Functional Neural Plasticity and Associated Changes in Positive Affect After Compassion Training
Functional Neural Plasticity and Associated Changes in Positive Affect After Compassion Training
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhs142
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发表时间：
2013-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Singer, Tania
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Klimecki, Olga M.;Leiberg, Susanne;Singer, Tania
社会情感的发展，如同情心，对于成功的社会交往以及保持身心健康至关重要，尤其是在面对令人痛苦的生活事件时。然而，支持这些情绪训练的神经机制却知之甚少。为了研究健康成年人的情感可塑性，我们测量了在一项新开发的任务(社会情感视频任务)中目睹他人痛苦时的功能性神经反应和主观反应。参与者对这项任务的最初共情反应伴随着前岛叶和前内侧扣带皮质的负面影响和激活--这是一个支撑疼痛共情的核心神经网络。虽然参与者在训练前的反应是消极的，但同情心训练增加了积极的情感体验，即使是在看到其他人陷入困境时也是如此。在神经层面上，我们观察到，与记忆对照组相比，同情训练引发了神经网络中的活动，包括内侧眶前皮质、壳核、苍白球和腹侧被盖区-之前与积极情感和联系相关的大脑区域。综上所述，这些发现表明，刻意培养同情心提供了一种新的应对策略，即使在面对他人的痛苦时也能培养积极的情绪。
The development of social emotions such as compassion is crucial for successful social interactions as well as for the maintenance of mental and physical health, especially when confronted with distressing life events. Yet, the neural mechanisms supporting the training of these emotions are poorly understood. To study affective plasticity in healthy adults, we measured functional neural and subjective responses to witnessing the distress of others in a newly developed task (Socio-affective Video Task). Participants' initial empathic responses to the task were accompanied by negative affect and activations in the anterior insula and anterior medial cingulate cortex-a core neural network underlying empathy for pain. Whereas participants reacted with negative affect before training, compassion training increased positive affective experiences, even in response to witnessing others in distress. On the neural level, we observed that, compared with a memory control group, compassion training elicited activity in a neural network including the medial orbitofrontal cortex, putamen, pallidum, and ventral tegmental area-brain regions previously associated with positive affect and affiliation. Taken together, these findings suggest that the deliberate cultivation of compassion offers a new coping strategy that fosters positive affect even when confronted with the distress of others.