Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmont Ave SE, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, 140 Decatur Street, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2019 Dec;13(6):1554-1565. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00081-z.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, globus pallidus, and nucleus accumbens are important components of the reward circuit in the brain; and prior research suggests individuals with damage to these regions feel less pleasure (i.e., are anhedonic). However, little is known about how these brain regions relate to vicarious pleasure. Pilot fMRI data were collected from 20 participants (M = 22, SD = 7.0, 63% female) during a validated empathy induction paradigm that utilized video clips extracted from the television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to elicit empathic happiness (i.e. vicarious happiness) when targets display positive affect, and either empathic cheerfulness (i.e. the tendency to want to cheer someone up) or empathic concern (i.e. vicarious sadness) when targets display negative affect. Participants also completed the novel "Happy Faces" task-a behavioral measure of anhedonia-while fMRI was collected. fMRI data during task completion were used to predict trait empathy measured via self-report outside of the scanner, and accuracy on the "Happy Faces" task. Results indicate that globus pallidus activity during empathic concern-eliciting video clips significantly predicted self-reported trait empathic cheerfulness (R = 26%, p = 0.045). Furthermore, greater dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity during the Happy Faces task predicted accurate performance on the task (R = 34%, p < .05); and greater nucleus accumbens shell activity during the Happy Faces task predicted greater trait empathic happiness (R = 38%, p < .05). These results suggest that fronto-striatal circuitry contributes to our experience of anhedonia, empathic happiness, and empathic cheerfulness.
背外侧前额叶皮层、苍白球和伏隔核是大脑奖励回路的重要组成部分；先前的研究表明，这些区域受损的个体感到的愉悦感较少（即快感缺失）。然而，人们对这些大脑区域与替代性愉悦感的关系知之甚少。利用从电视节目《改头换面：家庭版》中提取的视频片段，通过验证过的同理心诱发范式，从 20 名参与者（M = 22，SD = 7.0，63%为女性）中收集了初步的 fMRI 数据，当目标表现出积极情绪时，参与者会产生同理心快乐（即替代性快乐），而当目标表现出消极情绪时，参与者会产生同理心愉悦（即想要让某人振作起来的倾向）或同理心关注（即替代性悲伤）。参与者还在 fMRI 采集的同时完成了一项新颖的“快乐面孔”任务，这是一种快感缺失的行为测量。在任务完成过程中收集的 fMRI 数据用于预测通过扫描仪外的自我报告测量的特质同理心，以及“快乐面孔”任务的准确性。结果表明，在引起同理心关注的视频片段中，苍白球的活动显著预测了自我报告的特质同理心愉悦（R = 26%，p = 0.045）。此外，在“快乐面孔”任务中，背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的活动越多，任务表现越准确（R = 34%，p < .05）；在“快乐面孔”任务中，伏隔核壳的活动越多，特质同理心快乐（R = 38%，p < .05）。这些结果表明，额纹状体回路有助于我们体验快感缺失、同理心快乐和同理心愉悦。
