Baptiste Maheo

I will investigate the neurobiological basis of empathy and prosocial behavior in rodents, focusing on freely moving rats in an observer paradigm where one animal witnesses another in distress. My approach will center on somatic indicators of emotional contagion—such as heart rate, respiration, pupil size, and body posture—to identify conserved physiological markers of empathy. These findings will be compared to human data to explore cross-species analogies in empathic responses.

Funding
Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. Neurobiology Research Hub.

Aim: identify shared somatic markers of empathy and prosocial behavior in rodents.