title: Empathy is associated with dynamic change in prefrontal brain electrical activity during positive emotion in children.
abstract: Empathy is the combined ability to interpret the emotional states of others and experience resultant, related emotions. The relation between prefrontal electroencephalographic asymmetry and emotion in children is well known. The association between positive emotion (assessed via parent report), empathy (measured via observation), and second-by-second brain electrical activity (recorded during a pleasurable task) was investigated using a sample of one hundred twenty-eight 6- to 10-year-old children. Contentment related to increasing left frontopolar activation (p < .05). Empathic concern and positive empathy related to increasing right frontopolar activation (ps < .05). A second form of positive empathy related to increasing left dorsolateral activation (p < .05). This suggests that positive affect and (negative and positive) empathy both relate to changes in prefrontal activity during a pleasurable task.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Sharee N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Light
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Coan
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zahn-Waxler
authors.forename: Corrina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frye
authors.forename: H Hill
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Goldsmith
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004645:Empathy; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires