Empathy Activates Emotional Pain-sensitive Regions of the Brain

In recent years a growing area of research has been looking into the question of the way in which and extent to which human beings can empathize with others and understand and comprehend those persons experiences. According to new research by University College London (UCL) scientists empathizing with the pain of others involves the re-activation of the entire pain network underlying the processing of pain in our selves.

Investigations with people who have a strong emotional attachment to one another have led to the observation that in the brain of someone in whose presence another person suffers pain, most of the very same brain regions are activated that are also activated when processing pain in our selves: Knowing our partner is in pain automatically triggers affective pain processing regions of our brains. Only the somatosensory cortex, the area of the brain which localises physical pain, remains inactive. The pain network of the brain consists of an affective (emotional) component and a sensory one. Empathy for pain of others involves the affective, but not sensory component of our pain experience. The intensity of the activation of the pain network is coupled with the degree of emotional attachment and with the general ability to empathize.

According to Dr Tania Singer, the author of the study, activation of the affective pain-sensitive regions of the brain helps us to understand the feelings of others and to anticipate their actions. This ability to empathize is also the basis for deep emotional attachments.

The investigation

Tania Singer, an imaging neuroscientist at University College London, and her colleagues performed an experiment to see whether any parts of this process happens in the brains of people who aren’t experiencing the pain themselves, but are simply empathizing with someone who is.

The team first delivered an electric shock to the hands of 16 women, and observed their brain activity using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. The team found that their brains were activated in several areas, including both sensory and emotional regions.

They then delivered an electric shock to the hand of each woman’s partner instead. The women were allowed to see the shock being administered, but were prevented from watching their partner’s face during the treatment. This eliminated a large part of the emotional response one might expect from watching a friend in pain.

Even so, the researchers found that the women’s brains still lit up in the same emotional areas as when their own hand was being shocked.

The study shows that empathy works by tapping into a brain mechanism that already exists for our own pain, says Singer. This makes us believe we are feeling pain emotionally even when we are not feeling it physically.

“The significance of this research is that, for the first time, brain imagers were able to study empathic processes ‘in vivo’ in the usually unnatural scanning environment and show that emotional and not cognitive processes are triggered by the mere perception of a symbol indicating that your loved-one is in pain,” says author Dr Tania Singer.

“Our human capacity to ‘tune in’ to others when exposed to their feelings may explain why we do not always behave selfishly in human interactions but instead engage in altruistic, helping behaviour,” suggests Dr Tania Singer.

Strong bonds

The emotional activity was stronger in some people than in others. The response seemed to be greater in those with a stronger emotional bond, says Singer. “It is very heavy for people who care,” says Singer.

Singer thinks the empathic response probably enables us to forge loving bonds, such as between a mother and child. “It has an evolutionary function,” she says. “In a broader sense, empathy can help us understand what someone else is feeling.”

Source: Singer, T. et al. Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science, 303, 1157 - 1162, (2004).