Feeling Other People's Pain: An Event-Related Potential Study on Facial Attractiveness and Emotional Empathy
| Autor: | Paweł Augustynowicz, Natalia Kopiś, Piotr Francuz, Emilia Zabielska-Mendyk |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Attractiveness
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Emotional empathy media_common.quotation_subject emotional empathy Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Empathy 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences Neuroimaging Event-related potential Facial attractiveness pain ERP study Applied Psychology 0105 earth and related environmental sciences media_common General Neuroscience Cognitive Psychology Cognition facial attractiveness Psychiatry and Mental health Clinical Psychology Feeling Psychology (miscellaneous) Psychology Cognitive psychology |
| Zdroj: | Advances in Cognitive Psychology |
| ISSN: | 1895-1171 |
| DOI: | 10.5709/acp-0294-8 |
| Popis: | Empathy is the ability to understand and react to other people's inner states. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that there are two aspects of empathy which are subserved by distinct brain networks. The emotional aspect of empathy is reflected by bottom-up processes and the cognitive aspect of empathy is influenced by top-down processes. Both aspects can be studied by measuring the reaction of participants exposed to the pictures of models who feel physical pain, for example, having a needle stuck in their cheek. The early event-related potential (ERP) N2 has been reported in observing other’s physical pain and has been suggested as a biomarker of the emotional aspect of empathy. The present study investigated the time course of processing other’s pain and the influence of face attractiveness on the early ERP component. Participants (N = 24) viewed photos of physically attractive and unattractive men and women during painful (a needle in the check) and nonpainful stimulation (Q-tip touching the skin). N1 and P2 components were sensitive to face attractiveness. The amplitude of the N2 component was more positive for the stimuli associated with pain than for neutral stimuli, but only for unattractive faces. Therefore, we suggest that a difference in the N2 amplitude to pain in unattractive faces most likely reflects a difference in emphatic response depending on facial attractiveness. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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