title: Neural correlates of the empathic perceptual processing of realistic social interaction scenarios displayed from a first-order perspective.
abstract: The neural processing of impulsive behavior is a central topic in various clinical and non-clinical contexts. To investigate neural and behavioral correlates of the empathic processing of complex social scenarios, especially considering ecological validity of the experimental procedure, we developed and investigated a video stimulus inventory. It includes realistic neutral, social-positive, and reactive-aggressive action scenarios. Short video-clips showing these social scenarios from a first-person perspective triggering different emotional states were presented to a non-clinical sample of 20 young adult male participants during fMRI measurements. Both affective interaction conditions (social-positive and reactive-aggressive) were contrasted against a neutral baseline condition and against each other. Behavioral evaluation data largely confirmed the validity of the emotion-inducing stimulus material. Reactive-aggressive and social-positive interaction scenarios produced widely overlapping fMRI activation patterns in hetero-modal association cortices, but also in subcortical regions, such as the peri-aqueductal gray. Reactive-aggressive compared to social-positive scenarios yielded a more anterior distribution of activations in pre-motor and inferior frontal brain regions associated to motor-preparation and inhibitory control processing as well as in the insula associated to pain- and/or aversion-processing. We argue that there are both principally common neural networks recruited for the processing of reactive-aggressive and social-positive scenarios, but also exclusive network parts in particular involved depending on individual socialization.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognitive Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, University of Bremen, Hochschulring 18, 28359 Bremen, Germany; Center for Advanced Imaging, University of Bremen, Germany; Center for Advanced Imaging, University of Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Neurology II, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany. Electronic address: fehr@uni-bremen.de.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fehr
authors.affiliation: Chair of Social and Economic Psychology, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Achtziger
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany; Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Strüber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D014741:Video Recording; D014754:Violence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ecological validity; Perception-action-cycle; Reactive aggression; Video inventory; Violence; fMRI