EEG Activity during Viewing of Neutral and Emotionally Colored Pictures by Men and Women with Different Levels of Empathy

Abstract

We compared the characteristics of EEG in 14 men and 32 women, 18 to 21 years old, in the course of viewing neutral and emotionally (negatively, positively, and erotically) colored pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS); women were tested during various phases of the ovulatory cycle. We demonstrated that changes in zonal characteristics of the main EEG rhythms related to perception of pictures of all types by men and women differed significantly from each other. In men, the EEG patterns upon the action of the above-mentioned stimuli were most similar to those observed in women during the follicular phase of the ovulatory cycle. In general, changes in EEG in the course of viewing pictures of all types were more significant in women as compared with men. For men, perception of erotically colored and negative pictures exerted greater activating effects. We found certain specificity of EEG patterns depending on the level of empathy of the tested subjects. High levels of empathy in men and women were associated with higher spectral powers of the beta and theta EEG rhythms, respectively. In women, the ability to show empathy was manifested in a different manner depending on the level of sex hormones; the presented visual stimuli could not evoke any emotional resonance in women during the follicular phase but began to evoke activation during the luteal phase.