All parts of the brain › Functions › Empathy

What part of the brain controls empathy?

No single part: sharing what someone else feels runs through the anterior insula and the cingulate cortex, understanding what they think through the prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction. [1][2][3]

The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The list of parts still says what each one does for empathy.

Lit: whole parts; region borders not drawn.

Slice

All 7 parts are lit together. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap a part on the brain or a name in the list to focus it; .

The first, affective empathy, uses the same insula and anterior and mid cingulate core that is active when you are in pain yourself, plus the inferior frontal gyrus. The second, cognitive empathy, leans on the ventromedial and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and on the junction where the parietal and temporal lobes meet. The right supramarginal gyrus helps keep your own mood from colouring your judgement of theirs. [1][2][3]

The anterior cingulate cortex is a region on a lit gyrus, not a separate shape. The 3D model draws only whole gyri, so the gyrus that holds each area is lit; the area’s exact border is not drawn.

Temporoparietal junction is a region on the angular gyrus, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole angular gyrus is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

Empathy: 7 parts lit

Insula, cingulate gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, amygdala, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus and prefrontal cortex. Tap one to see where it is and what it does.

The parts and their roles

The anterior insula on both sides was consistently active across fMRI studies of empathy: the left in both sharing and judging a feeling, the right only in sharing it. In 32 studies of empathy for pain it formed the core network with the cingulate cortex, overlapping the areas active when you feel pain yourself. [2][3][1] Where is the insula?
Its dorsal anterior and anterior mid cingulate cortex are the other half of the core empathy network; the dorsal anterior mid cingulate was recruited more often when people judged another’s feeling than when they shared it, and cognitive empathy goes with the mid cingulate and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex beside it. [2][1] Where is the cingulate gyrus?
Brodmann area 44 on this gyrus proved critical for emotional empathy, catching another’s feeling, in a study comparing people with injury here and people with injury to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex; the authors tie it to the mirror neuron system. [4][1] Where is the inferior frontal gyrus?
Listed among the neural circuits involved in empathy and caring, alongside the brainstem, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, insula and orbitofrontal cortex. [1] Where is the amygdala?
When your own feeling clashed with someone else’s, the right supramarginal gyrus became more active as people kept it from biasing their judgement of the other; magnetic pulses that disrupted it made judgements more self-centred. The spot lay apart from the right temporoparietal junction. [5] Where is the supramarginal gyrus?
One of the two gyri of the inferior parietal lobule, which makes up most of the temporoparietal junction; the left junction contains the angular gyrus. The junction is active in perspective-taking, empathy and telling your own mental state from someone else’s. [6][7] Where is the angular gyrus?
Its ventromedial part (Brodmann areas 10 and 11) proved necessary for cognitive empathy, taking another’s point of view, in the same comparison that tied emotional empathy to the inferior frontal gyrus; it was also more engaged when empathy came from abstract cues about someone’s state than from pictures. [4][3] Where is the prefrontal cortex?

Named areas on the lit gyri

Anterior cingulate cortex, on the : On the cingulate gyrus; with the anterior mid cingulate cortex it forms, with both anterior insulae, the core network a meta-analysis of fMRI studies found consistently active in empathy. [2]
Temporoparietal junction, on the : Where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, at the back end of the lateral sulcus: the inferior parietal lobule and the back of the superior temporal sulcus. It is active in perspective-taking, empathy, theory of mind and self–other distinction. [6]

How they work together

Two components: affective empathy is responding with a fitting emotion to another’s mental state, cognitive empathy is understanding their perspective. The two are independent of each other, and a meta-analysis of fMRI studies confirms that different brain areas are active for each. [1]
Empathy for pain overlaps felt pain: the anterior insula and the anterior and mid cingulate cortex are active both when you hurt and when you watch someone else hurt. Pictures of hurt body parts also drew in inferior parietal and ventral premotor areas; abstract cues about the other’s state drew in the precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal cortex and temporoparietal junction. [3]
The idea of a feeling-sharing system grew from mirror neurons, found in monkeys, which fire both when an animal acts and when it watches another act; people who score high on empathy tests have especially busy mirror neuron systems. [1]
Honest limit: these are networks seen in imaging and lesion studies, not single centres; most scanner studies measure empathy for pain, the temporoparietal junction spans more than one gyrus, and the cingulate, insula and prefrontal regions named are parts of larger lit shapes, so whole parts are lit, not exact borders. [2][3][8]

Empathy borrows the machinery of your own feelings: the emotions page lights the amygdala, hypothalamus, cingulate gyrus, insula and prefrontal cortex. [1] What part of the brain controls emotions?

Sources

Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. A part lit here takes part in empathy; it does not do it alone, and it does other jobs too. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); on it the brainstem includes the midbrain, pons and medulla, so lighting the brainstem lights all three.