Adaptive empathic response selection is sensitive to multiple dimensions of social interaction.

During empathic response selection, individuals draw from both past experiences and social cues, including the distressed person's identity, their emotional state, and the cause of distress. To study how these social dimensions influence empathic-response learning we integrated a multidimensional learning paradigm, computational modelling, and adaptive empathy framework. Participants identified effective empathic responses across two blocks of distress scenarios, with one social dimension altered between blocks.

Adaptive Empathy: Empathic Response Selection as a Dynamic, Feedback-Based Learning Process.

Empathy allows us to respond to the emotional state of another person. Considering that an empathic interaction may last beyond the initial response, learning mechanisms may be involved in dynamic adaptation of the reaction to the changing emotional state of the other person. However, traditionally, empathy is assessed through sets of isolated reactions to another's distress.