Cristina S. Dintica, Supervised by Prof Claus Lamm & Dr Federica Riva. INTRODUCTION. Lamm [1] et al. investigated neural correlates of first-hand.
Does Age Modulate Neural Networks Underlying Empathy For Pleasant and Unpleasant Touch? SCAN UNIT Cristina S. Dintica, Supervised by Prof Claus Lamm & Dr Federica Riva
METHOD & MATERIAL
INTRODUCTION
Emotional Judgement
Lamm [1] et al. investigated neural correlates of first-hand and vicarious experience of touch and reported the medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to be activated for pleasant and the right fronto-insular cortex for unpleasant touch[1]. How age affects these responses has not been explored yet. Thus, the aim of the current exploratory study was to investigate how age modulates behavioral and neural responses underlying pleasant and unpleasant touch and empathy for touch.
100 participants belonging to three different cohorts, adolescents (N: 35, age: 16-20), adults (N: 32, age: 25-34) and old adults (N: 33, age: 59-78) participated in an fMRI experiment. Participants were stimulated by visuo-tactile stimuli asked to rate the perceived valence of stimuli for self and for a confederate in different sessions respectively. Self P>U
Self U>P
First-hand Vicarious experience experience Fig. 1 First-hand and vicarious experience of touch.
10 8 6 4 2 0
Other_UN Other_PL -4Self_UN Self_PL
ADOL ADU OLD
-2 -6 -8
Fig.2. Mean and SE of first-hand and vicarious rating of stimuli by age group
All the three age groups clearly differentiated among the three valence conditions, both in firsthand and vicarious experience of touch [F(1,88)=1880, pP
Area Orbito-Frontal Cortex Orbito-Frontal Cortex Amygdala R*, ** Middle Insula*, ** Middle Insula*, ** Middle Cingulate, ** Cortex* Orbito-Frontal Cortex Cuneus*, ** Lingual Gyrus*, ** Inferior Frontal Gyrus/Anterior Insula* Middle Occipital Gyrus*, ** Middle Occipital Gyrus*, ** Fusiform Gyrus*, **
k 64
x, y, z -12, 38, -16
46
6, 46, -22
166
20, 0, -22
343 405 178
-38, 0, -10 36, -2, -16 8, 0, 40
3
16, 42, -6
67 27 30
9, -92, 26 -4, -94, 16 44, 30, -10
174
36, -86, 18
142
-36, -94, 14
200
-30, -70, -10
Table 1. Significant activations related to first-hand and vicarious experience in adults. k =cluster size, x, y, z=MNI Cartesian
-10
BEHAVIOURAL DATA
Faculty of Psychology
ADOLESCENT Self ADULT Self pleasant> unpleasant>pleasant unpleasant (p unpleasant and activated the indicating more active limbic areas in emotional experience. OFC in adults only. Contrast self The preliminary result, in line unpleasant> pleasant activated somatosensory cortex (SSC) and with previous studies [2,3], point primary motor cortex (M1) in older to an age effect in processes adults and posterior cingulate (PC) in involved in empathy for touch. adolescents (Tab.1)
