Predictability modulates the anticipation and perception of pain in both self and others

Abstract

Predictability has been suggested to modulate both the anticipation and perception of self-pain. Considering the overlapping neural circuits between self-pain and other-pain perceptions, the present study investigated how the predictability of forthcoming pain modulates the anticipation and perception of self-pain and other-pain. We used a balanced, within-participant experimental design in which a visual cue indicating the recipient, intensity and predictability of an upcoming painful electrical stimulation was presented before its delivery. Subjective ratings and electroencephalography activities to the anticipation and perception of self-pain and other-pain were recorded and compared between certain and uncertain conditions. Results showed that predictability affected the perception of self-pain and other-pain in a similar manner such that the differences in behavioral ratings and event-related potentials to high-intensity and low-intensity pain were significantly reduced when the intensity was uncertain. The strengths of predictability-induced modulation of self-pain and other-pain perceptions were positively correlated with each other. Furthermore, predictability also modulated the anticipation of both self-pain and other-pain such that pre-stimulus high-frequency α-oscillation power at sensorimotor electrodes contralateral to the stimulation side was maximally suppressed when anticipating certain high-intensity pain. These findings demonstrate that predictability-induced modulation on pain anticipation and perception was similarly applied to both self-pain and other-pain.

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

“…For example, the common prescription painkiller acetaminophen can reduce empathy for others' pain (Mischkowski et al, 2016), suggesting that pharmacologically inhibiting the neural circuits necessary for experiencing one's own pain also inhibits the perception/experience of others' pain. Further, electroencephalographic (EEG) studies have shown similar modulations of self and other‐related pain processing (Meng et al, 2013; Peng, Huang, Liu, & Cui, 2019; Rütgen, Seidel, Riečanský, & Lamm, 2015), for example, placebo analgesia induction procedure equivalently reduces behavioral responses and the affective‐motivational P2 component on event‐related potentials (ERPs) to self and other‐related pain (Rütgen, Seidel, Riečanský, et al, 2015). The evidence for the association between the perception of first‐hand pain and others' pain predicts shared sensitivity to first‐hand physical pain and empathy for others' pain.…”

Pain and social decision-making: New insights from the social framing effect

“…As pointed out by Singer et al, the ability to experience other people's pain is a core feature of empathy [27]. Pain empathy is grounded in people's first-hand experiences of pain, given that the perceptions of one's own pain and another's pain are subserved by overlapping neurocomputational functions [28][29][30] and that they can be similarly modulated by psychological and pharmacological factors (e.g., placebos) [30,31]. Physical painkillers (e.g., acetaminophen) reduce empathy for others' pain via the same neural pathways that alleviate one's own pain [32].…”

Analgesia induced by anodal tDCS and high-frequency tRNS over the motor cortex: Immediate and sustained effects on pain perception

“…Mediation analysis further revealed that tRNS application attenuated perceived-pain ratings partially via the drop in expected-pain ratings. With the knowledge that a painful event is upcoming, selective attention could be more precisely directed toward processes related to forthcoming sensorimotor events [53,54], which might manifest as suppression of cortical alpha oscillations [29,55,56]. An EEG study has reported that tRNS increases cortical alpha oscillations [57], whereby increased alpha oscillation has been associated with decreased attention resource allocation [58].…”