Lee Hyoin, So Dahm, Choi Jiye, Jung Seungmoon, Keum Sehoon
Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science (IBS).
Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science (IBS); Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
J Vis Exp. 2024 Nov 22(213). doi: 10.3791/67130.
Empathy, characterized by the ability to recognize and share the emotions of others, plays a fundamental role in shaping social interactions. It allows individuals to respond to the emotional states of others, promoting prosocial behaviors and social bonding. Observational fear is a fundamental aspect of affective empathy, where an observer witnesses a demonstrator undergoing aversive experiences and subsequently exhibits fear behaviors. This socially induced vicarious freezing response in observers, known as emotional contagion or affect sharing, is regarded as an indicator of empathy-like traits in rodents. Here, we present a protocol that delineates the assessment of vicarious freezing responses in observers exposed to conspecific demonstrators receiving aversive foot shocks. The utilization of observational fear assays in rodents has become a widely adopted method for studying the neural mechanisms underlying affective empathy. Given the universality of observational fear across mammals, this methodology further contributes to advancing our understanding of the neural substrates of empathy in humans.
同理心以识别和分享他人情绪的能力为特征，在塑造社会互动中起着基础性作用。它使个体能够对他人的情绪状态做出反应，促进亲社会行为和社会联结。观察性恐惧是情感同理心的一个基本方面，即观察者目睹示范者经历厌恶体验，随后表现出恐惧行为。观察者这种由社会引发的替代性僵住反应，即情绪感染或情感分享，被视为啮齿动物中类似同理心特征的一个指标。在此，我们提出一种方案，该方案描述了对暴露于接受厌恶足部电击的同种示范者的观察者的替代性僵住反应的评估。在啮齿动物中使用观察性恐惧试验已成为研究情感同理心背后神经机制的一种广泛采用的方法。鉴于观察性恐惧在哺乳动物中的普遍性，这种方法进一步有助于增进我们对人类同理心神经基础的理解。
