Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Georg-Elias-Mueller Institute of Psychology, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen 37073, Germany Department of Cognitive Neurology, MR Research in Neurology and Psychiatry, Georg-August University of Goettingen, UMG, Goettingen 37073, Germany.
Pain. 2013 Mar;154(3):411-418. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2012.11.014. Epub 2012 Dec 5.
Neuroimaging studies have revealed partially shared neural substrates for both the actual experience of pain and empathy elicited by the pain of others. We examined whether prior pain exposure increased neural activity in the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and bilateral anterior insula (AI) as a correlate of empathy for pain. Participants (N=64: 32 women, 32 men) viewed pictures displaying exposure to pressure pain (pain pictures) and pictures without any cue of pain (neutral pictures). Prior to the experiment, half of the participants were exposed to the same pain stimulus as the one seen in the pain pictures (pain exposure condition); the other half had no such experience (touch exposure condition). A balanced sex ratio was kept, to investigate possible sex differences. In the region-of-interest analyses, participants of the pain exposure condition showed decreased activity in the right AI and the aMCC relative to participants of the touch exposure condition. While in men, no differences were found in relation to their exposure condition, women with pain exposure showed decreased activity in the aMCC and additionally, in bilateral AI. Based on the entire sample, whole brain analyses revealed stronger activation in the retrosplenial cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex in the pain exposure condition. In conclusion, prior pain exposure did not increase, but decreased activity in regions regularly associated with empathy for pain. However, pain experience increased activity in regions associated with memory retrieval, perspective taking, and top-down emotion regulation, which might facilitate empathizing with others.
神经影像学研究表明，人们在实际体验疼痛和对他人疼痛产生共鸣时，大脑中存在部分重叠的神经基础。我们研究了先前的疼痛体验是否会增加前扣带回中部（aMCC）和双侧前岛叶（AI）的神经活动，作为对疼痛共鸣的一种相关指标。参与者（N=64：32 名女性，32 名男性）观看了展示压力疼痛（疼痛图片）和没有任何疼痛提示的图片（中性图片）。在实验之前，一半的参与者经历了与疼痛图片中相同的疼痛刺激（疼痛暴露条件）；另一半则没有这种经历（触摸暴露条件）。保持平衡的性别比例，以研究可能存在的性别差异。在感兴趣区域分析中，与触摸暴露条件相比，疼痛暴露条件下的参与者右 AI 和 aMCC 的活动减少。而在男性中，没有发现与暴露条件相关的差异，但是经历过疼痛暴露的女性 aMCC 和双侧 AI 的活动减少。基于整个样本，全脑分析显示在疼痛暴露条件下，后扣带回、背内侧前额叶皮质和内侧前额叶皮质的激活更强。总之，先前的疼痛体验并没有增加，而是减少了与疼痛共鸣相关的区域的活动。然而，疼痛体验增加了与记忆检索、视角转换和自上而下的情绪调节相关的区域的活动，这可能有助于对他人产生共鸣。
