MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
School of Management, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2021 Apr 1;42(5):1518-1531. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25310. Epub 2020 Dec 7.
Recent studies have suggested that the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) may be involved in pain-related empathy. To verify the role of the rIFG, we performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment to replicate previous research and further designed a noninvasive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) experiment to probe the causal role of the rIFG in pain-related empathy processing. We assigned 74 volunteers (37 females) to three groups. Group 1 (n = 26) performed a task in which participants were required to perceive pain in others (task of pain: TP) and we used fMRI to observe the activity of the rIFG during pain-related empathy processing. Then, we applied online rTMS to the rIFG and the vertex site (as reference site) to observe the performance of Group 2 (n = 24; performing TP) and Group 3 (n = 24; performing a control task of identifying body parts; task of body: TB). fMRI experiment demonstrated stronger activation in the rIFG than in the vertex during the perception of pain in others (p < .0001, Bonferroni-corrected). rTMS experiment indicated that when the rIFG was temporarily disrupted, participants perceived pain in others significantly more slowly (p < .0001, Bonferroni-corrected) than when the vertex was disrupted. Our results provide evidence that the rIFG is involved in pain-related empathy processing, which yields insights into how the brain perceives pain in others.
最近的研究表明，右侧下额前回（rIFG）可能与疼痛相关的同理心有关。为了验证 rIFG 的作用，我们进行了一项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）实验来复制先前的研究，并进一步设计了一项非侵入性的重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）实验来探究 rIFG 在疼痛相关同理心处理中的因果作用。我们将 74 名志愿者（37 名女性）分为三组。第 1 组（n = 26）进行了一项任务，要求参与者感知他人的疼痛（疼痛任务：TP），我们使用 fMRI 观察 rIFG 在疼痛相关同理心处理过程中的活动。然后，我们对 rIFG 和顶点部位（作为参考部位）进行在线 rTMS 刺激，观察第 2 组（n = 24；进行 TP）和第 3 组（n = 24；进行识别身体部位的控制任务；身体任务：TB）的表现。fMRI 实验表明，在感知他人疼痛时，rIFG 的激活强度强于顶点（p < .0001，经 Bonferroni 校正）。rTMS 实验表明，当 rIFG 暂时受到干扰时，参与者感知他人疼痛的速度明显变慢（p < .0001，经 Bonferroni 校正），而当顶点受到干扰时则没有这种情况。我们的结果提供了证据表明 rIFG 参与疼痛相关的同理心处理，这为大脑如何感知他人的疼痛提供了深入的了解。
