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      Self–other control processes in social cognition: from imitation to empathy

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          Abstract

          We review the evidence that an ability to achieve a precise balance between representing the self and representing other people is crucial in social interaction. This ability is required for imitation, perspective-taking, theory of mind and empathy; and disruption to this ability may contribute to the symptoms of clinical and sub-clinical conditions, including autism spectrum disorder and mirror-touch synaesthesia. Moving beyond correlational approaches, a recent intervention study demonstrated that training participants to control representations of the self and others improves their ability to control imitative behaviour, and to take another's visual perspective. However, it is unclear whether these effects apply to other areas of social interaction, such as the ability to empathize with others. We report original data showing that participants trained to increase self–other control in the motor domain demonstrated increased empathic corticospinal responses (Experiment 1) and self-reported empathy (Experiment 2), as well as an increased ability to control imitation. These results suggest that the ability to control self and other representations contributes to empathy as well as to other types of social interaction.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
          Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci
          RSTB
          royptb
          Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
          The Royal Society
          0962-8436
          1471-2970
          19 January 2016
          : 371
          : 1686 , Theme issue ‘Understanding self and other: from origins to disorders’ compiled and edited by Caroline Catmur, Emily Cross and Harriet Over
          : 20150079
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London , Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK
          [2 ] Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London , De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
          [3 ] Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London , 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK
          [4 ] Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London , New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK
          [5 ] School of Psychology, University of Surrey , Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
          [6 ] Department of Psychology, King's College London , London SE1 1UL, UK
          Author notes
          Author information
          http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6996-4295
          Article
          PMC4685524 PMC4685524 4685524 rstb20150079
          10.1098/rstb.2015.0079
          4685524
          26644597
          44bec711-fa02-49d1-b553-d96e62cc5f4e
          © 2015 The Author(s)

          Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

          History
          : 30 September 2015
          Funding
          Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council, http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269;
          Award ID: ES/K00140X/1
          Award ID: ES/K00882X/1
          Categories
          1001
          42
          14
          133
          Articles
          Research Article
          Custom metadata
          January 19, 2016

          empathy,self–other control,transcranial magnetic stimulation,imitation–inhibition,motor-evoked potentials,social interaction

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