Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Neuropsychologia. 2018 Jul 31;116(Pt A):5-14. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.023. Epub 2017 Apr 21.
Accumulating evidence suggests that empathy for pain recruits similar neural processes as the first-hand experience of pain. The pain-related P2, an event-related potential component, has been suggested as a reliable indicator of neural processes associated with first-hand pain. Recent evidence indicates that placebo analgesia modulates this component for both first-hand pain and empathy for pain. Moreover, a psychopharmacological study showed that administration of an opioid antagonist blocked the effects of placebo analgesia on self-report of both first-hand pain and empathy for pain. Together, these findings suggest that the opioid system plays a similar role during first-hand pain and empathy for pain. However, such a conclusion requires evidence showing that neural activity during both experiences is similarly affected by psychopharmacological blockage of opioid receptors. Here, we measured pain-related P2 amplitudes and self-report in a group of participants who first underwent a placebo analgesia induction procedure. Then, they received an opioid receptor antagonist known to block the previously induced analgesic effects. Self-report showed that blocking opioid receptors after the induction of placebo analgesia increased both first-hand pain and empathy for pain, replicating previous findings. Importantly, P2 amplitudes were also increased during both experiences. Thus, the present findings extend models proposing that empathy for pain is partially grounded in first-hand pain by suggesting that this also applies to the underlying opioidergic neurochemical processes.
越来越多的证据表明,对疼痛的同理心与第一手疼痛体验调动了类似的神经过程。疼痛相关的 P2,一种事件相关电位成分,被认为是与第一手疼痛相关的神经过程的可靠指标。最近的证据表明,安慰剂镇痛调节了这一成分,无论是第一手疼痛还是同理心疼痛。此外,一项精神药理学研究表明,给予阿片受体拮抗剂阻断了安慰剂镇痛对第一手疼痛和同理心疼痛自我报告的影响。这些发现共同表明,阿片系统在第一手疼痛和同理心疼痛中发挥着类似的作用。然而,这样的结论需要有证据表明,两种体验的神经活动都受到阿片受体阻断的精神药理学阻断的类似影响。在这里,我们测量了一组参与者在经历安慰剂镇痛诱导程序后的疼痛相关 P2 幅度和自我报告。然后,他们接受了一种已知能阻断先前诱导的镇痛作用的阿片受体拮抗剂。自我报告显示,在诱导安慰剂镇痛后阻断阿片受体增加了第一手疼痛和同理心疼痛,这与先前的发现一致。重要的是,两种体验的 P2 幅度也都增加了。因此,目前的研究结果扩展了提出同理心疼痛部分基于第一手疼痛的模型,表明这也适用于潜在的阿片类神经化学过程。
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