Keysers- The empathic brain

THE EMPATHIC BRAIN Christian Keysers SOCIAL BRAIN LAB!

1. Actions monkey premotor

All neurons execution

10% neurons also Observation/ Sound

Keysers et al., 2003; Kohler et al., science, 2002; Umilta et al., neuron, 2001

Mirror Neurons

Perceived Actions translated

motor representation of actions Gallese, Keysers and Rizzolatti, 2004; Keysers and Gazzola, 2007

Human Mirror System Exe

Obs

>

Exe & Obs Gazzola and Keysers, Cerebral Cortex, 2009

How about sounds? snd

exe

•!Hand Actions

•!Mouth actions

+ hand and mouth action exe Gazzola, Aziz-Zadeh, Keysers, Current Biology, 2006

Empathy How well does this describe you 0 (does not describe me well) - 4 (describes me very well). When I'm upset at someone, I usually try to "put myself in his shoes" for a while.

All 16 subjects

Hand action sounds -!Environmental -!p<0.005

perspective taking score

•!

Gazzola, Aziz-Zadeh, Keysers, Current Biology, 2006

2. Emotions Subjects in fMRI scanner with a mask on their face

pleasant

Pleasant smells •!Strawberry •!Mint

Pleasant Disgusting

neutral

disgust

Disgusting smells

•!Butyric acid (racid butter) •!Furfuryl marcaptan (rotten eggs)

Wicker, Keysers et al. Neuron, 2003

Sharing Emotions Observe Emotion

Experience Emotion

=

&

Stronger in more empathic Individuals Weaker in Autism and Psychopathy

0%

Witness

Demonstrator

Exp.

** naive

1)! Behavior witness

Freezing

40%

Witness

2) ERC VicariousBrain -> True Biology of Empathy

Wicker et al, 2003; Keysers et al., 2004; Bastiaansen et al., 2009; Atsak et al., 2010, Meffert et al, accepted

Simulation Model

Shared state social stimulus

emotions action

touch

vision

The empathic brain 2011

Acknowledgements Current Social Brain Lab (Amsterdam) Tenure track 6 Postdocs

Gazzola

Carrillo

Cerliani

McKay Migliorati

Thioux Thomas

3 PhD Students

Cui

Valchev

Suttrup

Collaborators: Bruno Wicker, Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, Vittorio Gallese, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi, David Perrett, Alard Roebroeck, Rainer Goebel, Alessio Avenanti, Michael Spezio, Ralph Adolphs

If you want to know more see ‘the empathic brain’ (Amazon)

Europe – Free your mind! I Lived in Belgium, France, Germany, Scotland, Italy and Netherlands. MC Individual Fellowship,

Parma, 2001-03; QLGA-CT-2000-51181 Visuo-Motor Intergration in F5.

MC Excellence Award (50k!) Groningen, 2004, MEXA-2004 EmpathicBrain

MC Excellence Grant (1.4M!) Groningen, 2005-2010; MEXT-CT-2005-023253 NeuroEmpathy ERC Consolidator Grant (1.68M!) Amsterdam, 2013-2018; ERC-StG-312511 Cracking the code and flow of empathy

Europe – Free your mind! I Lived in Belgium, France, Germany, Scotland, Italy and Netherlands. MC Individual Fellowship,

Parma, 2001-03; QLGA-CT-2000-51181 Visuo-Motor Intergration in F5.

MC Excellence Award (50k!) Groningen, 2004, MEXA-2004 EmpathicBrain

MC Excellence Grant (1.4M!) Groningen, 2005-2010; MEXT-CT-2005-023253 NeuroEmpathy

Fosters •! •! •! •!

Inspiration Freedom Productivity Boldness

ERC Consolidator Grant (1.68M!) Amsterdam, 2013-2018; ERC-StG-312511 Cracking the code and flow of empathy

The Greatest and Purest Patron of Innovation