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Humans are a highly social species that need to maintain meaningful social connections for survival and well-being throughout their lifetimes (Hrdy, 2009; Tomasello, 2014). The need for social connections becomes even more prominent when people are faced with threatening, stressful or uncertain situations (Dezecache, 2015; Dezecache et al., 2017). However, the COVID-19 pandemic imposes a particular challenge to maintaining social connections, as minimising physical contact with others is widely advised (and sometimes enforced by authorities) as one of the most effective measures to alleviate the spread of the virus (WHO, 2020). This study aims to answer two key questions: (1) How do people around the world adapt their social interactions to the COVID-19 context? (2) Are certain modes of interaction under conditions of lockdown better for people’s well-being? We aim to examine these questions by taking into account differences in cross-cultural values (e.g., collectivism), personal traits (e.g., empathy), and demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, employment status etc.). Anthropological and social-psychological research suggests that as a factor of the need for affiliation, and time- and memory-based restrictions on the social brain, humans have a social network size of around 150 (Hill & Dunbar, 2003), with different layers of networks (i.e., networks of 5, 15, 50, 150 individuals) embedded within this large network. Relationships in closer layers are marked by individuals coming to each other’s aid without the need for reciprocity. These layers of networks are determined by both perceived emotional closeness and frequency of interaction. Dunbar (2012) outlined how the Internet, including social media networks and text-based messaging, may allow us to circumnavigate the time- and memory-based restrictions the social brain has around social contact numbers. Specifically, these tools may increase the frequency of interactions by mass messaging, and thereby help us to maintain a larger number of weaker quality relationships than our typical 150-people quota. Importantly, the number of social media contacts one has (e.g., Facebook friends) does not equate to the number of people in one’s social clique (i.e., closest layer of n = 5 people) or sympathy groups (i.e., second-closest layer of n = 15 people). Arguably, this is because interacting through social media cannot replace the quality of face to face (FTF) interactions (Dunbar, 2016). Indeed, feelings of connectedness between friendship pairs is strongest after in-person interaction, then video chat, then audio chat, and finally text-based messaging (Sherman et al., 2013). However, those friendships that report using video or audio modes more frequently are able bond via these respective modes more than those who use them less, suggesting that practice is important. Text-based communication, which is most common among young people, produces the weakest bonding, though bonding via this mode can be increased by the use of cues such as emoticons and typed laughter. During lockdown, maintaining strong relationships is likely to prove challenging as modes of contact become limited. Previous research has supported Knock’s (2005) media naturalness hypothesis, by suggesting that FTF appears to be different from all other forms of communication (video chat, phone, instant messaging, text, email), in that duration of FTF contact positively relates to happiness (Vlahovic et al., 2012). This may be because our ancestors evolved using facial and vocal cues as well as bodily language that is only picked up in close proximity. Too little of these cues is underwhelming, but too much stimulation (e.g., VR) could be overwhelming and damaging to relationships. To date, little research has been done to see what effects on wellbeing modes of contact have across cultures. The high social costs the COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to cause (WHO, 2020) creates a unique opportunity to investigate what effects on wellbeing disrupted modes of contact have across cultures, which we address here. In addition, we tackle whether FTF contact is still the optimal mode of contact under conditions of ‘lockdown’.

Empathy is significantly influenced by the identification of others' emotions. In a recent study, we have found increased activation in the anterior insular cortex (aIns) that could be attributed to affect sharing rather than perceptual saliency, when seeing another person genuinely experiencing pain as opposed to merely acting to be in pain. In that prior study, effective connectivity between aIns and the right supramarginal gyrus (rSMG) was revealed to represent what another person really feels. In the present study, we used a similar paradigm to investigate the corresponding neural signatures in the domain of empathy for disgust - with participants seeing others genuinely sniffing unpleasant odors as compared to pretending to smell something disgusting (in fact the disgust expressions in both conditions were acted for reasons of experimental control). Consistent with the previous findings on pain, we found stronger activations in aIns associated with affect sharing for genuine disgust (inferred) compared with pretended disgust. However, instead of rSMG we found engagement of the olfactory cortex. Using dynamic causal modeling (DCM), we estimated the neural dynamics of aIns and the olfactory cortex between the genuine and pretended conditions. This revealed an increased excitatory modulatory effect for genuine disgust compared to pretended disgust. For genuine disgust only, brain-to-behavior regression analyses highlighted a link between the observed modulatory effect and a few empathic traits. Altogether, the current findings complement and expand our previous work, by showing that perceptual saliency alone does not explain responses in the insular cortex. Moreover, it reveals that different brain networks are implicated in a modality-specific way when sharing the affective experiences associated with pain vs. disgust.

Empathy for pain engages both shared affective responses and self-other distinction. In this study, we addressed the highly debated question of whether neural responses previously linked to affect sharing could result from the perception of salient affective displays. Moreover, we investigated how the brain network involved in affect sharing and self-other distinction underpinned our response to a pain that is either perceived as genuine or pretended (while in fact both were acted for reasons of experimental control). We found stronger activations in regions associated with affect sharing (anterior insula [aIns] and anterior mid-cingulate cortex) as well as with affective self-other distinction (right supramarginal gyrus [rSMG]), in participants watching video clips of genuine vs. pretended facial expressions of pain. Using dynamic causal modeling, we then assessed the neural dynamics between the right aIns and rSMG in these two conditions. This revealed a reduced inhibitory effect on the aIns to rSMG connection for genuine pain compared to pretended pain. For genuine pain only, brain-to-behavior regression analyses highlighted a linkage between this inhibitory effect on the one hand, and pain ratings as well as empathic traits on the other. These findings imply that if the pain of others is genuine and thus calls for an appropriate empathic response, neural responses in the aIns indeed seem related to affect sharing and self-other distinction is engaged to avoid empathic over-arousal. In contrast, if others merely pretend to be in pain, the perceptual salience of their painful expression results in neural responses that are down-regulated to avoid inappropriate affect sharing and social support., eLife digest Empathy enables us to share and understand the emotional states of other people, often based on their facial expressions. This empathic response involves being able to distinguish our own emotional state from someone else’s, and it is influenced by how we recognize that person’s emotion. In real life, knowing and identifying whether the facial expression we are witnessing reflects genuine or pretended pain is particularly important so that we can appropriately react to someone’s emotions and avoid unnecessary personal distress. How our brains manage to do this is still heavily debated. Two areas, the anterior insular (aIns for short) and the mid-cingulate cortex, appear to be activated when someone ‘feels’ someone else’s pain. However, these regions might just automatically be triggered by vivid emotional facial expressions, regardless of whether we really respond to that pain. To examine this question, Zhao et al. measured brain activity as healthy adults watched video clips of people either feeling or pretending to feel pain. The activation of aIns was particularly related to the emotional component that someone shared with another person’s genuine pain, but not to pretended pain. This suggests that neurons in the aIns track a truly empathic response when seeing someone who is actually experiencing pain. Effective connectivity analyses which reflect how brain areas ‘crosstalk’ also revealed distinct patterns when people viewed expressions of genuine, as opposed to pretended pain. Zhao et al. focused on the interactions between the alns and the right supramarginal gyrus, a brain region which helps to distinguish another person’s emotions from our own. This crosstalk tracked others’ feelings when participants viewed expressions of genuine but not of pretended pain. Put together, these findings provide a more refined model of empathy and its neural underpinnings. This will help further our understanding of conditions such as autism or depression, in which a person’s social skills and emotional processing are impaired.

Fetal cerebrovascular resistance is influenced by several factors in the setting of intact autoregulation to allow for normal cerebral blood flow and oxygenation. Maternal hyperoxygenation (MH) allows for acute alterations in fetal physiology and can be a tool to test cerebrovascular reactivity in late-gestation fetuses. In this study, we utilized MH to evaluate cerebrovascular reactivity in fetuses with specific congenital heart disease (CHD).This was a cross-sectional study of fetuses with complex CHD compared to controls without CHD. CHD cases were grouped according to physiology into: left-sided obstructive lesion (LSOL), right-sided obstructive lesion (RSOL) or dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA). Subjects underwent MH testing during the third-trimester fetal echocardiogram. The pulsatility index (PI) was calculated for the fetal middle cerebral artery (MCA), umbilical artery (UA) and branch pulmonary artery (PA). The change in PI from baseline to during MH was compared between each CHD group and controls.Sixty pregnant women were enrolled (CHD, n = 43; control, n = 17). In the CHD group, there were 27 fetuses with LSOL, seven with RSOL and nine with d-TGA. Mean gestational age was 33.9 (95% CI, 33.6-34.2) weeks. At baseline, MCA-PI Z-score was lowest in the LSOL group (-1.8 (95% CI, -2.4 to -1.2)) compared with the control group (-0.8 (95% CI, -1.3 to -0.3)) (P = 0.01). In response to MH, MCA-PI Z-score increased significantly in the control and d-TGA groups but did not change significantly in the LSOL and RSOL groups. The change in MCA-PI Z-score was significantly higher in the control group than in the LSOL group (0.9 (95% CI, 0.42-1.4) vs 0.12 (95% CI, -0.21 to 0.45); P = 0.03). This difference was more pronounced in the LSOL subgroup with retrograde aortic arch flow. Branch PA-PI decreased significantly in response to MH in all groups, with no difference in the change from baseline to MH between the groups, while UA-PI was unchanged during MH compared with at baseline.The fetal cerebrovascular response to MH varies based on the underlying CHD diagnosis, suggesting that cardiovascular physiology may influence the autoregulatory capacity of the fetal brain. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical implications of these findings on long-term neurodevelopment in these at-risk children. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Wie wir die Gefühle Anderer wahrnehmen, beeinflusst unseren affektiven Zustand. Eine erfolgreiche Identifikation der Gefühle Anderer ist wichtig für persönliche Interaktionen, soziale Kooperation und Harmonie. Mein Ziel in dieser Doktorarbeit war es, sowohl opioiderge Mechanismen zu untersuchen, die denjenigen Prozessen zugrunde liegen, welche mit der Identifikation von Emotion in Verbindung stehen, als auch wie diese Prozesse die Konsequenzen empathischer Reaktionen regulierten. Diese Dissertation umfasst drei Studien, bei welchen behaviorale Maße, neuronale Bildgebung und psychopharmakologische Manipulation zum Einsatz kamen. In meiner ersten Studie untersuchte ich, inwiefern das Opioidsystem die Unterscheidung der Gesichtsausdrücke von Schmerz und Ekel beeinflusste. Durch die Verwendung des Opioidantagonisten Naltrexon konnte ich feststellen, dass opioiderge Modulation einen negativen Effekt auf die Erkennung von Schmerz hatte, welcher auf visuell-perzeptive Gehirnregionen zurückzuführen war, jedoch nicht auf affektive neuronale Prozesse. In meiner zweiten Studie untersuchte ich, welche neuronalen Netzwerke empathische Reaktionen bei der Beobachtung Anderer beeinflussten, wenn diese authentischen Schmerz empfinden oder Schmerz vortäuschen. Durch die Verwendung von „Dynamic Causal Modeling“ (DCM) konnte ich eine veränderte Konnektivität zwischen Gehirnregionen feststellen, welche affektiven Prozessen (anteriore Insula, aIns) und der Unterscheidung des Selbst von Anderen (rechter supramarginaler Gyrus, rSMG) unterliegen, je nachdem ob authentischer oder vorgetäuschter Schmerz beobachtet wurde. Änderungen in dieser Konnektivität tragen also augenscheinlich dazu bei zu erkennen, wie eine andere Person tatsächlich fühlt. Das Ziel der dritten Studie war es, die zweite Studie zu Schmerz zu replizieren und auszuweiten. Durch die Verwendung eines ähnlichen Paradigmas, diesmal bezogen auf Ekel (authentischer Ekel vs. vorgetäuschter Ekel), konnte ich replizieren, dass Aktivierung in der aIns eher mit geteiltem Affekt als reiner wahrgenommener Salienz in Zusammenhang stand. Um unterschiedliche Reaktionen für authentischen Ekel im Vergleich zu vorgetäuschtem Ekel zu erkennen, wurde die Konnektivität zwischen aIns und dem olfaktorischen Kortex, statt zwischen aIns und rSMG untersucht. Insgesamt konnte diese Arbeit unser Verständnis der neuronalen Netzwerke, welche in Empathie und geteilten Affekt involviert sind, verbessern, sowie die potenzielle Rolle der Emotionserkennung für diese Prozesse aufzeigen. Außerdem zeigt sie, wie Empathie als interaktiver und dynamischer Prozess untersucht werden kann, der aus unterschiedlichen perzeptiven, kognitiven und affektiven Prozessen besteht., Our affective states are influenced by how we perceive others’ feelings. Successful identification of others’ emotions is vital for personal interaction, social cooperation, and harmony. With this doctoral thesis, I aimed to investigate the opioidergic mechanism underlying some processes essentially related to emotion identification and how these processes regulated the consequences of empathic responses. Three studies are reported, which involved behavioral measurements, neuroimaging, and psychopharmacological manipulation. In the first study, I investigated whether and how the opioid system influenced the discrimination of painful from disgusted facial expressions. Using the opioid antagonist naltrexone, I found that opioidergic modulation had a negative effect on the recognition of pain, and that this was linked to brain areas associated with visual-perceptive rather than affective neural processing. In the second study, I examined which neural networks dissociated the empathic responses when observing others genuinely experiencing pain vs. acting out pain. Using dynamic causal modeling (DCM), I found distinct effective connectivity between brain regions underlying affect processing (i.e., anterior insula, aIns) and self-other distinction (i.e., the right supramarginal gyrus, rSMG) for genuine vs. pretended pain, which seems to track how another person really feels. The third study aimed to complement and extend the second study on pain. Using a similar paradigm but with disgust (genuine disgust vs. pretended disgust), I replicated that activation in aIns was related to affect sharing rather than merely perceptual saliency. Connectivity between aIns and the olfactory cortex, rather than between aIns and rSMG, was found to track distinctive responses for genuine compared to pretended disgust. Taken together, this thesis has advanced our understanding of the neural networks involved in empathy and affect sharing, and in the potential role of emotion identification for these processes. It also highlights how empathy can be studied as an interactive and dynamic process comprised of different perceptive, cognitive, and affective processes.

The endogenous opioid system is strongly involved in the modulation of pain. However, the potential role of this system in perceiving painful facial expressions from others has not been sufficiently explored as of yet. To elucidate the contribution of the opioid system to the perception of painful facial expressions, we conducted a double‐blind, within‐subjects pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, in which 42 participants engaged in an emotion discrimination task (pain vs. disgust expressions) in two experimental sessions, receiving either the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone or an inert substance (placebo). On the behavioral level, participants less frequently judged an expression as pain under naltrexone as compared to placebo. On the neural level, parametric modulation of activation in the (putative) right fusiform face area (FFA), which was correlated with increased pain intensity, was higher under naltrexone than placebo. Regression analyses revealed that brain activity in the right FFA significantly predicted behavioral performance in disambiguating pain from disgust, both under naltrexone and placebo. These findings suggest that reducing opioid system activity decreased participants' sensitivity for facial expressions of pain, and that this was linked to possibly compensatory engagement of processes related to visual perception, rather than to higher level affective processes, and pain regulation., The behavioral and neural findings of this psychopharmacological fMRI study shed light on a causal role of the opioid system in the discrimination of painful facial expressions, paving the way for further exploration of clinical implications in the domains of pain diagnosis and treatment, on the one hand, and future research on the relationship between basic socio‐perceptual processing and empathy, on the other.

A large number of archaeological wooden building poles have been excavated from the Hai Menkou site (Yunnan province, China). Lignin can be transformed and altered accompanied with significant loss of carbohydrates during this process. Elucidation of chemical and structural transformations of lignin is of primary importance for understanding both the nature of degradation processes and the structure of waterlogged archaeological wood, and crucial for developing proper consolidation technology and restoring artifacts of historical and cultural value. In this study, state-of-the-art analytical techniques, including SEM, FT-IR, XRD, CP-MAS 13C NMR, 2D-HSQC NMR, 31P-NMR, CRM, GPC and TG analysis, were all employed to elucidate the structural characteristics of lignin in waterlogged and reference Pinus wood. The results interpreted by NMR analysis demonstrated the depolymerization of lignin via cleavage of β-O-4, β-5, −OCH3 and some LCC linkages, leading to a higher amount of free phenol OH groups in the lignin from the ancient waterlogged wood as compared to that of the reference wood. Microscopically, it was found that extensive degradation of carbohydrates in cell walls was mainly occurred in secondary cell walls, while the lignin concentrations were relatively increased in CCML and S regions in the plant cell wall of the ancient wood.