Biological Correlates of Empathy

Abstract

Empathy can be defined as the capacity to know emotionally what another is experiencing from within the frame of reference of that other person and the capacity to sample the feelings of another or it can be metaphorized as to put oneself in another's shoes. Although the concept of empathy was firstly described in psychological theories, researches studying the biological correlates of psychological theories have been increasing recently. Not suprisingly, dinamically oriented psychotherapists Freud, Kohut, Basch and Fenichel had suggested theories about the biological correlates of empathy concept and established the basis of this modality decades ago. Some other theorists emphasized the importance of empathy in the early years of lifetime regarding mother-child attachment in terms of developmental psychology and investigated its role in explanation of psychopathology. The data coming from some of the recent brain imaging and animal model studies also seem to support these theories. Although increased activity in different brain regions was shown in many of the brain imaging studies, the role of cingulate cortex for understanding mother-child relationship was constantly emphasized in nearly all of the studies. In addition to these studies, a group of Italian scientists has defined a group of neurons as "mirror neurons" in their studies observing rhesus macaque monkeys. Later, they also defined mirror neurons in human studies, and suggested them as "empathy neurons". After the discovery of mirror neurons, the hopes of finding the missing part of the puzzle for understanding the biological correlates of empathy raised again. Although the roles of different biological parameters such as skin conductance and pupil diameter for defining empathy have not been certain yet, they are going to give us the opportunity to revise the inconsistent basis of structural validity in psychiatry and to stabilize descriptive validity. In this review, the possible neurobiological background of empathy will be discussed in the light of the recent brain imaging and animal studies.

Keywords

• Empathy, Neurobiology, Mirror Neurons

Empatinin Biyolojik Yönleri

Öz

Empati ötekinin neler deneyimlediğini, o kişinin düşünce çerçevesi içinde değerlendirerek duygusal olarak anlama ve ötekinin duygularını özümseyebilme yeteneği olarak tanımlanabilir veya empati için ötekinin ayakkabısını giymek benzetmesi yapılabilir. Empati kavramı ilk olarak psikolojik kuramlar içerisinde tanımlanmakla birlikte; son yıllarda psikolojik kuramların biyolojik yansımalarına ilişkin araştırmalar yoğunluk kazanmaktadır. Nitekim yıllar önce Freud, Kohut, Basch ve Fenichel gibi dinamik yönelimli psikoterapistler empati kavramının biyolojik yönlerine ilişkin önermelerde bulunmuşlar ve bu yaklaşımın köklerini onlarca yıl öncesinde atmışlardır. Diğer bazı kuramcılar, gelişimsel psikoloji açısından da anne-bebek bağlanmasında yaşamın ilk yıllarında empatinin önemini vurgulamış ve psikopatolojiyi açıklamadaki yerini sorgulamışlardır. Son yıllarda yapılmış bazı beyin görüntüleme çalışmalarından ve hayvan deneylerinden elde edilen bilgiler bu önermeleri destekler niteliktedir. Her ne kadar pek çok beyin görüntüleme çalışmasında beynin farklı bölümlerinde aktivite artışları gözlense de, anne-bebek ilişkisini anlamada singulat korteksin rolü neredeyse tüm çalışmalarda sürekli olarak vurgulanmıştır. Bunlara ek olarak bir grup İtalyan bilim adamı, makak maymunlarında ve daha sonra insanlarda yapmış oldukları çalışmalarda "ayna nöronlar" olarak tanımladıkları bir grup sinir hücresini "empati nöronları" olarak önermişlerdir. Ayna nöronların keşfiyle birlikte empatinin biyolojik yansımalarına ilişkin eksik yap-boz parçasının bulunması yönündeki umutlar yeniden artmıştır. Bununla birlikte pupil boyutu, deri iletkenliğindeki değişiklikler gibi farklı biyolojik değişkenlerin empatiyi tanımlamadaki yerleri henüz netleşmese de; psikiyatrideki yapısal geçerliğin tutarsız temellerinin düzeltilmesine ve tanısal geçerliğin sağlamlaştırılmasına olanak sağlayacaktır. Bu gözden geçirme yazısında, güncel beyin görüntüleme ve hayvan çalışmaları ışığında empatinin olası nörobiyolojik arka planı tartışılacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Empati, Nörobiyoloji, Ayna Nöronlar

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