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Differential Effects of Trait Empathy on Functional Network Centrality

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Brain Informatics (BI 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 12241))

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Abstract

Previous research has shown that empathy, a fundamental component of human social functioning, is engaged when listening to music. Neuroimaging studies of empathy processing in music have, however, been limited. fMRI analysis methods based on graph theory have recently gained popularity as they are capable of illustrating global patterns of functional connectivity, which could be very useful in studying complex traits such as empathy. The current study examines the role of trait empathy, including cognitive and affective facets, on whole-brain functional network centrality in 36 participants listening to music in a naturalistic setting. Voxel-wise eigenvector centrality mapping was calculated as it provides us with an understanding of globally distributed centres of coordination associated with the processing of empathy. Partial correlation between Eigenvector centrality and measures of empathy showed that cognitive empathy is associated with higher centrality in the sensorimotor regions responsible for motor mimicry while affective empathy showed higher centrality in regions related to auditory affect processing. Results are discussed in relation to various theoretical models of empathy and music cognition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

    Vishnu Moorthigari & Vinoo Alluri

  2. Center for Interdisciplinary Music Research, Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Emily Carlson & Petri Toiviainen

  3. Center for Music In the Brain, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Elvira Brattico

Authors
  1. Vishnu Moorthigari
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  2. Emily Carlson
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  3. Petri Toiviainen
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  4. Elvira Brattico
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  5. Vinoo Alluri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vishnu Moorthigari .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Mufti Mahmud

  2. University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Stefano Vassanelli

  3. Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    M. Shamim Kaiser

  4. Maebashi Institute of Technology, Maebashi, Japan

    Ning Zhong

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Moorthigari, V., Carlson, E., Toiviainen, P., Brattico, E., Alluri, V. (2020). Differential Effects of Trait Empathy on Functional Network Centrality. In: Mahmud, M., Vassanelli, S., Kaiser, M.S., Zhong, N. (eds) Brain Informatics. BI 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12241. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59277-6_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59277-6_10

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-59277-6

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