title: Increased Pain Communication following Multiple Group Memberships Salience Leads to a Relative Reduction in Pain-Related Brain Activity.
abstract: Pain is a fundamental human experience that triggers a range of social and psychological responses. In this study, we present behavioral and fMRI data to examine the effect of multiple group memberships salience on reported and neural indices of pain. We found that participants expressed higher levels of pain when more social group memberships were salient. This is consistent with the notion that pain itself motivates people to communicate their pain, and more so when multiple psychological resources are salient. In addition, fMRI results reveal an interesting twist: when participants increased their pain reporting as group memberships increased (from one group to four), there was a corresponding relative reduction in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula activation. These results provide evidence for an adaptive response to pain: the more people make use of the social resources at their disposal when experiencing pain, the less pain areas are activated.
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2127-1825
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Ferris
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Jolanda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jetten
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Molenberghs
authors.affiliation: University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Brock
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bastian
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Fika
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Karnadewi