Researchers noted an association between neural activity and the perceived intensity of pain that others feel, they published the findings recently in eLife. The study showed that recognizing the pain of others is mapped onto neurons in the insula (a brain region that regulates emotions). The findings suggest humans empathize with the pain of others because the brain is wired to transform their pain into activity in regions involved in feeling our own pain.
This type of emotional neural sensitivity is key to empathy and motivates us to help others. Some examples include the sympathetic pregnancy and labor pains some partners experience as they witness their spouses in discomfort. Nociception is the nervous system’s protective process in which the brain assesses potentially harmful or unharmful stimuli. The brain produces a pain response if it decides the body needs protection from threatening stimuli. Many factors influence the process of nociception.
In past studies, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was often used to identify brain regions that are activated while humans perceive the pain of others, but this method cannot directly measure neuron activity. A fMRI measures changes in blood-flow that indicate brain regions that are associated with an activity. This study used intracranial local field potentials on participants (a total of 10 epilepsy patients) to examine neuron activity in brain regions like the insula. Study participants were shown short video-clips of a woman experiencing various levels of pain and measured how neurons in the insula respond to the pain participants observe while watching the video-clip. The researchers explored whether neurons in this region would reflect the level of pain experienced by others, so they recorded electrical activity that mirrored pain the people reported perceiving in the movies.
Data from this study can be used to map where in the brain the pain of others is transformed into empathic responses. This research has implications for treating mental disorders characterized by lower levels of empathy.
Sources: eLife, Eureka News Alert
