Cao Yuan, Contreras-Huerta Luis Sebastian, McFadyen Jessica, Cunnington Ross
Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, QLD, 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Queensland, QLD, 4072, Australia.
Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, QLD, 4072, Australia; Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (LaNCyS), UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile; Centre for the Study of Argumentation and Reasoning, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile.
Cortex. 2015 Sep;70:68-78. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.02.010. Epub 2015 Mar 4.
Observing the pain of others has been shown to elicit greater activation in sensory and emotional areas of the brain suggested to represent a neural marker of empathy. This modulation of brain responses to others' pain is dependent on the race of the observed person, such that observing own-race people in pain is associated with greater activity in the anterior cingulate and bilateral insula cortices compared to other-race people. Importantly, it is not known how this racial bias to pain in other-race individuals might change over time in new immigrants or might depend on the level and quality of contact with people of the other-race. We investigated these issues by recruiting Chinese students who had first arrived in Australia within the past 6 months to 5 years and assessing their level of contact with other races across different social contexts using comprehensive rating scales. During fMRI, participants observed videos of own-race/other-race individuals, as well as own-group/other-group individuals, receiving painful or non-painful touch. The typical racial bias in neural responses to observed pain was evident, whereby activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was greater for pain in own-race compared to other-race people. Crucially, activation in the anterior cingulate to pain in other races increased significantly with the level of contact participants reported with people of the other race. Importantly, this correlation did not depend on the closeness of contact or personal relationships, but simply on the overall level of experience with people of the other race in their every-day environment. Racial bias in neural responses to others' pain, as a neural marker of empathy, therefore changes with experience in new immigrants at least within 5 years of arrival in the new society and, crucially, depends on the level of contact with people of the other race in every-day life contexts.
观察他人的痛苦已被证明会在大脑的感觉和情感区域引发更强的激活，这被认为是共情的一种神经标记。大脑对他人痛苦反应的这种调节取决于被观察对象的种族，与观察其他种族的人相比，观察同种族的人处于痛苦中时，前扣带回和双侧脑岛皮质的活动更强。重要的是，尚不清楚这种对其他种族个体痛苦的种族偏见在新移民中会如何随时间变化，或者是否取决于与其他种族人群接触的程度和质量。我们通过招募在过去6个月至5年内首次抵达澳大利亚的中国学生，并使用综合评分量表评估他们在不同社会背景下与其他种族的接触程度，来研究这些问题。在功能磁共振成像（fMRI）过程中，参与者观看同种族/其他种族个体以及同群体/其他群体个体接受疼痛或非疼痛触摸的视频。对观察到的痛苦的神经反应中典型的种族偏见很明显，即与观察其他种族的人相比，前扣带回皮质（ACC）对同种族人的痛苦激活更强。至关重要的是，前扣带回对其他种族痛苦的激活随着参与者报告的与其他种族人群的接触程度显著增加。重要的是，这种相关性并不取决于接触的亲密程度或个人关系，而仅仅取决于他们在日常环境中与其他种族人群的总体接触体验水平。因此，作为共情的一种神经标记，对他人痛苦的神经反应中的种族偏见会随着新移民在抵达新社会至少5年内的经历而变化，而且至关重要的是，这取决于他们在日常生活背景下与其他种族人群的接触程度。
