Researchers at Mount Sinai have stated:
"Our findings provide strong evidence that empathy is mediated in a specific area of the brain."
"The findings have implications for a wide range of neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as autism and some forms of dementia, which are characterized by prominent deficits in higher-level social functioning."
The study involved patients with damage to the area of the insular cortex.
The best part is that, according to Science Daily, we can use behavioral therapy to improve empathy.
This study suggests that behavioral and cognitive therapies can be developed to compensate for deficits in the anterior insular cortex and its related functions such as empathy in patients.Would the therapy be the same for non-empathic patients due to brain damage and to those missing this important social skill without brain damage?
