Introduction Alpha oscillations are unique in their capacity to relay neuronal information
through a dual‐process named “gating by inhibition”: rhythmic enhancement inhibits task‐
irrelevant regions while rhythmic suppression engages task‐relevant regions in the brain. A
social‐cognitive process that operates by relying on the suppression of the alpha rhythm in
the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is the ability to generate empathy. This phenomenon
has been evidenced in dozens of electrophysiological studies targeting adult human …

Introduction Empathy is a social–cognitive process that operates by relying mainly on the
suppression of the cortical alpha rhythm. This phenomenon has been evidenced in dozens
of electrophysiological studies targeting adult human subjects. Yet, recent
neurodevelopmental studies indicated that at a younger age, empathy involves reversed
brain responses (eg, alpha enhancement patterns). In this multimodal study, we capture
neural activity at the alpha range, and hemodynamic response and target subjects at …