Perspective taking modulates event-related potentials to perceived pain.
Recent event-related brain potential (ERP) study disentangled an early automatic component and a late top-down controlled component of neural activities to perceived pain of others. This study assessed the hypothesis that perspective taking modulates the top-down controlled component but not the automatic component of empathy for pain by recording ERPs from 24 subjects who performed pain judgments of pictures of hands in painful or non-painful situations from either self-perspective or other-perspective. We found that, relative to non-painful stimuli, painful stimuli induced positive shifts of ERPs at frontal-central electrodes as early as 160 ms after sensory stimulation and this effect lasted until 700 ms. The amplitudes of ERPs at 230-250 ms elicited by painful stimuli negatively correlated with both subjective ratings of others' pain and self-unpleasantness in both self-perspective and other-perspective conditions. Neural response to perceived pain over the central-parietal area was significantly reduced at 370-420 ms when performing the pain judgment task from other-perspective compared to self-perspective. The results suggest that shifting between self-perspectives and other-perspectives modulates the late controlled component but not the early automatic component of neural responses to perceived pain.
Li
Wei
W
Department of Psychology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, PR China.
Han
Shihui
S
D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult