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CU was supported by a fellowship from 2014, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BES-2014-068173) and cofinanced by the European Social Fund (ESF). AA was supported by a 2016 fellowship from the Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR (2016FI_B 00360). This study was partially funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017SGR748).

Analysis of institutional authors

Uribe, CarmeAuthorAbos, AlexandraAuthorBaggio, Hugo C.AuthorJunque, CarmeCorresponding AuthorSegura, BarbaraCorresponding Author

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Article

Neuroanatomical and Functional Correlates of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Young Healthy Adults

Publicated to:Frontiers In Behavioral Neuroscience. 13 85- - 2019-05-01 13(), DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00085

Authors: Uribe, Carme; Puig-Davi, Arnau; Abos, Alexandra; Baggio, Hugo C; Junque, Carme; Segura, Barbara

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Abstract

Neural substrates of empathy are mainly investigated through task-related functional MRI. However, the functional neural mechanisms at rest underlying the empathic response have been poorly studied. We aimed to investigate neuroanatomical and functional substrates of cognitive and affective empathy. The self-reported empathy questionnaire Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test (TECA), T1 and T2*-weighted 3-Tesla MRI were obtained from 22 healthy young females (mean age: 19.6 +/- 2.4) and 20 males (mean age: 22.5 +/- 4.4). Groups of low and high empathy were established for each scale. FreeSurfer v6.0 was used to estimate cortical thickness and to automatically segment the subcortical structures. FSL v5.0.10 was used to compare resting-state connectivity differences between empathy groups in six defined regions: the orbitofrontal, cingulate, and insular cortices, and the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus using a non-parametric permutation approach. The high empathy group in the Perspective Taking subscale (cognitive empathy) had greater thickness in the left orbitofrontal and ventrolateral frontal cortices, bilateral anterior cingulate, superior frontal, and occipital regions. Within the affective empathy scales, subjects with high Empathic Distress had higher thalamic volumes than the low-empathy group. Regarding resting-state connectivity analyses, low-empathy individuals in the Empathic Happiness scale had increased connectivity between the orbitofrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate when compared with the high-empathy group. In conclusion, from a structural point of view, there is a clear dissociation between the brain correlates of affective and cognitive factors of empathy. Neocortical correlates were found for the cognitive empathy dimension, whereas affective empathy is related to lower volumes in subcortical structures. Functionally, affective empathy is linked to connectivity between the orbital and cingulate cortices.

Keywords

affective empathycognitive empathyconnectivitycortical thicknessfmrihealthy subjectslocalizationnetworkneural basisneuroscienceorbitofrontal cortexperspectiveresting-state connectivitysegmentationsocial cognitionyoung adultsAffective empathyCognicióCognitionCognitive empathyConnectivityCortical thicknessEmpathyEmpatiaFmriGeometrically accurateHealthy subjectsJovesLocalizationNetworkNeural basisNeuroscienceOrbitofrontal cortexPerspectiveResting-state connectivitySegmentationSocial cognitionYoung adultsYouth

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers In Behavioral Neuroscience due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Behavioral Neuroscience.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.48. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.46 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 6.84 (source consulted: Dimensions May 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-28, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 27
  • Scopus: 31
  • Europe PMC: 14
  • OpenCitations: 27

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-28:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 111.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 109 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 5.8.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 8 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/146968

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Uribe Codesal, Carme) and Last Author (Segura Fàbregas, Bàrbara).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been Junqué Plaja, Carme and Segura Fàbregas, Bàrbara.