Their pain is not our pain: brain and autonomic correlates of empathic resonance with the pain of same and different race individuals

Abstract

Recent advances in social neuroscience research have unveiled the neurophysiological correlates of race and intergroup processing. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying intergroup empathy. Combining event-related fMRI with measurements of pupil dilation as an index of autonomic reactivity, we explored how race and group membership affect empathy-related responses. White and Black subjects were presented with video clips depicting white, black, and unfamiliar violet-skinned hands being either painfully penetrated by a syringe or being touched by a Q-tip. Both hemodynamic activity within areas known to be involved in the processing of first and third-person emotional experiences of pain, i.e., bilateral anterior insula, and autonomic reactivity were greater for the pain experienced by own-race compared to that of other-race and violet models. Interestingly, greater implicit racial bias predicted increased activity within the left anterior insula during the observation of own-race pain relative to other-race pain. Our findings highlight the close link between group-based segregation and empathic processing. Moreover, they demonstrate the relative influence of culturally acquired implicit attitudes and perceived similarity/familiarity with the target in shaping emotional responses to others' physical pain.

Keywords: autonomic; categorization; empathy; fMRI; insula; pupil dilation; racial bias.

Figure 1

Subjective ratings of familiarity (A) and similarity (B) with the models' hands, and intensity (C) and unpleasantness (D) of the sensation supposedly felt by each group of models. **P < 0.001.

Figure 2

Pupil dilation (mm) over time (ms) in response to the pain (pain > touch) of each model group. The white vertical bar signals the time point defining early and late time windows. Significant statistical differences found only for the late time window. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.001.

Figure 3

Brain responses associated with (A) main effect of pain (contrast: (all pain stimuli > all touch stimuli), and (B) main effect of group membership (contrast: [(pain + touch) own‐race > (pain + touch) out‐groups]). (C) Parameter estimates extracted from the cluster in the right inferior temporal cortex, including extrastriate body area (EBA), associated with the observation of each model group (other‐race, own‐race, violet) independently of stimulation type (pain + touch). P < 0.05 (FWE) at cluster level.

Figure 4

(A) Activation in the left anterior insula reflecting in‐group bias in empathic reactivity (contrast: [(pain > touch) own‐race > (pain > touch) out‐groups)]), P < 0.05 (FEW) at cluster level. (B) 3D rendering of the canonical MNI template showing the location of the three ROIs—left anterior insula (lAI; red), anterior medial cingulate cortex (aMCC; green), and right anterior insula (rAI; blue). (C) Parameter estimates extracted from each region of interest (ROI) when subjects observed pain and touch being delivered to each group of models (other‐race, own‐race, Violet), *P < 0.05.

Figure 5

(A) Correlation between the mean activity within the lAI ROI for the contrast [(pain > touch) own‐race > (pain > touch) other‐race)] and individual scores in the racial implicit association test (IAT). Greater activity for own‐race models was associated with higher racial bias. (B) Correlation between the mean activity within the lAI ROI and pupil dilation (mean averaged values) for the contrast [(pain > touch) own‐race > (pain > touch) out‐groups)]. WS, white subjects; BS, Black subjects; O, overall correlation.