Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg 97080, Germany
Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making (CREED), Amsterdam School of Economics, and Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1001, The Netherlands.
Proc Biol Sci. 2018 Sep 26;285(1887):20180501. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0501.
Pain feels different in different social contexts, yet the mechanisms behind social pain modulation remain poorly understood. To elucidate the impact of social context on pain processing, we investigated how group membership, one of the most important social context factors, shapes pain relief behaviourally and neurally in humans undergoing functional neuroimaging. Participants repeatedly received pain relief from a member of their own group (ingroup treatment) or a member of a disliked outgroup (outgroup treatment). We observed a decrease in pain ratings and anterior insula (AI) pain responses after outgroup treatment, but not after ingroup treatment. Moreover, path analyses revealed that the outgroup treatment induced a stronger relief learning in the AI, which in turn altered pain processing, in particular if the participant entered the treatment with a negative impression toward the outgroup individual. The finding of enhanced analgesia after outgroup treatment is relevant for intergroup clinical settings. More generally, we found that group membership affects pain responses through neural learning and we thus elucidate one possible mechanism through which social context impacts pain processing.
不同的社会环境会让人产生不同的痛感，但社会环境影响痛感的调节机制仍未被很好地理解。为了阐明社会环境对疼痛处理的影响，我们在进行功能神经影像学研究时，调查了群体归属（最重要的社会环境因素之一）如何在行为和神经水平上影响人类的疼痛缓解。参与者反复接受自己群体成员（同组治疗）或不受欢迎的外群体成员（外组治疗）的疼痛缓解。我们观察到，在外组治疗后，疼痛评分和前岛叶（AI）的疼痛反应下降，但在同组治疗后没有下降。此外，路径分析显示，外组治疗在 AI 中引起了更强的缓解学习，进而改变了疼痛处理，特别是如果参与者对该外组个体有负面印象进入治疗。外组治疗后镇痛增强的发现与群体间临床环境有关。更广泛地说，我们发现群体归属通过神经学习影响疼痛反应，因此阐明了社会环境影响疼痛处理的一种可能机制。
