title: Decreased Empathic Responses to the 'Lucky Guy' in Love: The Effect of Intrasexual Competition.
abstract: People have a greater desire to date highly attractive partners, which induces intrasexual competition between same-sex individuals. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore whether and how intrasexual competition modulates pain empathy for a same-sex rival and the underlying neural mechanism. Participants were scanned while processing the pain of a same-sex 'lucky guy' who had an attractive partner and one with a plain partner. The results revealed that participants reported lower pain intensity for the lucky guy. Neurally, reduced pain-related activations in anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex and increased activations in right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and medial prefrontal gyrus (MPFC) were found for the lucky guy compared to the one with a plain partner. Right SFG and MPFC activations could predict participants' subsequent pain intensity ratings for the lucky guy. These findings suggest intrasexual competition can modulate normal empathic responses.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Fangxiao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Chunli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Department of Physics, East China Normal University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jialin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Department of Physics, East China Normal University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qianfeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal UniversityShanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal UniversityShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiuyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
keywords: AI; MPFC; aMCC; fMRI; intrasexual competition; pain empathy