Publisher Correction: Neural measures of the role of affective prosody in empathy for pain

Difficulties in social communication in individuals with Klinefelter syndrome (XXY chromosomal pattern) have largely been attributed to deficits in left hemisphere-mediated, language functions. This study examined the ability of XXY men to decode emotions from tone of voice, a pragmatic aspect of social communication that may be associated with right hemisphere functioning. A total of 26 XXY men and 20 men from the general population completed tasks involving emotion discrimination in speech, based on verbal content or tone of voice. The XXY group displayed relative difficulties in discriminating emotions in tone of voice, and, to a lesser extend, in verbal content. This finding suggests that the XXY chromosomal pattern may not only be associated with difficulties in semantic aspects of language, but with prosodic aspects, as well. Our findings may contribute to the development of more comprehensive models addressing the role of the X chromosome in normal and abnormal development of social communication. (JINS, 2007, 13, 1065–1070.)

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Neural responses in the pain matrix when observing pain of others are unaffected by testosterone administration

10.1101/245001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah J. Heany ◽

David Terburg ◽

Dan J. Stein ◽

Jack van Honk ◽

Peter A. Bos

Keyword(s):

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Affective Empathy ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Pain Matrix ◽

Activation Patterns ◽

Empathy For Pain ◽

Testosterone Administration ◽

Insight Into

ABSTRACTThere is evidence of testosterone having deteriorating effects on cognitive and affective empathy. However, whether testosterone influences core affective empathy, that is empathy for pain, has not yet been investigated. Therefore, we tested neural responses to witnessing others in pain in a within-subject placebo controlled testosterone administration study. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we provide affirming evidence that the empathy inducing paradigm causes changes in the activity throughout the pain circuitry, including the bilateral insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Administration of testosterone however did not influence these activation patterns in the pain matrix. Testosterone has thus downregulating effects on aspects of empathic behaviour, but based on these data does not seem to influence neural responses during core empathy for pain. This finding gives more insight into the role of testosterone in human empathy.

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Does the cowl make the monk? The effect of military and Red Cross uniforms on empathy for pain, sense of agency and moral behaviors

10.31234/osf.io/w54nt ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emilie A. Caspar ◽

Guillaume Pech

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processes ◽

Sense Of Agency ◽

Red Cross ◽

Psychological Processes ◽

Free Condition ◽

Electric Shocks ◽

Empathy For Pain ◽

Military Uniform ◽

The Impact

The present study investigated to what extent the clothes we wear influence prosocial behaviors and two related neuro-cognitive processes, namely the sense of agency and empathy for pain. We tested forty participants wearing civilian, military and Red Cross uniforms across three consecutive days. Participants were tested by pairs and were assigned either to the role of the agent or to the role of the ‘victim’. Agents could deliver real electric shocks to the ‘victim’ in exchange for +€0.05, either following their own decision or following the experimenter’s instructions. Our results indicated that wearing a Red Cross uniform increased the amplitude of the neural response to pain when participants witnessed shocks in comparison with wearing civilian or military clothing. Results also revealed that the sense of agency increased when participants wore a military uniform compared to wearing their own civilian clothing in the Free condition. Finally, participants gave less shocks when wearing the Red Cross uniform compared to wearing their civilian clothing. This study highlights the effect of wearing symbolic uniforms on the sense of agency, on the neural empathic response and on prosocial behavior, thus broadening our knowledge on the impact of ‘enclothed cognition’ on cognitive and psychological processes.

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The effect of being imitated on empathy for pain in adults with high-functioning autism: Disturbed self–other distinction leads to altered empathic responding

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361317701268 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 712-727 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Lize De Coster ◽

Jan R Wiersema ◽

Eliane Deschrijver ◽

Marcel Brass

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

High Functioning Autism ◽

Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

High Functioning ◽

Empathy For Pain ◽

Relationship Of ◽

Motor Representations

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is associated with problems in empathy. Recent research suggests that impaired control over self–other overlap based on motor representations in individuals with autism spectrum disorder might underlie these difficulties. In order to investigate the relationship of self–other distinction and empathy for pain in high-functioning autism and matched controls, we manipulated self–other distinction by using a paradigm in which participants are either imitated or not by a hand on a computer screen. A strong pain stimulus is then inflicted on the observed hand. Behavioral and physiological results in this study showed that overall affective responses while watching pain movies were the same in adults with high-functioning autism as in controls. Furthermore, controls showed higher affective responding after being imitated during the whole experiment, replicating previous studies. Adults with high-functioning autism, however, showed increased empathic responses over time after being imitated. Further exploratory analyses suggested that while affective responding was initially lower after being imitated compared to not being imitated, affective responding in the latter part of the experiment was higher after being imitated. These results shed new light on empathic abilities in high-functioning autism and on the role of control over self–other representational sharing.

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The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-017-03627-7 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Pavel Goldstein ◽

Irit Weissman-Fogel ◽

Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory

Keyword(s):

Empathy For Pain

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The role of observer’s fear of pain and health anxiety in empathy for pain: an experimental study

British Journal of Pain ◽

10.1177/2049463719842595 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 74-81

Author(s):

Danijela Serbic ◽

Lucy Ferguson ◽

Georgina Nichols ◽

Michaela Smith ◽

Georgina Thomas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Regression Model ◽

Health Anxiety ◽

Empathic Concern ◽

Future Research ◽

Fear Of Pain ◽

Affective Distress ◽

Empathy For Pain ◽

Males And Females

Introduction: Empathy for pain is influenced by several factors, including observer beliefs. This study aimed to test the associations between empathy for pain, fear of pain and health anxiety. Methods: A total of 182 participants rated their levels of empathy towards 16 images (8 female and 8 male) of individuals in pain and provided measures of fear of pain, health anxiety as well as age, sex and the presence of current pain. Findings: Both fear of pain and health anxiety were positively associated with empathy for pain, but in the regression model, only fear of pain was a significant positive predictor of overall empathy for pain and its three subscales: affective distress, vicarious pain and empathic concern. The presence of pain also predicted overall empathy for pain, affective distress and vicarious pain. Observer’s sex and age were not significant. The pattern of results remained the same when we repeated the analysis separately for images with males and females. Conclusion: The results suggest that more fearful observers, and those in current pain themselves, have higher levels of empathy for pain. Future research should examine the mechanisms underlying this relationship and how fear of pain may influence empathic behaviours towards people in pain.

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The Role of Anterior Insula and Anterior Cingulate in Empathy for Pain

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00487.2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 104 (2) ◽

pp. 584-586 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Elia Valentini

Keyword(s):

Mental Representation ◽

Anterior Insula ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Emotional States ◽

Direct Involvement ◽

Neural Substrate ◽

Empathy For Pain ◽

First Time ◽

Differential Contribution

The understanding of others' feelings and emotional states is commonly defined by the term empathy. Here, I discuss recent findings regarding the differential contribution of anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortices to this function. For the first time, Gu and colleagues (2010) showed no direct involvement of the anterior cingulate during observation of another's pain and proposed the anterior insula as the main neural substrate for the mental representation of empathy.

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