Facial Empathy task (EMP)

In RADAR, participants were exposed to empathy-inducing film clips, assembled from Dutch documentary films (De Wied et al., 2012). Two film clips represented happiness (i.e., a girl passing her finals, and a boy winning a song contest), two film clips represented sadness (i.e., a girl sent to a boarding school, and a boy who is rejected to join a select soccer team), and two film clips represented anger (i.e., a girl under curfew, and a boy being hindered in an important bicycle race). Motor empathy was assessed by bipolar EMG recordings. Mean EMG amplitude during the target scene of each film clip was expressed as a percentage of the mean amplitude during the baseline period because EMG amplitude is measured on a ratio scale. The resulting values were averaged across the two film clips associated with each emotion, resulting in a single value for zygomaticus and corrugator for each emotion. Heart rate was recorded during all stimuli. Using the differences in heart rate between baseline and target scenes of the film clips, a measure of heart rate reactivity is computed for each of the three emotions. Affective and cognitive empathy were assessed by a computerized procedure, adapted from Strayer’s (1993) Empathy Continuum. After each film clip questions were asked about the quality and intensity of observed and experienced emotions. Based on participants’ ratings a score on affective state empathy and cognitive state empathy was composed. More information about this task can be found in the Codebooks.