Abstract:We present the Empathy for Pain Stimuli System (EPSS): a large-scale database of stimuli for studying people’s empathy for pain. The EPSS comprises five sub-databases. First, the Empathy for Limb Pain Picture Database (EPSS-Limb) provides 68 painful and 68 non-painful limb pictures, exhibiting people’s limbs in painful and non-painful situations, respectively. Second, the Empathy for Face Pain Picture Database (EPSS-Face) provides 80 painful and 80 non-painful pictures of people’s faces being penetrated by a s… Show more
“…Previous studies have shown that: (i) the pain intensity rating scores of painful pictures were significantly higher than those of non-painful pictures; (ii) painful pictures induced significantly more negative feelings than non-painful pictures; (iii) painful pictures were significantly more exciting than non-painful pictures; (iv) painful pictures were rated as more out of control than non-painful stimuli ( Meng et al ., 2023 ). These results were also validated by the present study.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…A total of 136 pictures, consisting of 68 painful and 68 non-painful pictures, from the Empathy for Limb Pain Picture Database (EPSS-Limb) ( Meng et al ., 2023 ), were selected and used in the current study. The picture database has previously been validated and used in published studies ( Meng et al ., 2019 ).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Similar to other format of empathy, pain empathy also involve both affective and cognitive components. Within laboratory settings, stimuli that featured nociceptive cues of other people were commonly delivered through visual or auditory channels ( Kanel et al ., 2019 ; Meng et al ., 2019 , 2023 ). Furthermore, in order to examine the impact of top-down attention on an individual’s empathy process, two distinct tasks are typically administered: an explicit empathy task and an implicit empathy task ( Meng et al ., 2019 , 2020 ).…”
Only a few studies investigated the neurodevelopment of pain empathy. Here, the temporal dynamics of electrocortical processes in pain empathy during individual neurodevelopment from childhood through adolescence into adulthood, along with the moderation effect of top-down attention, were investigated using the event-related potential (ERP) technique. To investigate the role of top-down attention in empathy development, both A-P task and A-N task were conducted. In the A-P and A-N task, participants are instructed to judge whether the models in pictures were painful or non-painful and count the number of limbs in pictures, respectively. We found that compared to the adolescent and adult groups, the children group responded significantly worse, along with stronger neural responses in both tasks. Compared to the adolescent and adult groups, the differential amplitudes between painful and non-painful conditions of P2, N2 and P3 were significantly larger in the children group. Moreover, this P3 differential amplitude could only be modulated by age in the A-P task. These results suggest that the capacity to empathize has not yet attained complete development in these children. Significantly more attention resources were involuntarily attracted by the nociceptive cues in these children, which could also reflect the immaturity of empathy ability in these children.
“…Previous studies have shown that: (i) the pain intensity rating scores of painful pictures were significantly higher than those of non-painful pictures; (ii) painful pictures induced significantly more negative feelings than non-painful pictures; (iii) painful pictures were significantly more exciting than non-painful pictures; (iv) painful pictures were rated as more out of control than non-painful stimuli ( Meng et al ., 2023 ). These results were also validated by the present study.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…A total of 136 pictures, consisting of 68 painful and 68 non-painful pictures, from the Empathy for Limb Pain Picture Database (EPSS-Limb) ( Meng et al ., 2023 ), were selected and used in the current study. The picture database has previously been validated and used in published studies ( Meng et al ., 2019 ).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Similar to other format of empathy, pain empathy also involve both affective and cognitive components. Within laboratory settings, stimuli that featured nociceptive cues of other people were commonly delivered through visual or auditory channels ( Kanel et al ., 2019 ; Meng et al ., 2019 , 2023 ). Furthermore, in order to examine the impact of top-down attention on an individual’s empathy process, two distinct tasks are typically administered: an explicit empathy task and an implicit empathy task ( Meng et al ., 2019 , 2020 ).…”
Only a few studies investigated the neurodevelopment of pain empathy. Here, the temporal dynamics of electrocortical processes in pain empathy during individual neurodevelopment from childhood through adolescence into adulthood, along with the moderation effect of top-down attention, were investigated using the event-related potential (ERP) technique. To investigate the role of top-down attention in empathy development, both A-P task and A-N task were conducted. In the A-P and A-N task, participants are instructed to judge whether the models in pictures were painful or non-painful and count the number of limbs in pictures, respectively. We found that compared to the adolescent and adult groups, the children group responded significantly worse, along with stronger neural responses in both tasks. Compared to the adolescent and adult groups, the differential amplitudes between painful and non-painful conditions of P2, N2 and P3 were significantly larger in the children group. Moreover, this P3 differential amplitude could only be modulated by age in the A-P task. These results suggest that the capacity to empathize has not yet attained complete development in these children. Significantly more attention resources were involuntarily attracted by the nociceptive cues in these children, which could also reflect the immaturity of empathy ability in these children.
“…The first block was a short training block (6 trails) with a different set of pictures (Canizales et al, 2013 ) but with similar instructions as in the subsequent two blocks. In the second and the third block, participants viewed 96 pictures of hands (48 trials per block; Meng et al, 2012 ; Meng et al, 2023 ; Figure 1 ) and were asked to decide if a picture was painful (press right “Ctrl” button) or non-painful (press left “Ctrl” button), while their EEG responses were recorded. In the last and fourth block, measuring behavioral pain ratings but no EEG, the participants viewed the same 48 pictures, but this time they were asked to rate them on a 1–6 scale (1 = no pain; 6 = very intensive pain).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… Figure 1. Example of stimuli used in the task (Meng et al, 2012; Meng et al, 2023 ) (A and B); example of an EEG trial in the pain judgment task (C). …”
This Event-Related Potential (ERP) study aimed to test how habitual and short-term violent video game exposure (VVGE) may affect empathy for pain responses in adolescents. In a within-subjects design, boys (
N
= 56; aged 12–16 years) performed a pain judgment task before and immediately after playing a violent video game. In this task, participants judged whether photos of hands depicted on their screen were in a painful situation or not. While both the P3 and the LPP components were not related to habitual violent video game exposure, general exposure to antisocial media content predicted lower P3 amplitudes to painful pictures. Further, 40 min of violent gameplay did not affect the P3 responses; however, it temporarily decreased LPP responses to painful pictures, suggesting a modest short-term desensitization effect. However, this latter interpretation is limited by a strong LPP pain effect – a significant amplitude difference between painful and non-painful pictures – that remained present in the post-game condition. Such persistent LPP effect may relate to the notion that adolescents are still learning how to properly regulate their emotional reactions. This study contributes to the limited literature on violent video games’ desensitization in adolescents’ brains, opening new avenues for media violence research.
Previous studies have reported relationships between exercise and pain. However, little is known about how aggressive exercise modulates individuals’ responses to their own and others’ pain. This present study addresses this question by conducting 2 studies employing event-related potential (ERP). Study 1 included 38 participants whose self-perceived pain was assessed after intervention with aggressive or nonaggressive exercises. Study 2 recruited 36 participants whose responses to others’ pain were assessed after intervention with aggressive or nonaggressive exercise. Study 1’s results showed that P2 amplitudes were smaller, reaction times were longer, and participants’ judgments were less accurate in response to self-perceived pain stimuli, especially to high-pain stimuli, after intervention with aggressive exercise compared to nonaggressive exercise. Results of study 2 showed that both P3 and LPP amplitudes to others’ pain were larger after intervention with aggressive exercise than with nonaggressive exercise. These results suggest that aggressive exercise decreases individuals’ self-perceived pain and increases their empathic responses to others’ pain.
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