Extraordinary Altruists Exhibit Enhanced Self-Other Overlap in Neural Responses to Distress

Brethel-Haurwitz, K.M., Cardinale, E.M., Vekaria, K.M., Robertson, E.L., Walitt, B., VanMeter, J.W., & Marsh, A.A.

Kidney donors who gave to strangers exhibit greater overlap in anterior insula neural representations of their own pain and a stranger's pain, demonstrating that extraordinary altruism is linked to enhanced empathic neural mapping.