title: Left prefrontal activity reflects the ability of vicarious fear learning: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.
abstract: Fear could be acquired indirectly via social observation. However, it remains unclear which cortical substrate activities are involved in vicarious fear transmission. The present study was to examine empathy-related processes during fear learning by-proxy and to examine the activation of prefrontal cortex by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. We simultaneously measured participants' hemodynamic responses and skin conductance responses when they were exposed to a movie. In this movie, a demonstrator (i.e., another human being) was receiving a classical fear conditioning. A neutral colored square paired with shocks (CS(shock)) and another colored square paired with no shocks (CS(no-shock)) were randomly presented in front of the demonstrator. Results showed that increased concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin in left prefrontal cortex was observed when participants watched a demonstrator seeing CS(shock) compared with that exposed to CS(no-shock). In addition, enhanced skin conductance responses showing a demonstrator's aversive experience during learning object-fear association were observed. The present study suggests that left prefrontal cortex, which may reflect speculation of others' mental state, is associated with social fear transmission.
authors.affiliation: Neuromanagement Laboratory, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310028, China ; School of Management, Zhejiang University, No. 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310028, China.
authors.forename: Qingguo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yujing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult