Department of Psychology University of South Carolina Aiken, 471 University Parkway, Aiken, SC, 29801, USA.
Department of Psychology University of South Carolina Aiken, 471 University Parkway, Aiken, SC, 29801, USA.
Neuropsychologia. 2023 Jun 6;184:108544. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108544. Epub 2023 Mar 21.
Empathy is an intricate ability that entails the subjective feeling and understanding of emotions someone else may be experiencing. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient found in Tylenol, is among the most common pain medications consumed. There is new evidence, however, that suggests this common analgesic may also dampen empathic processes. However, no previous study has investigated the effect acetaminophen may have on pain empathy or mu power during a pain empathy task. Therefore, participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental (acetaminophen) or control (sugar) group in a double-blinded experimental research design aimed to measure mu power, using EEG, and behavioral responses to painful and non-painful images. Participants in the experimental group were administered 1000 mg of acetaminophen, and it was verified that participants were unaware of their group assignment. We found that mu suppression was greater in the acetaminophen group, which was strongest at electrode C3. Additionally, mu power differences between painful and non-painful images were related to trait empathy, and mu power during the painful images were positively correlated with empathy scores. Results from this study suggest that in addition to reducing physical pain, acetaminophen may also change the neural response when perceiving others in pain. The implications of these findings could possibly lead to changes in how we prescribe and administer this common drug.
同理心是一种复杂的能力，需要主观感受和理解他人可能正在经历的情绪。醋氨酚，是泰诺中发现的活性成分，是最常见的止痛药之一。然而，有新的证据表明，这种常见的镇痛药也可能抑制同理心过程。但是，以前没有研究调查过醋氨酚在疼痛同理心任务期间对疼痛同理心或 mu 功率的影响。因此，参与者被随机分配到实验组（醋氨酚）或对照组（糖），采用双盲实验设计，使用脑电图测量 mu 功率，并对疼痛和非疼痛图像的行为反应进行测量。实验组参与者服用 1000 毫克醋氨酚，并验证参与者不知道他们的分组情况。我们发现，醋氨酚组的 mu 抑制更大，在电极 C3 处最强。此外，疼痛和非疼痛图像之间的 mu 功率差异与特质同理心有关，疼痛图像期间的 mu 功率与同理心分数呈正相关。这项研究的结果表明，除了减轻身体疼痛外，醋氨酚在感知他人疼痛时还可能改变神经反应。这些发现的影响可能会导致我们改变开具和管理这种常见药物的方式。
