in modulating empathetic responses," added Federica Maltese, first author of the study and currently a researcher at National Research Center (CNR) in Milan, "could aid clinical research in developing new targeted therapies aimed at improving the altered emotional responses observed in various psychiatric conditions.”