title: Empathy for social exclusion involves the sensory-discriminative component of pain: a within-subject fMRI study.
abstract: Recent research has shown that experiencing events that represent a significant threat to social bonds activates a network of brain areas associated with the sensory-discriminative aspects of pain. In the present study, we investigated whether the same brain areas are involved when witnessing social exclusion threats experienced by others. Using a within-subject design, we show that an ecologically valid experience of social exclusion recruits areas coding the somatosensory components of physical pain (posterior insular cortex and secondary somatosensory cortex). Furthermore, we show that this pattern of activation not only holds for directly experienced social pain, but also during empathy for social pain. Finally, we report that subgenual cingulate cortex is the only brain area conjointly active during empathy for physical and social pain. This supports recent theories that affective processing and homeostatic regulation are at the core of empathic responses.
authors.affiliation: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Neuroscience Sector, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Novembre
authors.affiliation: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Neuroscience Sector, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zanon
authors.affiliation: Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Neuroscience Sector, Trieste, Italy gsilani@sissa.it.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Silani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D058748:Pain Perception; D017288:Pain Threshold; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012677:Sensation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: empathy; fMRI; physical pain; social exclusion; somatosensory cortex