ArticleCerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2023
Sex difference in trait empathy is encoded in the human anterior insula.
Article in Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cortical Structure in Relation to Empathy and Psychopathy in 800 Incarcerated Men.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Altered functional connectivity of emotional circuits and default mode network in postpartum women: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Exploring Empathic Responses to Others' Positive and Negative Experiences: Insights from Empathy Subprocesses.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- Neurobehavioural Group Differences in an Indian Holistic Education Context: Mindfulness, Empathy, Values and Personality Across Gender and Academic Pathways.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Article
- Ethical behavior profiles among nursing interns and their determinants: a latent profile analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Group-wise sparse coding for the discovery of functional connectivity-based biomarkers in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- A corticospinal signature for interindividual pain sensitivity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Neural mechanisms underlying reduced nocifensive sensitivity in autism-associated Shank3 mutant dogs.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Cortical structure in relation to empathy and psychopathy in 800 incarcerated men.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Research on the network structure and gender/age differences of psychological safety among urban residents: network analysis based on a large sample.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The neurostructural bases of empathy: morphometric evidence for a multicomponential approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Neural network dynamics underlying the bottom-up perception and top-down regulation processes of empathy.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Sex differences in the human brain related to visual motion perception.Biology of sex differences · 2024Article
- Temporal Unfolding of Racial Ingroup Bias in Neural Responses to Perceived Dynamic Pain in Others.Neuroscience bulletin · 2024Article
- Gender differences in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) changes during drawing interactions in romantic couples: an fNIRS study.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- Motor Dysfunctions in Fibromyalgia Patients: The Importance of Breathing.Open access rheumatology : research and reviews · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Females are considered the more empathic sex. This conventional view, however, has been challenged in the past few decades with mixed findings. These heterogeneous findings could be caused by the fact that empathy is a complex and multifaceted construct. To clarify whether sex differences exist in certain dimensions of empathy and whether they are associated with specific neural bases, this study measured trait empathy using the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) and collected brain structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data in a large sample of healthy participants (206 males vs. 302 females). We found that females scored higher in the personal distress (PD) subscale than males, but they were comparable to males in other IRI subscales. Sex difference in PD was encoded by brain structural (e.g. gray matter volume in left anterior insula [AI]) and functional (e.g. resting-state functional connectivity between left AI and temporoparietal junction/inferior frontal gyrus) characteristics. Notably, the relationship between sex and PD was indirect-only and serially mediated by AI-associated structural and functional characteristics. Altogether, our results suggested that sex difference existed in self-oriented affective empathy (i.e. PD) and highlighted the importance of the AI, both structurally and functionally, in mediating the sex difference in trait empathy.
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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.