Compared to the group of omnivores, veg*ns showed a notably higher engagement of empathy-related brain regions when shown images of suffering, whether they included animals or humans.
CELINE ICARD-STOLL: ‘For many, the choice to follow a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle is an easy one to make; it’s a decision grounded in ethics and values… For many animal advocates, living these lifestyles is compulsory in order to maintain consistent ethics, ethics that are built upon great feelings of empathy towards animals… what about empathy towards fellow humans? Could enacting lifestyles that demonstrate greater empathy towards animals also affect how we empathize with other people?…
A group of European researchers set out to answer this question by mapping our neural responses to human and animal suffering. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers exposed 20 omnivores, 19 vegetarians, and 21 vegans to images of humans and animals suffering and recorded their brains’ responses… The researchers hypothesized that veg*ns would show different brain activity than omnivores when both groups are shown images of suffering…
They found that vegetarians and vegans alike appear to share a functional architecture of emotional cognition. Compared to the group of omnivores, both of these groups showed a notably higher engagement of empathy-related brain regions when shown images of suffering—whether they included animals or humans. In other words, veg*ns demonstrated stronger empathetic reactions… Further, veg*ns showed an even stronger engagement of empathy when viewing images of animal suffering… when vegetarians were presented with images of animal suffering, brain regions associated with increased attention, higher empathetic pain, greater self-control, and more monitoring were engaged’. SOURCE…
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