title: Neural correlates of prosocial behavior in infancy: different neurophysiological mechanisms support the emergence of helping and comforting.
abstract: The present study examined the neural processes related to different forms of prosocial behavior in infancy by means of a longitudinal study. At 14months, infants' resting state brain activation asymmetries were assessed by means of EEG. At 18months, we examined infants' instrumental helping, and at 24months infants' behavior in a comforting task. Behavioral analyses revealed a negative relation between infants' performances in the helping and comforting task. The EEG analysis showed that distinct neural patterns were related to each task. Greater left frontal cortical activation was associated with infants' understanding of the other's distress as well as empathic responding in the comforting task, whereas greater right temporal activation was related to infants' instrumental helping. These findings reveal the neural correlates of the earliest forms of prosocial action and show that different neurophysiological activation patterns are related to the emergence of instrumental helping and comforting in early development.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: markus.paulus@lmu.de.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kühn-Popp
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Licata
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sodian
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meinhardt
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Comforting; EEG; Empathy; Helping; Infants; Neural correlates