Theoretical perspectives suggest that the mirror neuron system (MNS) is an important neurobiological contributor to empathy, yet empirical support is mixed. Here, we adopt a summary model for empathy, consisting of motor, emotional, and cognitive components of empathy. This review provides an overview of existing empirical studies investigating the relationship between putative MNS activity and empathy in healthy populations. 52 studies were identified that investigated the association between the MNS and at least one domain of empathy, representing data from 1044 participants. Our results suggest that emotional and cognitive empathy are moderately correlated with MNS activity, however, these domains were mixed and varied across techniques used to acquire MNS activity (TMS, EEG, and fMRI). Few studies investigated motor empathy, and of those, no significant relationships were revealed. Overall, results provide preliminary evidence for a relationship between MNS activity and empathy. However, our findings highlight methodological variability in study design as an important factor in understanding this relationship. We discuss limitations regarding these methodological variations and important implications for clinical and community translations, as well as suggestions for future research.

理论观点表明镜像神经元系统 (MNS) 是共情的重要神经生物学贡献者，但经验支持是混合的。在这里，我们采用共情的总结模型，由共情的运动、情感和认知成分组成。本综述概述了现有的实证研究，这些研究调查了健康人群中推定的 MNS 活动与同理心之间的关系。确定了 52 项研究，调查了 MNS 与至少一个共情领域之间的关联，代表了来自 1044 名参与者的数据。我们的研究结果表明，情感和认知同理心与 MNS 活动中度相关，然而，这些领域在用于获取 MNS 活动的技术（TMS、EEG 和 fMRI）之间是混合和不同的。很少有研究调查运动同理心，其中，没有发现重要的关系。总的来说，结果为 MNS 活动和同理心之间的关系提供了初步证据。然而，我们的研究结果强调了研究设计中的方法差异是理解这种关系的一个重要因素。我们讨论了这些方法变化的局限性和对临床和社区翻译的重要影响，以及对未来研究的建议。