Empathizing associates with mean diffusivity

Takeuchi, H., Taki, Y., Nouchi, R., Yokoyama, R., Kotozaki, Y., Nakagawa, S., Sekiguchi, A., Iizuka, K., Yamamoto, Y., Hanawa, S., Araki, T., Miyauchi, C.M., Sakaki, K., Sassa, Y., Nozawa, T., Ikeda, S., Yokota, S., Magistro, D. ORCID: 0000-0002-2554-3701 and Kawashima, R., 2019. Empathizing associates with mean diffusivity. Scientific Reports, 9: 8856. ISSN 2045-2322

[img]
Preview
Text
14139_Magistro.pdf - Published version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Empathizing is defined as “the drive to identify another’s mental states and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion” and systemizing is defined as “the drive to the drive to analyze and construct rule-based systems”. While mean diffusivity (MD) has been robustly associated with several cognitive traits and disorders related with empathizing and systemizing, its direct correlation with empathizing and systemizing remains to be investigated. We undertook voxel-by-voxel investigations of regional MD to discover microstructural correlates of empathizing, systemizing, and the discrepancy between them (D score: systemizing − empathizing). Whole-brain analyses of covariance revealed that across both sexes, empathizing was positively correlated with MD of (a) an anatomical cluster that primarily spreads in the areas in and adjacent to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left anterior to the middle cingulate cortex, and left insula and (b) an anatomical cluster of the left postcentral gyrus and left rolandic operculum. The former overlaps with positive MD correlates of cooperativeness. The D score and systemizing did not show significant correlations. In conclusion, while increased MD has generally been associated with reduced neural tissues and possibly area function, higher empathizing and cooperativeness were commonly reflected by greater MD values in areas (a) that mainly overlap with areas that play a key role in emotional salience and empathy. In addition, higher empathizing was correlated with greater MD values in areas (b) that play a key role in the mirror neuron syste

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Scientific Reports
Creators: Takeuchi, H., Taki, Y., Nouchi, R., Yokoyama, R., Kotozaki, Y., Nakagawa, S., Sekiguchi, A., Iizuka, K., Yamamoto, Y., Hanawa, S., Araki, T., Miyauchi, C.M., Sakaki, K., Sassa, Y., Nozawa, T., Ikeda, S., Yokota, S., Magistro, D. and Kawashima, R.
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date: 20 June 2019
Volume: 9
ISSN: 2045-2322
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1038/s41598-019-45106-1DOI
45106Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions: Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 24 Jun 2019 13:07
Last Modified: 04 Jul 2019 09:58
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/36907

Actions (login required)

Edit View Edit View

Views

Views per month over past year

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year