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arXiv · 2509.06620

BEAM: Brainwave Empathy Assessment Model for Early Childhood

Chen Xie·Gaofeng Wu·Kaidong Wang·Zihao Zhu·Xiaoshu Luo·Yan Liang·Feiyu Quan·Ruoxi Wu·Xianghui Huang·Han Zhang
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Abstract

Empathy in young children is crucial for their social and emotional development, yet predicting it remains challenging. Traditional methods often only rely on self-reports or observer-based labeling, which are susceptible to bias and fail to objectively capture the process of empathy formation. EEG offers an objective alternative; however, current approaches primarily extract static patterns, neglecting temporal dynamics. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel deep learning framework, the Brainwave Empathy Assessment Model (BEAM), to predict empathy levels in children aged 4-6 years. BEAM leverages multi-view EEG signals to capture both cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy. The framework comprises three key components: 1) a LaBraM-based encoder for effective spatio-temporal feature extraction, 2) a feature fusion module to integrate complementary information from multi-view signals, and 3) a contrastive learning module to enhance class separation. Validated on the CBCP dataset, BEAM outperforms state-of-the-art methods across multiple metrics, demonstrating its potential for objective empathy assessment and providing a preliminary insight into early interventions in children's prosocial development.

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Chen Xie, Gaofeng Wu, Kaidong Wang, Zihao Zhu, Xiaoshu Luo, Yan Liang, Feiyu Quan, Ruoxi Wu, Xianghui Huang, Han Zhang. 2025-09-08. BEAM: Brainwave Empathy Assessment Model for Early Childhood. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.06620

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