Scientific work suggests that levels of empathy are partially accountable according to genes. Certainly, some adrenergic receptors are known to be in play when people are exhibiting empathetic behaviours. When people are shown emotionally charged images in research programmes, these receptors tend to be more active in more empathetic people. Although these receptors are known to have some genetic link, the exact nature of it is still not established. As such, you might inherit your empathetic persona from your parents, or you might develop your receptors by simply being more empathetic. Today, more work is ongoing into so-called mirror neurons in the brain. These are also more active among empathetic people but, again, any direct link to genes is not yet fully understood. What is known, however, is that empathetic understanding is tied to brain function because people with certain types of neural trauma tend to exhibit less empathy than others.