Empathy may lie in your genes

Are you sensitive, emotional or empathetic? It could be in your genes!
Some people may be genetically pre-disposed to empathy, according to a new study.
The study by researchers at Stony Brook University, the University of California, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Monmouth University found that Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of brains provide physical evidence that the "highly sensitive" brain responds powerfully to emotional images.
Previous research suggests that sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is an innate trait associated with greater sensitivity, or responsiveness, to environmental and social stimuli.
According to Dr Arthur Aron at Stony Brook University, the trait is becoming increasingly associated with identifiable behaviours, genes, physiological reactions, and patterns of brain activation.

Highly sensitive people (HSP), those high in SPS, encompass roughly 20 per cent of the population, researchers said.

Elaine Aron, at Stony Brook University, originated the HSP concept. Humans characterised as HSPs tend to show heightened awareness to subtle stimuli, process information more thoroughly, and be more reactive to both positive and negative stimuli.
In contrast, the majority of people have comparatively low SPS and pay less attention to subtle stimuli, approach situations more quickly and are not as emotionally reactive.
The study used fMRI brain scans to compare HSPs with low SPS individuals. The analysis is the first with fMRI to demonstrate how HSPs' brain activity processes others' emotions.

The brains of 18 married individuals (some with high and some with low SPS) were scanned as they viewed photos of either smiling faces, or sad faces. One set of photos included the faces of strangers, and the other set included photos of their husbands or wives.
Researchers found that areas of the brain involved with awareness and emotion, particularly those areas connected with empathetic feelings, in the highly sensitive people showed substantially greater blood flow to relevant brain areas than was seen in individuals with low sensitivity during the twelve second period when they viewed the photos.
"This is physical evidence within the brain that highly sensitive individuals respond especially strongly to social situations that trigger emotions, in this case of faces being happy or sad," researchers said.

The brain activity was even higher when HSPs viewed the expressions of their spouses. The highest activation occurred when viewing images of their partner as happy.
Most of the participants were scanned again one year later, and the same results occurred.
The study is published in the journal Brain and Behavior.