This thesis takes a basic approach to empathy by focusing on the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during observation of the pain-related situations of other people. It seeks to place this role in terms of the AC C's more general involvement in the preparation and selection of motor responses on the basis of
motivational relevance. In doing so, the thesis introduces the conceptual and empirical bases for current prevailing hypotheses about interpersonal representations, empathy, and pain, especially those centering on human neuroimaging evidence (Chapter I). Integral to the interpretation of this evidence is a dimensional model of pain processing in which motivational-affective and sensory-discriminative components are dissociable. The current understanding of the role of cingulate cortex in pain processing and other functions is also described (Chapters I and VII).
The studies presented in the experimental chapters elucidate the role of the cingulate in pain observation, including its relevant processing dimensions (Chapter II), the anatomical localization of visual pain-related responses (Chapters II ,III, IV and VI), stimulus features upon which these depend (Chapters III, IV and VI), and the relationship of pain observation to behavior and functions of the cingulate dealing with selecting, preparing, and executing
motor responses (Chapters V and VI). The findings of these studies indicate that both feeling pain directly and seeing others' apparent injury give rise to activations in the dorsal ACC (dACC) and midcingulate (MCC) cortices. The converging behavioral and neuroanatomical results presented here also reinforce the relationship between pain observation and motor processing in medial premotor areas of the human brain.