I Know How You Feel: The Effect of Similarity and Empathy on Neural Mirroring

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2007
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
The study examined the effects of similarity and empathy on neural mirroring. 31 subjects underwent a similarity manipulation designed to elicit feelings of similarity or dissimilarity towards a confederate. EEG data were recorded while the subject observed the confederate perform a flanker task. We expected to see heightened observer error-related negativities (oERN) and observer error positivities (oPe) in subjects in the highly-similar condition. Results indicated that subjects who felt similar to the confederate (assessed by post-task questions) showed a decreased oERN and an increased oPe following errors. Highly similar subjects may have expected to observe fewer errors, causing them to fail to notice errors initially then show a compensatory response when consciously noticing the error. Additionally, the effect may have been the result of uncertainty on the part of those subjects who deemed themselves similar to the confederates.
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