Individual differences in brain structure and self-reported empathy in children

KO Bray; E Pozzi; N Vijayakumar; S Richmond; C Deane; C Pantelis; V Anderson; S Whittle

Journal article

Individual differences in brain structure and self-reported empathy in children

KO Bray, E Pozzi, N Vijayakumar, S Richmond, C Deane, C Pantelis, V Anderson, S Whittle

Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience | Published : 2022

DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-00993-2

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Abstract

Empathy refers to the understanding and sharing of others’ emotions and comprises cognitive and affective components. Empathy is important for social functioning, and alterations in empathy have been demonstrated in many developmental or psychiatric disorders. While several studies have examined associations between empathy and brain structure in adults, few have investigated this relationship in children. Investigating associations between empathy and brain structure during childhood will help us to develop a deeper understanding of the neural correlates of empathy across the lifespan. A total of 125 children (66 females, mean age 10 years) underwent magnetic resonance imaging brain scans. ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Elena Pozzi Author

Nandita Vijayakumar Author

Christos Pantelis Author

Vicki Anderson Author

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. This research was funded by the Australian Research Council [DP130103551], the National Health and Medical Research Council (Career Development Fellowship to SW) [1125504]. KB was supported by The Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and the William Georgetti Scholarship. VA was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Practitioner Research Fellowship (1079478). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.