Student-run speaker series: Valeria Gazzola and Christian Keysers

On Friday 16th at 17:00, the student-run speaker series "A spotlight on cooperation" will feature a lecture by Valeria Gazzola and Christian Keysers, Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, NL and Brain & Cognition, Dept of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.

Their presentation, entitled "A cross-species approach to emotional contagion and prosociality" will be held at the BCCN lecture hall, BCCN, house 6 at HU Campus, Philippstraße 12, 10115 Berlin.

The seminar will be preceded by a pre-event reception with some snacks at 16:30, and will be followed by a career roundtable for early career scientists. 

To join the seminar, please register using the following form: https://forms.gle/eZyfJbrMjBKGyCx26

Abstract: How does our brain make us feel what others feel? How does it motivate us to help others? In humans, the somatosensory, insular and cingulate cortices are activated both when experiencing pain and while witnessing the pain of others. Their activity level predicts helping and encodes prediction error-signals while learning the consequences of our own actions on others. Single cell recordings in the rodent homologue of the anterior cingulate cortex (area 24) demonstrate that neurons involved in an animal’s own pain become reactivated while the animal witnesses another animal in pain and deactivating area 24 reduces vicarious freezing and the motivation to prevent harm to others. Together this comparative approach reveals the existence of an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that maps the pain of others onto an observer’s own pain, triggers emotional contagion and motivates individuals to prevent harm to others. We will suggest that this circuit may have evolved to allow animals and humans to better prepare for yet unseen dangers by tuning into the state of those that have already detected them. This selfishly beneficial mechanism can promote prosociality, but does so in fewer animals and situations than the emotional contagion itself.

Here you can find information about the next appointments!