""When grandmothers viewed pictures of their grandchildren, they particularly activated brain regions that have been implicated in emotional empathy, such as the insular and secondary somatosensory cortices," said Rilling of his findings, which were published last month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B."
""When viewing pictures of the grandchild's same-sex parent, who was often but not always the grandmother's own adult biological child, they particularly activated areas of the brain involved with cognitive empathy such as the precuneus," he said."
""Simply put, \"emotional empathy\" is the ability to feel the emotions that another person is feeling," Rilling said."
Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used on about 50 women with at least one biological grandchild aged 3–12 while they viewed photographs of a grandchild, the child's parents, and unrelated child and adult images. Viewing grandchildren activated brain regions implicated in emotional empathy, including the insular and secondary somatosensory cortices. Viewing the grandchild's same-sex parent activated areas associated with cognitive empathy such as the precuneus. Emotional empathy involves sharing and feeling another person's emotions, while cognitive empathy involves understanding what someone is thinking or feeling without necessarily sharing the emotional experience.
Read at HuffPost
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