Description
The recordings are taken through electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp. Electrode locations are based
on the 10 /C020 System that defines regions as frontal (F), central (C), parietal (P), temporal (T), and occipital (O).
Electrode caps are designed to correspond to these regions and may contain 32, 64, 128, or 256 potential electrode
locations. The EEG signal is characterized according to the pattern of brain waves defined according to the fre-
quency band in which they are found. The frequency bands include alpha (8 to 13 Hz), beta (14 to 30 Hz), gamma
(30 to 100 1Hz), theta (4 to 7 Hz), and delta (0.5 to 3.5 Hz). ERPs are described in terms of whether the potential
is a positive or negative wave and the latency in which the wave occurs. The N100, for example, is a negative
change that occurs approximately 100 ms following stimulus onset. EEG and ERP show excellent temporal reso-
lution by being able to sample brain activity at 2000 Hz or better.
Sample
Light et al. (2009) examined data from children aged 6 years (8 children), 7 years (25 children), 8 years (45 chil-
dren), 9 years (27 children) and 10 years (6 children). The resulting sample had a mean age of 7.92 years
(SD50.98) and consisted of 52 males and 56 females. In their research, Gutsell and Inzlicht (2012) tested 17 male
and 13 female White right-handed university students with a mean age of 18.46 years ( SD53.81). Mu, Fan, Mao,
and Han (2008) recruited 11 male and 4 female adults with a mean age of 20.8 years ( SD51.82) and who were
all right handed and had normal vision. Similarly, Han, Fan, and Mao (2008) recruited 13 males (mean age 520.9
years, SD52.25) and 13 females (mean age 521.0 years, SD51.47) that were screened for normal or corrected to
normal vision and were all right handed.
Reliability
Schmidt et al. (2012) reported evidence of ERP reliability and split-half reliability.
Test/C0Retest
Schmidt, et al. (2012) also reported test /C0retest reliability in absolute frontal ( r5.86 to .87) central ( r5.94), and
parietal ( r5.95 to .96) EEG alpha power for a resting condition over a one-week period. Williams, Simms, Clark,
and Paul (2005) reported that over a 4-week interval, for both eyes open and eyes closed resting periods (of two
minutes duration), that EEG data did not differ across sessions with respect to alpha, beta, theta, and delta
waves. Test /C0retest reliability coefficients ( r5.71 to .95) were reported with larger reliability coefficients for eyes
open as compared with eyes closed conditions. Numerous other studies have also provided evidence for
test/C0retest reliability of up to 1-year ( Cassidy, Robertson, & O’Connell, 2012; Ha ¨mmerer, Li, Vo ¨lkle, Mu ¨ller, &
Lindenberger, 2012; Segalowitz, & Barnes, 2007 ).Williams et al. (2005) revealed that for oddball targets, N100
amplitude and latency (.76 and .72 respectively), P200 amplitude (.68), N200 amplitude and latency (.47 and .71
respectively) and P300 latency (.56) all provided significant partial correlations over a 4-week interval. For odd-
ball non-targets, N100 amplitude and latency (.74 and .63 respectively) and P200 amplitude and latency (.82 and
.62 respectively) also showed moderate test /C0retest reliability. Furthermore, Williams et al. (2005) provided
test/C0retest reliability coefficients for P150 amplitude and latency (.84 and .93) and P300 amplitude and latency
(.55 and .52) on a working memory task.
Validity
Convergent/Concurrent
Using EEG during a pleasurable task in 6 to 10 year old children, self-report measures of empathic concern
and positive empathy were related to increased right frontopolar activation ( Light et al., 2009 ). A second form of
positive empathy was related to increasing left dorsolateral activation ( Light et al., 2009 ) thus highlighting the
role of prefrontal activity in association with empathy. Gutsell and Inzlicht (2012) revealed that higher prefrontal
alpha asymmetry scores to both in-group and out-group members appeared to be associated with higher scores
on the EQ ( Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004 ).
Divergent/Discriminant
In an analysis of the role of theta and alpha oscillations in empathy for pain, Mu et al. (2008) used wavelet
EEG with healthy adults who judged pain in pictures of hands in painful or neutral contexts. Pain related stimuli
increased theta event-related synchronization at 200 to 500 ms and decreased alpha at 200 to 400 ms. Theta
event-related synchronization was positively correlated with subjective ratings of perceived pain while alpha282 10. MEASURES OF EMPATHY: SELF-REPORT , BEHAVIORAL, AND NEUROSCIENTIFIC APPROACHES
III. EMOTION REGULATION