RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The gradient model of brain organization in decisions involving ‘empathy for pain’
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.11.28.470235
DO 10.1101/2021.11.28.470235
A1 Karin Labek
A1 Elisa Sittenberger
A1 Valerie Kienhöfer
A1 Luna Rabl
A1 Irene Messina
A1 Matthias Schurz
A1 Julia C. Stingl
A1 Roberto Viviani
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/11/28/2021.11.28.470235.abstract
AB Recent meta-analytic studies of social cognition and the functional imaging of empathy have exposed the overlap between their neural substrates and heteromodal association areas. The ‘gradient model’ of cortical organization proposes a close relationship between these areas and highly connected hubs in the default mode network, a set of cortical areas deactivated by demanding tasks. Here, we used a decision-making task and representational similarity analysis with classic ‘empathy for pain’ visual stimuli to probe the relationship between high-level representations of imminent pain in others and the high end of the gradient of this model. High-level representations were found to co-localize with task deactivations or the transitions from activations to deactivations. These loci belonged to two groups: those that loaded on the high end of the principal cortical gradient and were associated by meta-analytic decoding with the default mode network, and those that appeared to accompany functional repurposing of somatosensory cortex in the presence of visual stimuli. In contrast to the nonspecific meta-analytic decoding of these loci, low-level representations, such as those of body parts involved in pain or of pain itself, were decoded with matching topics terms. These findings suggest that that task deactivations may set out cortical areas that host high-level representations, but whose functional characterization in terms of simple mappings is unlikely. We anticipate that an increased understanding of the cortical correlates of high-level representations may improve neurobiological models of social interactions and psychopathology.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.