认知负荷对疼痛共情的影响:来自ERP研究的证据

先前研究表明,对他人的疼痛共情受到多种因素的调节。认知负荷对疼痛共情的调节作用尚无研究。本研究使用事件相关电位技术探究高低认知负荷对疼痛共情神经加工过程的影响。实验通过不同长度的数字串记忆任务,形成高/低两种认知负荷,要求被试在不同认知负荷条件下观看他人处于疼痛/不疼痛情境下的图片,同时记录被试的在观看图片时的EEG数据。通过比较不同条件下观看图片诱发的ERP成分发现:早期成分P2和N2上认知负荷水平与图片类型出现了显著的交互作用,即在高认知负荷下疼痛图片诱发的波幅与非疼痛图片诱发的波幅差异显著,而低认知负荷下两种图片诱发的波幅差异不显著。这表明认知负荷主要影响疼痛共情加工的早期、自动化加工阶段。相比较于低认知负荷条件下,在高认知负荷下他人的疼痛获得了更好的加工。     

注意线索对自闭特质个体疼痛共情的影响：来自事件相关电位的证据

自闭特质个体在日常生活中表现出共情缺损, 但其程度较自闭症谱系障碍个体低, 并且注意线索和特异性的面孔加工可能会影响他们的共情加工进程。因此, 本研究采用事件相关电位(ERP)技术, 以疼痛面孔图片作为刺激材料, 让自闭特质组和控制组分别完成疼痛判断任务(该任务中被试的注意指向疼痛线索)和吸引力判断任务(该任务中被试的注意不指向疼痛线索)。结果发现, 相比控制组, 自闭特质组在吸引力判断任务中疼痛面孔图片诱发的P3波幅更大, 而在疼痛判断任务中两组没有显著差异。这表明注意线索会影响自闭特质个体对他人疼痛面孔的共情反应, 当自闭特质个体不注意他人面孔的疼痛线索时, 其疼痛共情能力会减弱。     

疼痛表征在自我和他人间的一致性效应

在以往研究中“pain matrix”被认为是加工自我和他人疼痛信息的特异性神经机制, 也可能是个体对他人疼痛共情的原因。但是最近的研究发现非疼痛的感觉刺激也能激活该脑区, 因此疼痛表征在自我和他人间是否存在一致性受到质疑。研究采用启动范式从两个方面入手探索自身疼痛和疼痛共情间是否存在一致性关系。实验一使用疼痛和非疼痛图片为启动刺激, 疼痛或热刺激为靶刺激, 发现相对于非疼痛图片, 疼痛图片启动下被试对自身疼痛刺激的反应时减少, 疼痛水平和情绪反应增强。实验二使用疼痛和热刺激为启动刺激, 疼痛或非疼痛图片为靶刺激, 发现相对于热刺激, 疼痛刺激启动下被试对疼痛图片的反应时减少。同时, 在两个实验中非疼痛的靶刺激都不受启动刺激的影响。这说明疼痛表征在自我和他人间存在一致性效应。     

积极怀旧情绪对疼痛共情影响的ERP研究

采用ERP技术比较积极怀旧情绪诱发组被试和中性情绪组被试在判断疼痛/非疼痛图片刺激时的疼痛共情反应,探讨积极怀旧情绪对个体疼痛共情加工的影响及其电生理学机制。结果发现,在P2成分和晚期的P3成分上,积极怀旧情绪下的疼痛图片比中性情绪下的疼痛图片诱发了更大的波幅。疼痛图片比非疼痛图片诱发更大的P2、N2、P3及400～600 ms正成分的波幅。结果表明积极怀旧情绪的诱发促进个体对疼痛刺激的加工和共情。     

特质性自我构念与内外群体疼痛共情的关系:来自事件相关电位的证据

以往研究发现暂时的自我构念启动会调节对他人的疼痛共情。本研究旨在探究稳定的特质性自我构念与内、外群体疼痛共情的关系。实验采用启动范式对内、外群体进行区分,被试的任务是认真观看并判断图片的人物是否感到了疼痛,同时记录他们的EEG数据。结果显示:在N2成分上出现了明显的内群体效应,即观看内群体疼痛图片比内群体非疼痛图片会诱发更大的N2波幅,而观看外群体疼痛和外群体非疼痛图片诱发的N2波幅没有显著差异,这表明内、外群体因素会影响疼痛共情中的早期情绪分享过程。在P3成分上,在内、外群体启动条件下,疼痛图片比非疼痛图片都要诱发更大的P3波幅。更重要的是,自我构念分数(互依型减独立型分数)与内、外群体疼痛共情(疼痛减非疼痛条件)诱发的P3波幅都呈正相关关系,但两者的相关系数没有显著差异,这表明特质性自我构念与疼痛共情中的晚期认知评价过程密切相关,而且这种相关程度在内、外群体条件间是相似的。     

疼痛面孔注意加工中共情的作用——来自眼动的证据

疼痛的威胁警示与趋近救助冲突近来受到研究者的关注。本研究结合点探测范式与眼动技术,以疼痛面孔和中性面孔为实验材料,探讨共情在疼痛功能冲突中所扮演的角色。我们收集了33名被试的有效眼动数据,结果发现,与中性面孔相比,被试对疼痛面孔图片的早期注意定向更快（首次注视到达时间更短）、晚期注意维持更长（注视次数更多、总注视持续时间更长）;与低共情组相比,高共情组被试对面孔的总注视持续时间更长,分组分析显示只有髙共情组对疼痛面孔的总注视持续时间比中性面孔长。结果表明,被试存在疼痛面孔注意偏向,被试的共情水平可能作为一个调节变量影响其在注意维持阶段对疼痛威胁的知觉。     

自爱与他爱:自恋、共情与内隐利他的关系

自恋者具有低共情的人格特征,而共情是引发利他行为的重要动力。本文通过两个实验研究试图揭示不同情境下,自恋对共情与内隐利他的影响。结果表明:(1)自恋组与非自恋组被试均存在内隐利他倾向,且自恋组的内隐利他倾向显著低于非自恋组;(2)自恋组的共情能力显著低于非自恋组,其中,自恋组在情绪共情上显著低于非自恋组被试,两组在认知共情上差异不显著;(3)共情诱发对自恋组被试的共情与内隐利他均有显著影响。启动条件下自恋组被试的共情水平与内隐利他倾向显著高于控制条件下自恋组被试,且达到与非自恋组被试相同的水平,而非自恋组被试的共情与内隐利他倾向在两种实验条件下差异不显著;(4)共情诱发显著提高了自恋组被试的情感而非认知共情水平。     

悲伤表情识别能力影响疼痛共情—一项ERP研究

本研究探讨了个体悲伤表情识别能力对其疼痛共情的影响。先以表情分界测验将被试分为高、低悲伤表情识别力组,之后让两组被试接受疼痛共情脑电测试。结果显示：在ERP成分N2、P3上,悲伤表情高识别力组观看疼痛与非疼痛图片时的波幅差异比低识别力组的更大。结果表明：悲伤表情识别能力会影响个体疼痛共情;悲伤表情高识别力个体在疼痛共情的早期自发加工以及晚期有意识认知评价之上,均强于悲伤表情低识别力个体。     

暴力犯的疼痛共情更低:来自ERP的证据

疼痛共情是共情最典型的表现形式,是指个体对他人疼痛的感知、判断和情绪反应。共情能力的缺失可能导致个体产生退缩、冷漠及攻击行为。本研究采用事件相关电位技术(ERP),以疼痛和非疼痛图片为实验材料,对暴力犯的疼痛共情水平进行了考察,结果发现:暴力犯和普通群体在观看疼痛和非疼痛图片时ERP波形差异显著,暴力犯观看疼痛图片时,N110、P2的潜伏期更长,P2的波幅更高、P300的波幅更低,说明与普通群体相比,暴力犯的疼痛共情水平较低。     

医学生疼痛共情的认知过程特征：来自ERP的证据

以往研究发现临床医生的疼痛共情显著低于常人,表现为前者感知他人疼痛时会出现早期情绪分享和晚期情绪调节的相对抑制。而处于职前培养期的医学生是否存在相似问题,其疼痛共情又是否会受到重复暴露的影响,目前并不清楚。为此,本研究采用ERP技术比较了医学与非医学专业大学生疼痛共情的认知过程,并通过前后测设计检验了重复暴露对二者疼痛共情的影响。行为结果发现两组被试的主观疼痛判断都出现了疼痛共情效应,但未出现组别差异,也未发现重复暴露的影响。但ERP结果显示,医学生的疼痛共情过程显著区别于非医学生。他们虽表现出早期情绪分享成分N1的抑制效应,但LPP反映的晚期认知加工却显著增强,且上述两阶段加工均未受到重复暴露的显著影响。研究表明：（1）医学学习能够抑制疼痛共情的早期情绪分享,但医学生仍可通过更多晚期认知资源投入来维持其疼痛共情水平。（2）医学生的疼痛共情较少受到重复暴露的影响,呈现情绪适应特点。     

自我-他人重叠影响疼痛共情的ERP研究

为探究自我-他人重叠影响疼痛共情的神经机制,记录并分析被试在高、中、低重叠程度条件下共情判断的脑电活动。发现在早期N2上,重叠程度三水平间差异显著,表现为密友＜熟人＜陌生人（密友与熟人差异边缘显著）;在晚期P3上,疼痛条件下重叠程度间呈显著差异,密友比熟人、陌生人显著要大;在LPP上疼痛条件诱发更大波幅。表明早期阶段（N2）区分不同重叠程度,可能是对威胁性刺激的检测阶段,自我-他人重叠程度影响共情加工晚期阶段（P3）的社会认知评价加工。     

The development of cognitive empathy and concern in preschool children: A behavioral neuroscience investigation

This developmental neuroscience study examined the electrophysiological responses (EEG and ERPs) associated with perspective taking and empathic concern in preschool children, as well as their relation to parental empathy dispositions and children's own prosocial behavior. Consistent with a body of previous studies using stimuli depicting somatic pain in both children and adults, larger early (~200 ms) ERPs were identified when perceiving painful versus neutral stimuli. In the slow wave window (~800 ms), a significant interaction of empathy condition and stimulus type was driven by a greater difference between painful and neutral images in the empathic concern condition. Across early development, children exhibited enhanced N2 to pain when engaging in empathic concern. Greater pain‐elicited N2 responses in the cognitive empathy condition also related to parent dispositional empathy. Children's own prosocial behavior was predicted by several individual differences in neural function, including larger early LPP responses during cognitive empathy and greater differentiation in late LPP and slow wave responses to empathic concern versus affective perspective taking. Left frontal activation (greater alpha suppression) while engaging in affective perspective taking was also related to higher levels of parent cognitive empathy. Together, this multilevel analysis demonstrates the important distinction between facets of empathy in children; the value of examining neurobehavioral processes in development. It provides provoking links between children's neural functioning and parental dispositions in early development.     

自我-他人重叠影响疼痛共情的ERP研究

为探究自我-他人重叠影响疼痛共情的神经机制,记录并分析被试在高、中、低重叠程度条件下共情判断的脑电活动。发现在早期N2上,重叠程度三水平间差异显著,表现为密友＜熟人＜陌生人（密友与熟人差异边缘显著）;在晚期P3上,疼痛条件下重叠程度间呈显著差异,密友比熟人、陌生人显著要大;在LPP上疼痛条件诱发更大波幅。表明早期阶段（N2）区分不同重叠程度,可能是对威胁性刺激的检测阶段,自我-他人重叠程度影响共情加工晚期阶段（P3）的社会认知评价加工。     

“Feeling” the pain of those who are different from us: Modulation of EEG in the mu/alpha range

We explored how apparently painful stimuli and the ability to identify with the person on whom the pain is inflicted modulate EEG suppression in the mu/alpha range (8–12 Hz). In a 2 × 2 design, we presented pictures of hands either experiencing needle pricks or being touched by a Q-tip. In the dissimilar-other condition, the hand was assigned to a patient suffering from a neurological disease in which Q-tips inflicted pain, whereas needle pricks did not. In the similar-other condition, the hand was assigned to a patient who responded to stimulation in the same way as the healthy participant. Participants were instructed to imagine the feeling of the person whose hand was shown and to evaluate his or her affective state. Pain conditions elicited greater EEG suppression than did nonpain conditions, particularly over frontocentral regions. Moreover, an interaction between pain and similarity revealed that for similar others, the pain effect was significant, whereas in the dissimilar-other group, suppression was equally large in the pain and no-pain conditions. We conclude that mu/alpha suppression is elicited both automatically, by observing a situation that is potentially painful for the observer, and by empathy for pain, even if the other person is different from oneself.     

An Item specific Locus of Repetition Priming

Two principal types of account of repetition priming postulate either facilitation of activation of perceptual representations used in stimulus recognition, or retrieval of specific processing episodes as possible mechanisms by which the effect occurs; these make different predictions concerning the priming of two stimuli presented simultaneously. In Experiments 1-3, subjects made same/different decisions about picture-word stimulus pairs. Recombining the pairings of a subset of items between training and test encounters did not significantly reduce the benefit in response time from repetition, as compared to pairs repeated intact. Subjects were able to remember the pairings (Experiment 4), but this did not influence repetition priming. Instead, the memory representations underlying the priming of each item in a pair were independent. No priming was found between pictures seen at training and words at test, and vice versa (Experiment 5), indicating that representations underlying the repetition effect were domain-specific. In Experiment 6, stimuli were all from within the domain of object pictures. Again, recombining the pairings of items between training and test did not significantly reduce the benefit in response time from repetition, as compared to pairs repeated intact. These results reveal an item-specific locus for repetition priming, consistent with priming occurring within pre-semantic perceptual representation systems involved in item recognition. The findings pose problems for theories that argue that repetition effects result only from retrieval of entire processing episodes.