The linkage between first‐hand pain sensitivity and empathy for others' pain: Attention matters

Abstract

Many studies suggested shared psychological and neural representations for first‐hand physical pain and empathy for others' pain, both of which depend strongly upon top–down controlled mechanisms such as attention. This study aimed to assess the interindividual variation in first‐hand physical pain and empathy for pain, and whether their relationship is dependent upon attention. We recruited participants exhibiting high and low sensitivity to first‐hand pain (HPS and LPS), and adopted pain empathy paradigms involving attention directed toward or withdrawn from pain of another. Relative to the LPS group, participants in the HPS group estimated greater pain intensity experienced by others, felt greater unpleasantness when viewing others in pain, and exhibited greater sensitivity in discriminating others' pain. Electroencephalographic data showed that when attention was directed toward others' pain, only participants in the HPS group exhibited significant pain empathic effects on the N1 component of event‐related potentials and on the α‐oscillation response. These empathic neural responses mediated the linkage between first‐hand pain sensitivity and empathic behavioral responses. Nevertheless, empathic responses were comparable between two groups when attention was withdrawn from others' pain. These results demonstrate a shared sensitivity to first‐hand pain and empathy for pain provided that attention is directed toward pain.

Abstract

This study compared the empathic responses between individuals with high and low sensitivity to first‐hand pain, during empathy for pain tasks in which attention was either directed toward or withdrawn from pain cues in the visual displays. Results showed that individuals with high sensitivity to first‐hand painexhibited greater empathic responses to others' pain, provided that attention was directed toward the pain being experienced by another. It suggests that top‐down control of attention matters in the link between first‐hand pain sensitivity and empathy for others' pain, thus supporting a qualified version of the “shared representations” theory of empathy.