Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32115820›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2020

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) item analysis of empathy and theory of mind.

Matthias G Tholen, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Anne Böckler, Tania Singer, Philipp Kanske

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression Evoke Distinct Neural Connections during Interpersonal Emotion Regulation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023
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  13. Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students.Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS · 2025
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  16. Early Neural Development of Social Interaction Perception: Evidence from Voxel-Wise Encoding in Young Children and Adults.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Matthias G TholenCentre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-8716-8807
Fynn-Mathis TrautweinEdmont J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel.
Anne BöcklerDepartment of Psychology, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1000-9052
Tania SingerMax Planck Society, Social Neuroscience Lab, Berlin, Germany.
Philipp KanskeClinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-2027-8782

Funding

Austrian Science Fund FWF W 1233
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In contrast to conventional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis across participants, item analysis allows generalizing the observed neural response patterns from a specific stimulus set to the entire population of stimuli. In the present study, we perform an item analysis on an fMRI paradigm (EmpaToM) that measures the neural correlates of empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM). The task includes a large stimulus set (240 emotional vs. neutral videos to probe empathic responding and 240 ToM or factual reasoning questions to probe ToM), which we tested in two large participant samples (N = 178, N = 130). Both, the empathy-related network comprising anterior insula, anterior cingulate/dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and dorsal temporoparietal junction/supramarginal gyrus (TPJ) and the ToM related network including ventral TPJ, superior temporal gyrus, temporal poles, and anterior and posterior midline regions, were observed across participants and items. Regression analyses confirmed that these activations are predicted by the empathy or ToM condition of the stimuli, but not by low-level features such as video length, number of words, syllables or syntactic complexity. The item analysis also allowed for the selection of the most effective items to create optimized stimulus sets that provide the most stable and reproducible results. Finally, reproducibility was shown in the replication of all analyses in the second participant sample. The data demonstrate (a) the generalizability of empathy and ToM related neural activity and (b) the reproducibility of the EmpaToM task and its applicability in intervention and clinical imaging studies.

Indexed as

AdultCerebral CortexConnectomeEmpathyFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedNerve NetTheory of Mindaffect sharinganterior insulamentalizingsocial cognitiontemporoparietal junction

Identifiers

PMID32115820
PMCPMC7294056

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.