DOCSLIB.ORG

Pain Generated by Observation of Others in Pain

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Pain Generated by Observation of Others in Pain PAIN GENERATED BY OBSERVATION OF OTHERS IN PAIN BY JODY OSBORN A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Psychology University of Birmingham May 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Mr Grenville Green for funding the project and giving me this opportunity. Thank you so much to Dr. Stuart Derbyshire for giving me a chance as well as the support and guidance throughout my PhD. A million thanks to some great friends who helped me so much during my PhD; Alex, Fran, Nina, Christine, Noreen, Emma, Ben and Helen. Nicola, you have been the greatest. I don‘t know what I would have done without you! Abstract Recently, observation of pain has been linked to areas of the brain coding the sensory/discriminative aspects of pain (Avenanti et al., 2005; Avenanti et al., 2006). The experiential qualities associated with observing another in pain are poorly understood. In this thesis, we demonstrate that pain generated by observation of others in pain is reported by a significant minority of healthy individuals. The pain reported is mild, transient and occurs in the same location as the observed pain. Ten pain responders were matched with ten non-responders to take part in an fMRI study observing others in pain. Responders activated emotional and sensory brain regions associated with pain while the non- responders activated very little. Reports of pain were more likely to be accompanied by a pain memory. Pain responders are quicker to represent the perspective of others and have a more flexible sense of body ownership but are not more likely to report somatic symptoms during incongruent sensori-motor feedback. These findings provide convincing evidence that some people can readily experience pain during observation of others‘ pain. It is plausible that the mechanism underpinning pain reports evoked by observation of pain is not specific to pain processing per se. CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Models of Pain ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Specificity Theory ............................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Brain regions implicated in affect and sensory aspects pain ..................................................... 6 1.4 Functional Pain .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.4.1 Prevalence of functional pain.............................................................................................. 7 1.4.2 The problem of functional pain........................................................................................... 8 1.4.3 Functional Pain and mental health ...................................................................................... 9 1.5 Bridging the gap between psychological and physical pain .................................................... 10 1.6 Generating pain sensation without external noxious stimuli ................................................... 11 1.6.1 Sensori—motor conflict .................................................................................................... 11 1.7. Acute Pain Symptoms with no obvious cause ........................................................................ 15 1.7.1 Mass Psychogenic Illness ................................................................................................. 15 1.8 Shared somatic experiences ..................................................................................................... 17 1.8.1 The development of somatic symptoms ........................................................................... 17 1.8.2 Affect and symptom reporting .......................................................................................... 18 1.9 Response expectancy and pain without injury ........................................................................ 19 1.10 Affect and observation of others in pain ............................................................................... 20 1.10.1 Embodied simulation ...................................................................................................... 20 1.11 Sensations and observing other in pain ................................................................................. 21 1.12 Touch Synaesthesia ............................................................................................................... 22 1.12.1 Synaesthesia and Pain ..................................................................................................... 23 1.13 Case studies of pain in the absence of injury ........................................................................ 25 1.13.1 Pain Flashbacks ............................................................................................................... 25 1.13.2 Watching another in pain generates pain sensation ........................................................ 26 1.14 Thesis Summary .................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER TWO: PAIN SENSATION GENERATED BY OBSERVATION OF OTHERS IN PAIN ......................................................................................................................................... 28 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 28 2.2 Method ..................................................................................................................................... 30 2.2.1 Participants ........................................................................................................................ 30 2.2.3 Procedure .......................................................................................................................... 34 2.2.3.1 Visual Analogue Scales .............................................................................................. 34 2.2.3.3 The short version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (Melzack, 1987) ...................... 35 2.3 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 35 2.3.1 Pain Reports ...................................................................................................................... 35 2.3.2 Somatisation ...................................................................................................................... 37 2.4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 38 2.5 Experiment Two ...................................................................................................................... 43 2.6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 43 2.6.1 Pain Judgements ............................................................................................................... 43 2.6.2 Memory for painful events and observation of pain ......................................................... 45 2.7 Method ..................................................................................................................................... 46 2.7.1 Design ............................................................................................................................... 46 2.7.2 Participants ........................................................................................................................ 46 2.7.3 Procedure .......................................................................................................................... 47 2.8 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 47 2.8.1 Pain Judgments ................................................................................................................. 48 2.8.2 Response Expectancy........................................................................................................ 50 2.8.3 Pain Memories .................................................................................................................. 50 2.9 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 51 2.9.1 Empathy and Pain Judgements ........................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Emerging Infectious Outbreak Inhibits Pain Empathy Mediated Prosocial
    ***THIS IS A WORKING PAPER THAT HAS NOT BEEN PEER-REVIEWED*** Emerging infectious outbreak inhibits pain empathy mediated prosocial behaviour Siqi Cao1,2, Yanyan Qi3, Qi Huang4, Yuanchen Wang5, Xinchen Han6, Xun Liu1,2*, Haiyan Wu1,2* 1CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China 2Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 3Department of Psychology, School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China 4College of Education and Science, Henan University, Kaifeng, China 5Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States 6School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Corresponding author Please address correspondence to Xun Liu ([email protected]) or Haiyan Wu ([email protected]) Disclaimer: This is preliminary scientific work that has not been peer reviewed and requires replication. We share it here to inform other scientists conducting research on this topic, but the reported findings should not be used as a basis for policy or practice. 1 Abstract People differ in experienced anxiety, empathy, and prosocial willingness during the coronavirus outbreak. Although increased empathy has been associated with prosocial behaviour, little is known about how does the pandemic change people’s empathy and prosocial willingness. We conducted a study with 1,190 participants before (N=520) and after (N=570) the COVID-19 outbreak, with measures of empathy trait, pain empathy and prosocial willingness. Here we show that the prosocial willingness decreased significantly during the COVID-19 outbreak, in accordance with compassion fatigue theory. Trait empathy could affect the prosocial willingness through empathy level.
    [Show full text]
  • The Neural Pathways, Development and Functions of Empathy
    EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH ON CHARITABLE GIVING SPI FUNDED The Neural Pathways, Development and Functions of Empathy Jean Decety University of Chicago Working Paper No.: 125- SPI April 2015 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect The neural pathways, development and functions of empathy Jean Decety Empathy reflects an innate ability to perceive and be sensitive to and relative intensity without confusion between self and the emotional states of others coupled with a motivation to care other; secondly, empathic concern, which corresponds to for their wellbeing. It has evolved in the context of parental care the motivation to caring for another’s welfare; and thirdly, for offspring as well as within kinship. Current work perspective taking (or cognitive empathy), the ability to demonstrates that empathy is underpinned by circuits consciously put oneself into the mind of another and connecting the brainstem, amygdala, basal ganglia, anterior understand what that person is thinking or feeling. cingulate cortex, insula and orbitofrontal cortex, which are conserved across many species. Empirical studies document Proximate mechanisms of empathy that empathetic reactions emerge early in life, and that they are Each of these emotional, motivational, and cognitive not automatic. Rather they are heavily influenced and modulated facets of empathy relies on specific mechanisms, which by interpersonal and contextual factors, which impact behavior reflect evolved abilities of humans and their ancestors to and cognitions. However, the mechanisms supporting empathy detect and respond to social signals necessary for surviv- are also flexible and amenable to behavioral interventions that ing, reproducing, and maintaining well-being. While it is can promote caring beyond kin and kith.
    [Show full text]
  • The Neural Components of Empathy: Predicting Daily Prosocial Behavior
    doi:10.1093/scan/nss088 SCAN (2014) 9,39^ 47 The neural components of empathy: Predicting daily prosocial behavior Sylvia A. Morelli, Lian T. Rameson, and Matthew D. Lieberman Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563 Previous neuroimaging studies on empathy have not clearly identified neural systems that support the three components of empathy: affective con- gruence, perspective-taking, and prosocial motivation. These limitations stem from a focus on a single emotion per study, minimal variation in amount of social context provided, and lack of prosocial motivation assessment. In the current investigation, 32 participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session assessing empathic responses to individuals experiencing painful, anxious, and happy events that varied in valence and amount of social context provided. They also completed a 14-day experience sampling survey that assessed real-world helping behaviors. The results demonstrate that empathy for positive and negative emotions selectively activates regions associated with positive and negative affect, respectively. Downloaded from In addition, the mirror system was more active during empathy for context-independent events (pain), whereas the mentalizing system was more active during empathy for context-dependent events (anxiety, happiness). Finally, the septal area, previously linked to prosocial motivation, was the only region that was commonly activated across empathy for pain, anxiety, and happiness. Septal activity during each of these empathic experiences was predictive of daily helping. These findings suggest that empathy has multiple input pathways, produces affect-congruent activations, and results in septally mediated prosocial motivation. http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/ Keywords: empathy; prosocial behavior; septal area INTRODUCTION neuroimaging studies of empathy, 30 focused on empathy for pain Human beings are intensely social creatures who have a need to belong (Fan et al., 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • Anterior Insular Cortex and Emotional Awareness
    REVIEW Anterior Insular Cortex and Emotional Awareness Xiaosi Gu,1,2* Patrick R. Hof,3,4 Karl J. Friston,1 and Jin Fan3,4,5,6 1Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom WC1N 3BG 2Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia 24011 3Fishberg Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029 4Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029 5Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York 10029 6Department of Psychology, Queens College, The City University of New York, Flushing, New York 11367 ABSTRACT dissociable from ACC, 3) AIC integrates stimulus-driven This paper reviews the foundation for a role of the and top-down information, and 4) AIC is necessary for human anterior insular cortex (AIC) in emotional aware- emotional awareness. We propose a model in which ness, defined as the conscious experience of emotions. AIC serves two major functions: integrating bottom-up We first introduce the neuroanatomical features of AIC interoceptive signals with top-down predictions to gen- and existing findings on emotional awareness. Using erate a current awareness state and providing descend- empathy, the awareness and understanding of other ing predictions to visceral systems that provide a point people’s emotional states, as a test case, we then pres- of reference for autonomic reflexes. We argue that AIC ent evidence to demonstrate: 1) AIC and anterior cingu- is critical and necessary for emotional awareness. J. late cortex (ACC) are commonly coactivated as Comp.
    [Show full text]
  • Empathy and Its Impact on Pain Perception and Altruistic Motivation
    Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations Winter 1-2018 The Empathy Mitigation: Empathy and its Impact on Pain Perception and Altruistic Motivation Amanda Daly [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd Part of the Cognition and Perception Commons, and the Pain Management Commons Recommended Citation Daly, Amanda, "The Empathy Mitigation: Empathy and its Impact on Pain Perception and Altruistic Motivation" (2018). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 74. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. ABSTRACT Empathy and its impact on pain perception has been studied narrowly with the focus being on participants receiving empathy during a pain procedure. This study reversed the focus and ran a standard cold pressor test (CPT) in the context of an empathy frame structured to elicit an empathic response for others from participants. It was hypothesized that the group receiving the empathic frame would have longer CPT times due to alterations in pain perception from empathy activation and these subjects’ self- reported state-trait empathy level would positively correlate with the increased times. A total of 85 subjects participated with a control group of 43 and an experimental group of 42. State-trait empathy did not correlate with elongated CPT times, but between group CPT times were compared using an independent-samples t-test and it was found that the notably longer experimental group CPT times were statistically significant (P < .05).
    [Show full text]
  • Decreased Empathy Response to Other People's Pain in Bipolar
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Decreased empathy response to other people’s pain in bipolar disorder: evidence from an event- Received: 28 June 2016 Accepted: 29 November 2016 related potential study Published: 06 January 2017 Jingyue Yang1,2,3,*, Xinglong Hu3,*, Xiaosi Li3, Lei Zhang1,2,4, Yi Dong3, Xiang Li5, Chunyan Zhu1,2,4, Wen Xie3, Jingjing Mu3, Su Yuan3, Jie Chen3, Fangfang Chen1,2,4, Fengqiong Yu1,2,4,* & Kai Wang6,1,2,4,* Bipolar disorder (BD) patients often demonstrate poor socialization that may stem from a lower capacity for empathy. We examined the associated neurophysiological abnormalities by comparing event-related potentials (ERP) between 30 BD patients in different states and 23 healthy controls (HCs, matched for age, sex, and education) during a pain empathy task. Subjects were presented pictures depicting pain or neutral images and asked to judge whether the person shown felt pain (pain task) and to identify the affected side (laterality task) during ERP recording. Amplitude of pain-empathy related P3 (450–550 ms) of patients versus HCs was reduced in painful but not neutral conditions in occipital areas [(mean (95% confidence interval), BD vs. HCs: 4.260 (2.927, 5.594) vs. 6.396 (4.868, 7.924)] only in pain task. Similarly, P3 (550–650 ms) was reduced in central areas [4.305 (3.029, 5.581) vs. 6.611 (5.149, 8.073)]. Current source density in anterior cingulate cortex differed between pain-depicting and neutral conditions in HCs but not patients. Manic severity was negatively correlated with P3 difference waves (pain – neutral) in frontal and central areas (Pearson r = −0.497, P = 0.005; r = −0.377, P = 0.040).
    [Show full text]
  • An Fmri Study of Affective Perspective Taking in Individuals with Psychopathy: Imagining Another in Pain Does Not Evoke Empathy
    ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE published: 24 September 2013 HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00489 An fMRI study of affective perspective taking in individuals with psychopathy: imagining another in pain does not evoke empathy Jean Decety 1,2*,ChenyiChen1, Carla Harenski 3,4 and Kent A. Kiehl 3,4 1 Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA 2 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA 3 Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA 4 Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM, USA Edited by: While it is well established that individuals with psychopathy have a marked deficit Josef Parvizi, Stanford University, in affective arousal, emotional empathy, and caring for the well-being of others, the USA extent to which perspective taking can elicit an emotional response has not yet been Reviewed by: studied despite its potential application in rehabilitation. In healthy individuals, affective Lucina Q. Uddin, Stanford University, USA perspective taking has proven to be an effective means to elicit empathy and concern Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht, Favaloro for others. To examine neural responses in individuals who vary in psychopathy during University, Argentina affective perspective taking, 121 incarcerated males, classified as high (n = 37; Hare *Correspondence: psychopathy checklist-revised, PCL-R ≥ 30), intermediate (n = 44; PCL-R between 21 and Jean Decety, Department of 29), and low (n = 40; PCL-R ≤ 20) psychopaths, were scanned while viewing stimuli Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral depicting bodily injuries and adopting an imagine-self and an imagine-other perspective. Neuroscience, University of During the imagine-self perspective, participants with high psychopathy showed a typical Chicago, 5848 S.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychopathy and the Effect of Imitation on Empathetic Pain
    Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2017 Psychopathy and the Effect of Imitation on Empathetic Pain Emily N. Lasko Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Biological Psychology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Lasko, Emily N., "Psychopathy and the Effect of Imitation on Empathetic ain"P (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1571. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1571 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PSYCHOPATHY AND THE EFFECT OF IMITATION ON EMPATHETIC PAIN by EMILY LASKO (Under the Direction of Amy Hackney) ABSTRACT Psychopathy is a disorder largely characterized by a marked deficit in empathy, however, the specificity and extent of the deficit is currently unclear. While it has been well-established in the literature that individuals higher in psychopathy tend to have intact Theory of Mind abilities and exhibit a deficient ability for affective empathy (Blair, 2005), the contribution of motor empathy to these abilities, particularly in regard to empathy for pain, has yet to be experimentally examined. Additionally, the possibility of imitation increasing motor empathic abilities has not been tested in this capacity. The goal of the current study was to further explore the role of motor empathy and imitation in empathetic pain within individuals higher in psychopathy by employing a physiological measure in conjunction with self-report measures.
    [Show full text]
  • Vicarious Responses to Pain in Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Is Empathy a Multisensory Issue?
    Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 2004, 4 (2), 270-278 Vicarious responses to pain in anterior cingulate cortex: Is empathy a multisensory issue? INDIA MORRISON University of Wales, Bangor, Wales DONNA LLOYD University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England GIUSEPPE DI PELLEGRINO University of Urbino, Urbino, Italy and NEIL ROBERTS University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England Results obtained with functional magnetic resonance imaging show that both feeling a moderately painful pinprick stimulus to the fingertips and witnessing another person’s hand undergo similar stim- ulation are associated with common activity in a pain-related area in the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Common activity in response to noxious tactile and visual stimulation was restricted to the right inferior Brodmann’s area 24b. These results suggest a shared neural substrate for felt and seen pain for aversive ecological events happening to strangers and in the absence of overt symbolic cues. In contrast to ACC 24b, the primary somatosensory cortex showed significant activations in response to both noxious and innocuous tactile, but not visual, stimuli. The different response patterns in the two areas are consistent with the ACC’s role in coding the motivational-affective dimension of pain, which is associated with the preparation of behavioral responses to aversive events. When once compassion is stirred within me by another’s cognitive processes as moral reasoning. When one reacts pain, then his weal and woe go straight to my heart, exactly to another person’s predicament as if one were in that po- in the same way, if not always to the same degree, as oth- sition oneself, processes are taking place in the brain that erwise I feel only my own.
    [Show full text]
  • Artificial Pain May Induce Empathy, Morality, and Ethics in The
    philosophies Article Artificial Pain May Induce Empathy, Morality, and Ethics in the Conscious Mind of Robots Minoru Asada Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; [email protected] Received: 6 June 2019; Accepted: 8 July 2019; Published: 13 July 2019 Abstract: In this paper, a working hypothesis is proposed that a nervous system for pain sensation is a key component for shaping the conscious minds of robots (artificial systems). In this article, this hypothesis is argued from several viewpoints towards its verification. A developmental process of empathy, morality, and ethics based on the mirror neuron system (MNS) that promotes the emergence of the concept of self (and others) scaffolds the emergence of artificial minds. Firstly, an outline of the ideological background on issues of the mind in a broad sense is shown, followed by the limitation of the current progress of artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on deep learning. Next, artificial pain is introduced, along with its architectures in the early stage of self-inflicted experiences of pain, and later, in the sharing stage of the pain between self and others. Then, cognitive developmental robotics (CDR) is revisited for two important concepts—physical embodiment and social interaction, both of which help to shape conscious minds. Following the working hypothesis, existing studies of CDR are briefly introduced and missing issues are indicated. Finally, the issue of how robots (artificial systems) could be moral agents is addressed. Keywords: pain; empathy; morality; mirror neuron system (MNS) 1. Introduction The rapid progress of observation and measurement technologies in neuroscience and physiology have revealed various types of brain activities, and the recent progress of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies represented by deep learning (DL) methods [1] has been remarkable.
    [Show full text]
  • Empathic Control Through Coordinated Interaction of Amygdala, Theory of Mind and Extended Pain Matrix Brain Regions
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Departmental Papers (ASC) Annenberg School for Communication 7-2015 Empathic Control through Coordinated Interaction of Amygdala, Theory of Mind and Extended Pain Matrix Brain Regions Emile Bruneau University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Nir Jacoby Rebecca Saxe Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers Part of the Biological Psychology Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Communication Commons, Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Bruneau, E., Jacoby, N., & Saxe, R. (2015). Empathic Control through Coordinated Interaction of Amygdala, Theory of Mind and Extended Pain Matrix Brain Regions. NeuroImage, 114 105-119. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.04.034 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/568 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Empathic Control through Coordinated Interaction of Amygdala, Theory of Mind and Extended Pain Matrix Brain Regions Abstract Brain regions in the “pain matrix”, can be activated by observing or reading about others in physical pain. In previous research, we found that reading stories about others' emotional suffering, by contrast, recruits a different group of brain regions mostly associated with thinking about others' minds. In the current study, we examined the neural circuits responsible for deliberately regulating empathic responses to others' pain and suffering. In Study 1, a sample of college-aged participants (n = 18) read stories about physically painful and emotionally distressing events during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while either actively empathizing with the main character or trying to remain objective.
    [Show full text]
  • Expressive Suppression to Pain in Others Reduces Negative Emotion but Not Vicarious Pain in the Observer
    Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-021-00873-1 Expressive suppression to pain in others reduces negative emotion but not vicarious pain in the observer Steven R. Anderson1 & Wenxin Li2 & Shihui Han2 & Elizabeth A. Reynolds Losin1 Accepted: 31 January 2021 # The Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2021 Abstract Although there are situations where it may be appropriate to reduce one’s emotional response to the pain of others, the impact of an observer’s emotional expressivity on their response to pain in others is still not well understood. In the present study, we examined how the emotion regulation strategy expressive suppression influences responses to pain in others. Based on prior research findings on expressive suppression and pain empathy, we hypothesized that expressive suppression to pain expression faces would reduce neural representations of negative emotion, vicarious pain, or both. To test this, we applied two multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA)-derived neural signatures to our data, the Picture Induced Negative Emotion Signature (PINES; Chang, Gianaros, Manuck, Krishnan, and Wager (2015)) and a neural signature of facial expression induced vicarious pain (Zhou et al., 2020). In a sample of 60 healthy individuals, we found that viewing pain expression faces increased neural representations of negative emotion and vicarious pain. However, expressive suppression to pain faces reduced neural representations of negative emotion only. Providing support for a connection between neural representations of negative emotion and pain empathy, PINES responses to pain faces were associated with participants’ trait-level empathy and the perceived unpleasantness of pain faces. Findings suggest that a consequence of suppressing one’s facial expressions in response to the pain of others may be a reduction in the affective aspect of empathy but not the experience of vicarious pain itself.
    [Show full text]