Highly Sensitive or Empathetic? It Could be in Your Genes

In a recent study published in Brain and Behavior, researchers found that the human brain provides physical evidence that the “highly sensitive” brain responds powerfully to emotional images. Previous research suggests that sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is an innate trait associated with greater sensitivity, or responsiveness, to environmental and social stimuli. The trait is becoming increasingly associated with identifiable behaviors, genes, physiological reactions and patterns or brain activity. Highly sensitive people (HSP) tend to show heightened awareness to subtle stimuli, process information more thoroughly, and are more reactive to both positive and negative stimuli. The brains of 18 married individuals were scanned (some with high and some with low SPS) as they viewed photos of either smiling faces or sad faces, with one set of photos including faces of strangers, and another with photos of their significant other. The results of the study showed areas of the brain involved with awareness and emotion — particularly in those areas connected with empathetic feelings — with substantially greater blood flow to the relevant brain areas in the highly sensitive people when compared to the individuals with low sensitivity. The brain activity was even higher when HSPs viewed the expressions of their spouses, with the highest activity occurring when viewing images of their partners when happy. The findings indicate that especially high levels of awareness and emotional responsiveness are fundamental features of humans characterized as HSPs. To read more about this study, click here.