Feedback matters: EEG correlates of empathy involved in the naturalistic communication of emotions

Empathy involves the processing of complex information related to dynamic interactions between the empathizer and target. One neural signature of empathy is the suppression of electroencephalographic mu rhythm (8–13 Hz) over the sensorimotor region. It is important to consider that few researchers have studied the effects of empathizer feedback on empathy and its underlying neural mechanism, and most previous research has lacked ecological validity due to standardized emotional stimuli and constraints on the experiment environment. Our objective in this study was to investigate the means by which empathizer feedback influences one's own empathy in naturalistic social situations. Our results revealed that empathizer feedback decreases empathic accuracy but does not affect the emotional contagion nor the emotional intensity of the empathizer. We also found that the ability to accurately infer sadness is hindered by empathizer feedback. Empathizers presented lower alpha activity in the sensorimotor cortical areas only while receiving sad narratives and not providing feedback. This study contributes to the emerging research on the influence of empathizer feedback in naturalistic social settings.