The results of a study have recently been published which demonstrate a that vegetarians and vegans shown violent pictures have more brain activity in areas relating to empathy. In the study, sample groups of meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans were shown pictures of animals and humans who had been mutilated, murdered, tortured, wounded, etc.

Psychology Today blogger Daniel R. Hawes summarised and commented on the findings in his article Empathy is What Really Sets Vegetarians Apart (at least Neurologically Speaking). Hawes has the following to say:

The first main finding of this study is that, compared to Omnivores, Vegans and Vegetarians show higher activation of empathy related brain areas (e.g. Anterior Cingular Cortex and left Inferior Frontal Gyrus) when observing scenes of suffering; whether it be animal or human suffering.

Further, pictures of animal suffering (in contrast to pictures human suffering) recruited specific brain regions in Vegans and Vegetarians that were not differentially recruited by Omnivores. These were areas which are thought to be associated with higher-order representations of the self and self values (e.g. medial Prefrontal Cortex).

In addition to generally higher activations in the above mentioned areas, a second main finding of this study is that there are certain brain areas which only Vegetarians and Vegans seem to activate when processing pictures of suffering. In particular, when viewing pictures of human suffering, Vegetarians in this study recruited additional brain areas thought to be associated with bodily representations that distinguish self from others. (Notably these areas were particularly active when mutilations were shown).

The results of the study can be found here on PLoS ONE .

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