Empathy has been a key focus of social, developmental, and affective neuroscience for some time. However, research using neural measures to study empathy in response to social victimization is sparse, particularly for young children. In the present study, 58 children’s (White, non-Hispanic; five to nine years old) mu suppression was measured using electroencephalogram methods (EEG) as they viewed video scenarios depicting social injustices toward White and Black children. We found evidence of increased mu suppression in response to social victimization; however, contrary to well-documented findings of ingroup racial bias in empathic responses among adults, we found no evidence of racial bias in mu suppression in young children. Implications of these findings for neuroscience research on empathy and the development of ingroup bias are discussed.

一段时间以来，同理心一直是社会、发展和情感神经科学的重点。然而，使用神经测量来研究同理心以应对社会受害的研究很少，特别是对于幼儿。在本研究中，58 名儿童（白人、非西班牙裔；5 至 9 岁）的 mu 抑制是使用脑电图方法 (EEG) 测量的，因为他们观看了描述对白人和黑人儿童的社会不公正现象的视频场景。我们发现了为应对社会受害而增加亩抑制的证据；然而，与成年人共情反应中内群体种族偏见的有据可查的发现相反，我们没有发现幼儿 mu 抑制中存在种族偏见的证据。讨论了这些发现对同理心和内群体偏见发展的神经科学研究的影响。