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KIST, Empathy of Fear and Mechanisms of the Brain Circuit Investigated (3.3)
- Date : 2010-03-15
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KIST disclosed that the Head of Center for Neuroscience, Dr. Hee-Sup Shin, and his research team, had investigated the mechanisms of the brain circuit that is involved with the ability to empathize with others' fears for the first time. The research team found that the medial pain system of the cranial nerve is associated with the empathy of fear and the L-type Ca2+ channel plays an important role.
Using a laboratory rat, the research team developed a new behavioral experiment that can elicit an emotion of fear. In this experiment, a laboratory rat exhibited fear after seeing other rats receive electric shocks, though it never received any of the simulation itself.
They also discovered that the level of empathy of fear increased depending on the level of closeness it had with the other rat.
This research project was conducted by the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology's 'National Scientists Support Project' as a joint research with CEO of ProCell Therapeutics, Inc, Dr. Dae-Woong Jo, and researchers from Harvard Medical School and Vanderbilt Medical School. An article on this research project was published online on March 1, 2010 in the world renowned journal, Nature Neuroscience.