Neural correlates of admiration and compassion

Abstract

In an fMRI experiment, participants were exposed to narratives based on true stories designed to evoke admiration and compassion in 4 distinct categories: admiration for virtue (AV), admiration for skill (AS), compassion for social/psychological pain (CSP), and compassion for physical pain (CPP). The goal was to test hypotheses about recruitment of homeostatic, somatosensory, and consciousness-related neural systems during the processing of pain-related (compassion) and non-pain-related (admiration) social emotions along 2 dimensions: emotions about other peoples' social/psychological conditions (AV, CSP) and emotions about others' physical conditions (AS, CPP). Consistent with theoretical accounts, the experience of all 4 emotions engaged brain regions involved in interoceptive representation and homeostatic regulation, including anterior insula, anterior cingulate, hypothalamus, and mesencephalon. However, the study also revealed a previously undescribed pattern within the posteromedial cortices (the ensemble of precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and retrosplenial region), an intriguing territory currently known for its involvement in the default mode of brain operation and in self-related/consciousness processes: emotions pertaining to social/psychological and physical situations engaged different networks aligned, respectively, with interoceptive and exteroceptive neural systems. Finally, within the anterior insula, activity correlated with AV and CSP peaked later and was more sustained than that associated with CPP. Our findings contribute insights on the functions of the posteromedial cortices and on the recruitment of the anterior insula in social emotions concerned with physical versus psychological pain.

Fig. 1.

Neural correlates of admiration for virtue (A) and skill (B) and compassion for social (C) and physical (D) pain. fMRI data are from 13 subjects, displayed on the brain of 1 subject. Each image shows a target emotion contrasted with control. The position of each transverse slice is marked on the parasagittal images; Talairach coordinates of each slice and of the parasagittal view are annotated. Images are thresholded by using the false discovery rate statistic, q(FDR) < 0.05. The bar to the right of each image provides a color code for t statistics of the respective contrast. Note the bilateral activation in the insula (in), anterior cingulate (ac), and dorsal posterior cingulate (pc) for all emotions. Note the activation in the posteroinferior posteromedial cortices (pm) in AV (A) and CSP (C) compared with anterosuperior sector in AS (B) and CPP (D). Note brainstem and hypothalamus (ht) in A and C.

Fig. 2.

Relative activation in the posteromedial cortices (PMC, outlined in pink) for admiration for virtue and compassion for social pain (AV/CSP, blue → green) versus admiration for skill and compassion for physical pain (AS/CPP, orange → yellow). The image is thresholded at q(FDR) < 0.05. The bar to the right provides a color code for t statistics associated with the contrast. The red box frames the location of the magnified view. Note the clear separation between the anterosuperior sector activated by AS/CPP, and the posteroinferior activated by AV/CSP.

Fig. 3.

Event-related averages for the time courses of admiration and compassion in the anterior insula, with standard errors. Units are percentage change in BOLD signal and time in seconds; time courses are not corrected for hemodynamic delay. For display purposes, BOLD data have been linearly interpolated to 1-s resolution. The volume of interest is displayed in pink. Conditions: AV (green): admiration for virtue; AS (yellow): admiration for skill; CSP (blue): compassion for social pain; CPP (red): compassion for physical pain. Note the rapid rise and dissipation of CPP (red) versus the slower and more sustained rise of CSP (blue), AV (green), and AS (yellow).