The impact of mood on empathy for pain: Evidence from an EEG study

Abstract

The current work investigated whether the neural correlates of empathy for pain are altered by mood valence of observers. Following mood induction, participants watched pictures representing painful or nonpainful situations. We used EEG to record neural activity and assessed event-related desynchronization at central sites during pain observation. Greater mu desynchronization was observed during painful relative to nonpainful situations in positive and neutral mood but not in negative mood. We also found that the pain empathy effect, indexed by mu suppression differences between painful and nonpainful conditions, was smaller in negative than in neutral and positive mood, while this effect was similar between neutral and positive mood. The current study demonstrates that observers' mood states influence the motoric component of empathy for pain, and specifically the negative mood suppresses the motoric empathic resonance for others' pain.

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

“…Importantly, pain empathic modulation of the α‐ERD responses mediated the influence of first‐hand pain sensitivity on self‐experienced unpleasantness in response to others' pain, suggesting the contribution of α‐ERD response in shared sensitivity to first‐hand pain and others' pain. The modulation of α‐oscillations during the observation of others' pain has been reported in previous studies (Fabi & Leuthold, 2017; Li et al, 2017; Motoyama et al, 2017; Perry et al, 2010). The degree of modulation on α‐oscillation desynchronization has been associated with subjective feelings of pain in others and self‐unpleasantness (Li et al, 2017; Mu, Fan, Mao, & Han, 2008) as well as with emotional arousal during affective picture processing (De Cesarei & Codispoti, 2011; Schubring & Schupp, 2019; Simons et al, 2003).…”

“…The modulation of α‐oscillations during the observation of others' pain has been reported in previous studies (Fabi & Leuthold, 2017; Li et al, 2017; Motoyama et al, 2017; Perry et al, 2010). The degree of modulation on α‐oscillation desynchronization has been associated with subjective feelings of pain in others and self‐unpleasantness (Li et al, 2017; Mu, Fan, Mao, & Han, 2008) as well as with emotional arousal during affective picture processing (De Cesarei & Codispoti, 2011; Schubring & Schupp, 2019; Simons et al, 2003). Functionally, Klimesch, Sauseng, and Hanslmayr (2007) proposed that an increase in α‐oscillation reflects top–down, inhibitory control processes, while a decrease in α‐oscillation is associated with gradual release of inhibition that is associated with the emergence of complex spreading of activation processes.…”

“…Fan & Han, 2008). In addition, observation of others' painful situation induced a greater suppression of brain oscillations within the alpha frequency band (α band: 8–14 Hz) as compared to the observation of nonpainful situation (Fabi & Leuthold, 2017; Li, Meng, Li, Yang, & Yuan, 2017; Motoyama, Ogata, Hoka, & Tobimatsu, 2017; Perry, Bentin, Bartal, Lamm, & Decety, 2010), manifested as greater alpha event‐related desynchronization (α‐ERD) reflecting cortical activations associated with stimulus significance (De Cesarei & Codispoti, 2011; Schubring & Schupp, 2019; Simons, Detenber, Cuthbert, Schwartz, & Reiss, 2003). These empathy‐related neural responses (ERPs and α‐ERD) during the tasks were compared between participants in the HPS and LPS groups, for identifying the linkage between first‐hand pain sensitivity and empathy for others' pain.…”

Measuring Brain Complexity During Neural Motor Resonance

“…There has been great interest in the idea of neural mirroring–neural simulation of the actions and experiences of others while observing them–as a central process contributing to action understanding and experience sharing. Using electroencephalogram (EEG) to record the desynchronization of the mu wave (8–13 Hz) over sensorimotor regions is gaining popularity as a measure of neural simulation (e.g., Cheng et al, 2008 ; Pineda and Hecht, 2009 ; Gutsell and Inzlicht, 2010 ; Perry et al, 2010 ; Fabi and Leuthold, 2017 ; Li et al, 2017 ), including in the clinical setting (Oberman et al, 2008 , 2013 ; Fan et al, 2010 ; Mitra et al, 2014 ; Minichino et al, 2016 ). Several researchers have used mu desynchronization to investigate impaired social and emotional processing in disorders like schizophrenia and autism (Oberman et al, 2005 ; McCormick et al, 2012 ; Horan et al, 2014 ; Brown et al, 2016 ).…”

Effects of age and sex on neurophysiological substrates of empathy: a cross-sectional EEG study

“…Given that mood influences empathy (Li, Meng, Li, Yang, & Yuan, 2017), participants completed validated anxiety and depression questionnaires. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II; Beck, et al (1996)) and Beck's Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer (1988)) each contain 21 items used to measure symptom severity associated with clinical depression and clinical anxiety, respectively.…”