Göller Peter J, Reicherts Philipp, Lautenbacher Stefan, Kunz Miriam
Department of Medical, Psychology and Sociology, Medical Faculty, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
Bamberger LivingLab Dementia (BamLiD), University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany.
Eur J Pain. 2025 Jan;29(1):e4709. doi: 10.1002/ejp.4709. Epub 2024 Aug 16.
Prior exposure to others' facial expressions of pain can lead to a facilitation of pain responses, including its corresponding response channel, namely facial responses to pain. It has been questioned, however, whether this vicarious pain facilitation occurs only when observing others' pain or whether the observation of other negative expressions can trigger similar facilitation of facial responses to pain. The study aimed to test this, by comparing the impact of viewing others' facial expressions of pain versus another negative expression (sadness) and two control expressions (neutral, happiness) on facial responses to pain.
Participants (N = 56; 31 females), watched short video clips of computer-generated facial expressions (pain, sadness, neutral & happiness) before they received painful and non-painful heat stimuli. Facial responses were analysed using the Facial Action Coding System. In addition, subjective and autonomic responses were assessed.
The prior exposure to others' expressions of pain and sadness versus neutral did not lead to significantly increased facial responses to pain. Likewise, subjective and autonomic pain responses were not facilitated. However, viewing others' expressions of happiness, consistently reduced facial as well as subjective and autonomic responses to pain compared to others' negative or neutral expressions. This dampening effect was not observed for non-painful heat.
Facial and other pain responses were most strongly affected by prior exposure to others' facial expressions of happiness, which led to a pain-dampening effect. In contrast, the evidence for vicarious facilitation of pain was rather weak in the present study, with no evidence of pain-specificity.
Facial responses to pain - along with subjective and autonomic responses - are reduced when observing others' expressions of happiness, demonstrating pain modulation by positive affective social signals, which may also transfer to clinical contexts.
先前接触他人的疼痛面部表情会导致疼痛反应的易化，包括其相应的反应通道，即对疼痛的面部反应。然而，人们质疑这种替代性疼痛易化是否仅在观察他人疼痛时发生，或者观察其他负面表情是否会引发类似的对疼痛面部反应的易化。本研究旨在通过比较观看他人的疼痛面部表情与另一种负面表情（悲伤）以及两种对照表情（中性、快乐）对疼痛面部反应的影响来对此进行测试。
参与者（N = 56；31名女性）在接受疼痛和非疼痛热刺激之前，观看计算机生成的面部表情（疼痛、悲伤、中性和快乐）的短视频片段。使用面部动作编码系统对面部反应进行分析。此外，还评估了主观和自主反应。
先前接触他人的疼痛和悲伤表情与中性表情相比，并未导致对疼痛的面部反应显著增加。同样，主观和自主疼痛反应也未得到促进。然而，与他人的负面或中性表情相比，观看他人的快乐表情始终会减少对疼痛的面部以及主观和自主反应。对于非疼痛热刺激未观察到这种抑制作用。
面部和其他疼痛反应受先前接触他人快乐面部表情的影响最大，这导致了疼痛抑制效应。相比之下，本研究中替代性疼痛易化的证据相当薄弱，没有疼痛特异性的证据。
观察他人的快乐表情时，对疼痛的面部反应——以及主观和自主反应——会减少，这表明积极情感社会信号对疼痛有调节作用，这也可能适用于临床情境。
