Empathy is considered by many to be a uniquely human trait. Growing evidence suggests, however, that it is present in many other species. Emotional contagion and compassionate behaviors are displayed not only by primates but also by rodents. Neurobiological studies confirm the link between rodent and human empathic behaviors by showing similarities in the activity of certain brain circuits in response to shared emotional states. Here we will focus on the extent of those similarities and whether the evolutionarily conserved responses are enough to draw conclusions about the origin of human empathy.
Empathy impairments are characteristic of many psychiatric disorders which constitute a great burden to the society and often affect entire families. In order to develop novel therapeutic strategies, animal models of the disorders need to be validated for the degree of similarity between empathy in humans and laboratory animals. With this symposium we would like to raise awareness and understanding of empathic abilities of animals, which is crucial for the future of animal use in basic research and preclinical studies.
Organizing Committee:
Monday, September, 10th 2018
09:00 | Opening of the symposium
| 09:15 | Ksenia Meyza, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Poland | “Emotional contagion in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder” 10:00 | Yasushi Kiyokawa, The University of Tokyo, Japan | “Social buffering of stress responses: A possible measure of affiliation to the accompanying animal” 10:45 | Marie H. Monfils, University of Texas at Austin, USA | “Disambiguating factors that influence the social transmission of information in rats” 11:30 | Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, University of California Berkeley, USA | “The neural basis of helping behavior in rats” 12:30- 13:30 | Lunch break
| 13:30 | Valeria Gazzola, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, the Netherlands | “Vicarious activations: from perception to (pro)-social behavior” 14:15 | Jarosław Michałowski, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland | “Bridging the gap between basic neuroscience and psychotherapy for anxiety disorders” 15:00 | Przemysław Tomalski, University of Warsaw, Poland | “Does coordinating visual attention during social interactions in infancy drive cognitive development?” 15:45-16:00 | Coffee break
| 16:00-18:00 | Poster session
| Tuesday, September, 11th 2018
| 09:30 | Loren Martin, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada | “Examining the neural circuits and molecular targets for the social modulation of pain” 10:15 | Claus Lamm, University of Vienna, Austria | “The role of the opioid system in empathy for pain” 11:00 | Michał Bilewicz, University of Warsaw, Poland | “Empathizing with your pork chop? The relations of edibility with anthropomorphism” 11:45 | Christian Keysers, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, the Netherlands | “A cross-spiecies approach to the empathic brain” 12:30-13:30 | Lunch break
| 13:30 | Pier Francesco Ferrari, CNRS, Lyon, France | “Early experiences, plasticity and constraints in the emergence of the social brain” 14:15 | Jonathan Whitlock, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norway | “Cortical representation of 3D behavior in freely moving rodents” 15:00-15:20 | Coffee break
| 15:20 | Francesco Papaleo, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia | “Reading emotions through oxytocin” 16:05 | Marta Moita, Champalimaud Foundation, Portugal | “The role of social cues in regulating threat perception” 16:50 | Ewelina Knapska, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Poland | “Central amygdala mediates active and passive defensive responses evoked by socially transmitted fear” 17:30 | Closing ceremony
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Registration fee: 100PLN paid by bank transfer to
Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Al. Jerozolimskie 7, Warsaw
Account number: PL 95 1130 1017 0013 4337 2320 0008
SWIFT code: GOSKPLPW
Title: Empathy2018 Name Surname
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS
3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland
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