This paper selectively reviews the neurophysiological evidence for shared neural circuits (supposedly implemented by mirror neurons) as the mechanism underlying empathy. I will argue that while the mirror neuron system plays a role in motor resonance, it is not possible to conclude that this system is critically involved in emotion recognition, and there is little evidence for its role in empathy and sympathy. In addition, there is modest support from neurological observations that lesion of the regions involved in the mirror neuron system leads to dysfunction in empathy, whereas damage of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is associated with such impairment. To significantly advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying empathy, research needs finer conceptualization, better designed paradigms, and integration with knowledge from lesion studies.
Barrett, L.F. ( 2006). Emotions as natural kinds?Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 28-58.
2.
Barrett, L.F., & Wager, T.D. ( 2006). The structure of emotion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 79-83.
3.
Calder, A.J., Keane, J., Cole, J., Campbell, R., & Young, A.W. ( 2000). Facial expression recognition by people with möbius syndrome. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17, 73-87.
4.
Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M.C., Mazziotta, J.C., & Lenzi, G.L. ( 2003). Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: A relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA, 100, 5497-5502.
5.
Chakrabarti, B., Bullmore, E., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2006). Empathizing with basic emotions: Common and discrete neural substrates. Social Neuroscience , 1, 364-384.
6.
Cheng, Y., Lee, P., Yang, C.Y., Lin, C.P., & Decety, J. ( 2008). Gender differences in the mu rhythm of the human mirror-neuron system. PLoS ONE, 5. Retrieved 16 March, 2010, from http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(08)01016-7.
7.
Cheng, Y., Lin, C., Liu, H.L., Hsu, Y., Lim, K., Hung, D., & Decety, J. ( 2007). Expertise modulates the perception of pain in others . Current Biology, 17, 1708-1713.
8.
Danziger, N., Faillenot, I., & Peyron, R. ( 2008). Can we share a pain we never felt? Neural correlates of empathy in patients with congenital insensitivity to pain. Neuron, 61, 203-212.
9.
Decety, J., & Jackson, P.L. ( 2004). The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 3, 71-100.
10.
Decety, J., & Meyer, M. ( 2008). From emotion resonance to empathic understanding: A social developmental neuroscience account. Development and Psychopathology , 20, 1053-1080.
11.
Dinstein, H., Hasson, U., Rubin, N., & Heeger, D.J. ( 2007). Brain areas selective for both observed and executed movements. Journal of Neurophysiology, 98, 1415-1427.
12.
Eisenberg, N., & Eggum, N.D. ( 2009). Empathic responding: Sympathy and personal distress. In J. Decety & W. Ickes (Eds.), The social neuroscience of empathy (pp. 71-83). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
13.
Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Pavesi, G., & Rizzolatti, G. (1995). Motor facilitation during action observation: A magnetic stimulation study. Journal of Neurophysiology, 73, 2608-2611.
14.
Fogassi, L., Ferrari, P.F., Gesierich, B., Rozzi, S., Chersi, F., & Rizzolatti, G. (2005). Parietal lobe: From action organization to intention understanding. Science, 308, 662-667.
15.
Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (1996). Action recognition in the premotor cortex. Brain, 119, 593-609.
16.
Gallese, V., Keysers, C., & Rizzolatti, G. (2004). A unifying view of the basis of social cognition. Trends in Cognitive Science, 8, 396-403.
17.
Heberlein, A.S., & Atkinson, A.P. (2009). Neuroscientific evidence for simulation and shared substrates in emotion recognition: Beyond faces . Emotion Review, 1(2), 162-177.
18.
Hess, U., & Blairy, S. ( 2001). Facial mimicry and emotional contagion to dynamic emotional facial expressions and their influence on decoding accuracy. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 40, 129-141.
19.
Hickok, G. ( 2009). Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and human. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , 7, 1229-1243.
20.
Hornak, J., Bramham, J., Rolls, E.T., Morris, R.J., O’Doherty, J.O., Bullock, P.R., & Polkey, C.E. ( 2003). Changes in emotion after circumscribed surgical lesions of the orbitofrontal and cingulated cortices. Brain, 126, 1691-1712.
21.
Jackson, P.L., Rainville, P., & Decety, J. ( 2006). To what extent do we share the pain of others? Insight from the neural bases of pain empathy. Pain, 125, 5-9.
22.
Jacob, P. ( 2008). What do mirror neurons contribute to human social cognition ? Mind and Language, 23, 190-223.
23.
Keillor, J.M., Barrett, A.M., Crucian, G.P., Kortenkamp, S., & Heilman, K.M. ( 2002). Emotional experience and perception in the absence of facial feedback. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8, 130-135.
24.
Leslie, K.R., Johnson-Frey, S.H., & Grafton, S.T. ( 2004). Functional imaging of face and hand imitation: Towards a motor theory of empathy. NeuroImage, 21, 601-607.
25.
Molenberghs, P., Cunnington, P., & Mattingley, J.B. (2009). Is the mirror neuron system involved in imitation? A short review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 975-980.
26.
Murphy, F.C., Nimmo-Smith, I., & Lawrence, A.D. (2003). Functional neuroanatomy of emotions: A meta-analysis. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, 207-233.
27.
Preston, S.D., & de Waal, F.B.M. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 1-72.
28.
Price, B.H., Daffner, K.R., Stowe, R.M., & Mesulam, M.M. ( 1990). The compartmental learning-disabilities of early frontal lobe damage. Brain, 113, 1383-1393.
29.
Rives Bogart, K. ( 2010). Facial mimicry is not necessary to recognize emotion: Facial expression recognition by people with Moebius syndrome. Social Neuroscience. DOI:10.1080/17470910903395692.
30.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. ( 2009). Empathic processing: Its cognitive and affective dimensions and neuroanatomical basis. In J. Decety & W. Ickes (Eds.), The social neuroscience of empathy (pp. 215-232). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
31.
Snowden, J.S., Gibbons, Z.C., Blackshaw, A., Doubleday, E., Thompson, J., Craufurd, D., et al. (2003). Social cognition in frontotemporal dementia and Huntington’s disease. Neuropsychologia, 41, 688-701.
32.
Sonnby-Borgstrom, M., Jonsson, P., & Svensson, O. ( 2003). Emotional empathy as related to mimicry reactions at different levels of information processing. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 3-23.
Swick, D., Ashley, V., & Turken, A.U. ( 2008). Left inferior frontal gyrus is critical for response inhibition. BMC Neuroscience, 9. Retrieved 16 March, 2010, from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/9/102 .
35.
Tkach, D., Reimer, J., & Hatsopoulos, N.G. (2007). Congruent activity during action and action observation in motor cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 13,241-13,250.
36.
Turella, L., Pierno, A.C., Tubaldi, F., & Castiello, U. ( 2009). Mirror neurons in humans: Consisting or confounding evidence?Brain and Language, 108, 10-20.
37.
van der Gaag, C., Minderaa, R.B., & Keysers, C. ( 2007). Facial expressions: What the mirror neuron system can and cannot tell us. Social Neuroscience, 2, 179-222.
38.
Yamada, M., & Decety, J. ( 2009). Unconscious affective processing and empathy: An investigation of subliminal priming on the detection of painful facial expressions. Pain, 143, 71-75.
