Effetti specie-specifici e specie-aspecifici in contesti ad elevato impatto emotivo ed empatico. Uno studio combinato fNIRS-EEG

[Autom. eng. transl.] In recent years, numerous evidences of social neuroscience have identified the neural networks underlying the ability to empathize with the emotions of others, crucial for the construction of social relations, thus directing attention to species-specific interaction contexts (with similar ones). However more and more frequently human beings live social situations in the presence of species-non-specific relationships (with animals). The aim of the present study is to explore the brain, hemodynamic (near infrared, fNIRS) and electrophysiological (EEG) mechanisms involved in the processes of emotional attunement towards people who interact not only with their own kind, but also with animals . 22 participants were asked to observe scripts that depicted cooperative and conflictual interactions between human beings (man-man condition: UU), or between humans and domestic animals (man-animal: UA). During vision, the hemodynamic and electrophysiological changes of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, implicated in processes of emotional regulation and social cognition, were measured simultaneously. The results of the ANOVA analyzes for repeated measurements showed that, although the two categories involve similar electrophysiological patterns based on emotional valence, the haemodynamic data showed some specificities, with an increase in oxyhemoglobin levels (O2Hb) for UU relationships in contexts conflict, and for UA stimuli in cooperative contexts. Both UU and UA relationships are associated with a high emotional involvement that mainly concerns intra-species relationships in conflicting conditions, and inter-species in cooperative conditions. The results were motivated and discussed taking into account the neural mechanisms underlying the empathic processes and their functional significance relative to the interaction context.