REMEMBER AS WE EMPATHIZE, EMPATHIZE AS WE CAN REMEMBER

Human empathy is the multifaceted ability to share and to explicitly understand others' inner states. It is at the basis of our ability to bond with other people through effective interactions. A big challenge in psychology is to understand how empathy occurs. Since we cannot fully experience what someone else is feeling, we might use our own mind or general knowledge as a model to represent others' inner states. The aim of this project is to investigate whether we need to consciously reactivate our own autobiographical memories (AMs) to empathize with others' inner states.

Neuroimaging studies have shown that empathic abilities and AM partly share a brain network of fronto-parietal areas, suggesting that the two cognitive functions are related. One study conducted by the PI has shown that healthy participants use their own AMs of physical pain when they have to judge how much empathy they feel for someone else experiencing the same pain. Studies with patients with different kinds of memory impairments have additionally shown evidence of impoverished empathic abilities, further evidencing an interplay between memory and empathy. However, contrary to expectations based on these findings, purely amnesic patients do not show striking evidence of empathic impoverishment. Moreover, patients with congenital pain insensitivity have been found to share another person's pain even though they can never have experienced such pain.

The inconsistency in the field demonstrates that the nature of the interplay between AMs and empathy still remains elusive. The current project aims to determine whether the explicit recruitment of AMs is a resource needed when we empathize with others' emotional experience by identifying the underlying neurophysiological mechanism.

A series of two studies are designed on the novel hypothesis that the nature of the interplay between empathy and memory is causal such that when the observer, i.e. the participant, shares past experiences with the person currently having that experience (pain experience in this case), the observer can empathize with others' inner states by re-living the memory and so increasing their empathy awareness. The studies will be focused on determining whether AMs are explicitly reactivated when shared with the perceiver, in order to empathize with their inner states, and will clarify the circumstances under which memory disruption affects empathy. If these studies provide convergent evidence for the hypothesis, a third study will be piloted in healthy participants with the long-term aim to develop a brain stimulation therapy to improve empathy awareness in patients with memory impairments.

To address the central question, the studies will use an innovative combination of established and novel paradigm and analysis tools in the fields of social and cognitive neuroscience. The first experiment will directly test whether conscious reactivation of AMs occurs to empathize with others' physical pain by recording electroencephalographic (EEG) activity from amnesic patients. The second experiment will directly test the causality of such involvement in a group of healthy participants by recording EEG while concomitantly using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to stimulate a cortical area responsible for the reactivation of AMs.

Together the results from these studies will provide a complementary picture of how AMs are involved in empathic processes and will determine if and how AMs are a resource needed to empathize with others' inner states. They will significantly advance our understanding of the interplay of two cognitive functions that have a huge influence on a person's interacting behavior. Therefore, the current project has the potential to impact a wide range of professions working with people in need in the health and social sectors, as well as the general public, which will be reached with public engagement activities.

As the project is basic and experimental in nature, its primary impact will be within the academic fields of basic psychological and neuroscientific research on empathy and AMs. However the project has strong potential, in the longer term, to impact outside of academia.

Firstly, since empathy and memory are two aspects of human cognition that have a broad impact on observed interacting behavior, the research could potentially be applied to clinical practices and to social contexts of integration and cooperation. In the long term, understanding the role of AMs in empathy may inform rehabilitation strategies for people with memory impairments. If the outcomes of the planned experiments are as predicted, this objective will be pursued through a pilot study that, as a first step, will test the efficacy of brain stimulation in boosting AM reactivation and so enhancing empathy in healthy participants.

Secondly, a more immediate impact will come from shaping discourse about the role of AMs in empathy in groups for whom this is of particular significance. Before starting her academic career, the PI worked in an antiviolence center for domestic violence victims and for a recognized non-profit NGO (EMERGENCY) that pursues human rights-based medicine. The present project will help in clarifying the impact of AMs on empathy, which is something that makes a huge difference on the daily practice, as the attitude of the operators has direct consequences on users' satisfaction and their relationship with the service. Therefore, the second group expected to benefit from the project are those working in the health (health professionals) and social works sectors.

Thirdly, the project is expected to have a significant impact on the PI's scientific work. The PI is a Marie-Curie fellow and the proposed series of studies naturally but innovatively proceeds from a coherent path of her academic and non-academic experiences. The project is therefore expected to build the PI's independent and novel network of national and international scholars and to train her on two main skills that will be crucial to establishing her new line of research: a new neuroscientific technique, the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, and direct experience with a clinical population. The project will include a wide range of academic and impact activities that will also provide a significant improvement of the PI's communication skills.

Lastly, the general public will also be reached (see "Pathways to Impact") with accessible information about how AMs constitute a resource to empathy. Our ability to empathize and remember are cornerstones of human cognition. Much debate surrounds when these abilities develop in children, the possible existence of some similar abilities in non-human animals, and why it is that some people seem to be better empathizers than others. I will use my research to spark broader discussion of these topics during live and online engagements with the public.