Empathy for social exclusion involves the sensory-discriminative component of pain: a within-subject fMRI study
Open accessAbstract
Recent research has shown that experiencing events that represent a significant threat to social bonds activates a network of brain areas associated with the sensory-discriminative aspects of pain. In the present study, we investigated whether the same brain areas are involved when witnessing social exclusion threats experienced by others. Using a within-subject design, we show that an ecologically valid experience of social exclusion recruits areas coding the somatosensory components of physical pain (posterior insular cortex and secondary somatosensory cortex). Furthermore, we show that this pattern of activation not only holds for directly experienced social pain, but also during empathy for social pain. Finally, we report that subgenual cingulate cortex is the only brain area conjointly active during empathy for physical and social pain. This supports recent theories that affective processing and homeostatic regulation are at the core of empathic responses.
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Overlapping univariate fMRI activity between pain and rejection is not anatomically specific enough to bear on whether the underlying neural representations are similar.
“claims about shared representation in the previous studies have been based on findings of overlapping univariate fMRI activity between pain and rejection2,4,5, which is not anatomically specific enough to bear on the question of whether the underlying neural representations are similar.”
From Separate neural representations for physical pain and social rejection (2014) · cites this paper as [5]
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Separate neural representations for physical pain and social rejection
Woo, C.-W., Koban, L., Kross, E., Lindquist, M. A., Banich, M. T., Ruzic, L., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., & Wager, T. D. (2014) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms6380 · Cited by 310 · see citing works
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Lai, C., Altavilla, D., Ronconi, A., & Aceto, P. (2016) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.072 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Vijayakumar, N., Cheng, T. W., & Pfeifer, J. H. (2017) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.050 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
“…25 Developmental Meyer et al., 2013 16 (12) 21.69 (2.12) Others-Cyberball Block 7 Nishiyama et al., 2015 46 (17) 19.85 (no range) Cyberball Block 14 Emerging adult Novembre et al., 2015 23 (0) 22.4 (2.0), 20–28 Cyberball Block 13 Emerging adult Onoda et al., 2009 26 (11) 21.79 (1.3), 20–25…”
MethodInfluentialMindfulness meditation regulates anterior insula activity during empathy for social pain.
Laneri, D., Krach, S., Paulus, F. M., Kanske, P., Schuster, V., Sommer, J., & Müller‐Pinzler, L. (2017) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.23646 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
- Authors
- Novembre, G., Zanon, M., & Silani, G.
- Affiliations
- Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (IT)
- Venue
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-04-04
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 153-164
- ISSN
- 1749-5016 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-5024
- PMC
- PMC4321615
- OpenAlex
- W2102526097
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 6.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Vienna Science and Technology Fund (CS11-016)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Keywords
- social exclusion, empathy, social pain, sensory-discriminative pain, posterior insular cortex, secondary somatosensory cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, bodily pain, emotional processing, homeostatic regulation, within-subjects design
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Brain Mapping, Discrimination, Psychological, Empathy, Female, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nerve Net, Pain, Sensation, Psychological Distance, Somatosensory Cortex, Pain Threshold, Young Adult, Pain Perception
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