Empathic Traits Shape Oscillatory Brain Responses During Implicit Mind Reading

Empathy has been linked to enhanced processing of social information, yet the neurophysiological correlates of such individual differences remain underexplored. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate how individual differences in trait empathy are reflected in oscillatory brain activity during the perception of non-verbal social cues. Methods: In this EEG study involving 30 participants, we examined spectral and time-frequency dynamics associated with trait empathy during a visual task requiring the interpretation of others' body gestures. Results: FFT Power spectral analyses revealed that individuals with high empathy quotients (High-EQ) exhibited significantly increased beta-band activity over frontal regions and decreased alpha-band activity over occipito-parietal areas compared to their low-empathy counterparts (Low-EQ), suggesting heightened attentional engagement and reduced cortical inhibition during social information processing. In contrast, time-frequency analysis using Morlet wavelets showed no significant group differences in mu rhythm suppression, challenging prior claims linking mu desynchronization to mirror neuron activity in empathic processing. These findings align with recent literature associating frontal beta oscillations with top-down attentional control and emotional regulation, and posterior alpha with vigilance and sensory disengagement. Conclusions: Our results indicate that empathic traits are differentially reflected in anterior and posterior oscillatory dynamics, supporting the notion that individuals high in empathy deploy greater cognitive and attentional resources when decoding non-verbal social cues. These neural patterns may underlie their superior ability to interpret body language and mental states from visual input.