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# How Would You Feel versus How Do You Think She Would Feel? A Neuroimaging Study of Perspective-Taking with Social Emotions

## Details

**Authors** Ruby and Decety

**Year** 2004

**Publisher** Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

**Discipline** Neuroscience

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1162/0898929041502661) 
10.1162/0898929041502661

## In authors' words

### Abstract

Perspective-taking is a complex cognitive process involved in social cognition. This positron emission tomography (PET) study investigated by means of a factorial design the interaction between the emotional and the perspective factors. Participants were asked to adopt either their own (first person) perspective or the (third person) perspective of their mothers in response to situations involving social emotions or to neutral situations. The main effect of third-person versus first-person perspective resulted in hemodynamic increase in the medial part of the superior frontal gyrus, the left superior temporal sulcus, the left temporal pole, the posterior cingulate gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobe. A cluster in the postcentral gyrus was detected in the reverse comparison. The amygdala was selectively activated when subjects were processing social emotions, both related to self and other. Interaction effects were identified in the left temporal pole and in the right postcentral gyrus. These results support our prediction that the frontopolar, the somatosensory cortex, and the right inferior parietal lobe are crucial in the process of self/ other distinction. In addition, this study provides important building blocks in our understanding of social emotion processing and human empathy.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To research the neurological process of perspective-taking using a PET scanner.

### What they found (results)

The main result of the first person/third person was, “hemodynamic increase in the medial part of the superior frontal gyrus, the left superior temporal sulcus, the left temporal pole, the posterior cingulate gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobe.” The amygdala was also activated when looking at both the self and others perspectives.

## Commentary

### In short

This study demonstrated that perspective taking has a neurological basis, and there is not “a single mechanism that accounts for the perspective taking process.” This means that the perspective-taking process is facilitated by multiple locations within the brain.

### In more detail

Ruby and Decety 2004 researched the neurological process of perspective-taking using a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. The ten participants of the study were asked to either adopt their own or their mother’s perspective in response to an assortment of situations. Some of the situations required social emotions, and others were neutral. Each subject was scanned 12 times to eliminate as much machine noise as possible. The main result of the first person/third person was, “hemodynamic increase in the medial part of the superior frontal gyrus, the left superior temporal sulcus, the left temporal pole, the posterior cingulate gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobe.” The amygdala was also activated when looking at both the self and others perspectives. This study demonstrated that perspective taking has a neurological basis, and there is not “a single mechanism that accounts for the perspective taking process.” This means that the perspective-taking process is facilitated by multiple locations within the brain.

**Patterns it shows** P

**How to cite this** Ruby and Decety (2004). How Would You Feel versus How Do You Think She Would Feel? A Neuroimaging Study of Perspective-Taking with Social Emotions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.