• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.441-467
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• 2016

This fMRI study is aim to investigate effects of competitive environment in cognitive empathic process in human brain. Empathy is known as a crucial factor for human's adaptive behavior in aspects of social cognition and it is almost automatic process, on the other hand competitive situation is psychologically devastated environment to win someone for getting rewards. We hypnotized that reading and understanding of other person's mind are a specific characteristic related to survival evolutionarily, however competition would have an effect on the empathic cognitive process because of mechanisms of competition. To manipulate the competitive atmosphere, one researcher took a role of competitor against participants and they were instructed to get monetary rewards when their performance was better than a competitor. 21 participants(9 males and 12 females) performed to judge the emotional valence of the empathic task consisted of illustrated images with various situation could be experienced in real world as on $1^{st}$ person perspective in both competitive and non-competitive condition, and did same performance with objects stimulus in control condition. In order to examine the competition effects on empathic process,, hemodynamic response were obtained during fMRI session and the imaging data were analyzed to identify brain regions where responses to each condition across the two consecutive runs. Participants' reaction time in competitive condition was faster statistically significant than non-competitive one. Activation for competitive condition increased in the following areas: ACC, mPFC, SMG, thalamus extended caudate and Nacc, parahippocampal gyrus, and for non-competitive condition increased paracingulate gyrus, temporal pole, vmPFC, superior occipital gyrus. As a result of regression analysis using empathic scores as covariance, the rSMG, IFG, fusiform gyrus, thalamus, putamen were correlated with higher empathic levels, and TPJ were correlated with lower empathic scores. We suggest that these observations could mean competitive environment have an effect on neural base of cognitive empathic process.