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Li M, Racey C, Rae CL, Strawson W, Critchley HD, Ward J. Can the neural representation of physical pain predict empathy for pain in others? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae023. [PMID: 38481007 PMCID: PMC11008503 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The question of whether physical pain and vicarious pain have some shared neural substrates is unresolved. Recent research has argued that physical and vicarious pain are represented by dissociable multivariate brain patterns by creating biomarkers for physical pain (Neurologic Pain Signature, NPS) and vicarious pain (Vicarious Pain Signature, VPS), respectively. In the current research, the NPS and two versions of the VPS were applied to three fMRI datasets (one new, two published) relating to vicarious pain which focused on between-subject differences in vicarious pain (Datasets 1 and 3) and within-subject manipulations of perspective taking (Dataset 2). Results show that (i) NPS can distinguish brain responses to images of pain vs no-pain and to a greater extent in vicarious pain responders who report experiencing pain when observing pain and (ii) neither version of the VPS mapped on to individual differences in vicarious pain and the two versions differed in their success in predicting vicarious pain overall. This study suggests that the NPS (created to detect physical pain) is, under some circumstances, sensitive to vicarious pain and there is significant variability in VPS measures (created to detect vicarious pain) to act as generalizable biomarkers of vicarious pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Li
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
| | - C Racey
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
| | - C L Rae
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
| | - W Strawson
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9PX, UK
| | - H D Critchley
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9PX, UK
| | - J Ward
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
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Lisi MP, Fusaro M, Aglioti SM. Visual perspective and body ownership modulate vicarious pain and touch: A systematic review. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02477-5. [PMID: 38429591 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02477-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
We conducted a systematic review investigating the influence of visual perspective and body ownership (BO) on vicarious brain resonance and vicarious sensations during the observation of pain and touch. Indeed, the way in which brain reactivity and the phenomenological experience can be modulated by blurring the bodily boundaries of self-other distinction is still unclear. We screened Scopus and WebOfScience, and identified 31 articles, published from 2000 to 2022. Results show that assuming an egocentric perspective enhances vicarious resonance and vicarious sensations. Studies on synaesthetes suggest that vicarious conscious experiences are associated with an increased tendency to embody fake body parts, even in the absence of congruent multisensory stimulation. Moreover, immersive virtual reality studies show that the type of embodied virtual body can affect high-order sensations such as appropriateness, unpleasantness, and erogeneity, associated with the touched body part and the toucher's social identity. We conclude that perspective plays a key role in the resonance with others' pain and touch, and full-BO over virtual avatars allows investigation of complex aspects of pain and touch perception which would not be possible in reality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo P Lisi
- CLN2S@Sapienza, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161, Rome, Italy.
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179, Rome, Italy.
| | - Martina Fusaro
- CLN2S@Sapienza, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179, Rome, Italy
| | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- CLN2S@Sapienza, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179, Rome, Italy
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Chancel M, Ehrsson HH. Proprioceptive uncertainty promotes the rubber hand illusion. Cortex 2023; 165:70-85. [PMID: 37269634 PMCID: PMC10284257 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Body ownership is the multisensory perception of a body as one's own. Recently, the emergence of body ownership illusions like the visuotactile rubber hand illusion has been described by Bayesian causal inference models in which the observer computes the probability that visual and tactile signals come from a common source. Given the importance of proprioception for the perception of one's body, proprioceptive information and its relative reliability should impact this inferential process. We used a detection task based on the rubber hand illusion where participants had to report whether the rubber hand felt like their own or not. We manipulated the degree of asynchrony of visual and tactile stimuli delivered to the rubber hand and the real hand under two levels of proprioceptive noise using tendon vibration applied to the lower arm's antagonist extensor and flexor muscles. As hypothesized, the probability of the emergence of the rubber hand illusion increased with proprioceptive noise. Moreover, this result, well fitted by a Bayesian causal inference model, was best described by a change in the a priori probability of a common cause for vision and touch. These results offer new insights into how proprioceptive uncertainty shapes the multisensory perception of one's own body.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Chancel
- Department of Neuroscience, Brain, Body and Self Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France.
| | - H Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Brain, Body and Self Laboratory, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
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He J, Ren H, Li J, Dong M, Dai L, Li Z, Miao Y, Li Y, Tan P, Gu L, Chen X, Tang J. Deficits in Sense of Body Ownership, Sensory Processing, and Temporal Perception in Schizophrenia Patients With/Without Auditory Verbal Hallucinations. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:831714. [PMID: 35495040 PMCID: PMC9046910 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.831714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been claimed that individuals with schizophrenia have difficulty in self-recognition and, consequently, are unable to identify the sources of their sensory perceptions or thoughts, resulting in delusions, hallucinations, and unusual experiences of body ownership. The deficits also contribute to the enhanced rubber hand illusion (RHI; a body perception illusion, induced by synchronous visual and tactile stimulation). Evidence based on RHI paradigms is emerging that auditory information can make an impact on the sense of body ownership, which relies on the process of multisensory inputs and integration. Hence, we assumed that auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), as an abnormal auditory perception, could be linked with body ownership, and the RHI paradigm could be conducted in patients with AVHs to explore the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the performance of patients with/without AVHs in the RHI. We administered the RHI paradigm to 80 patients with schizophrenia (47 with AVHs and 33 without AVHs) and 36 healthy controls. We conducted the experiment under two conditions (synchronous and asynchronous) and evaluated the RHI effects by both objective and subjective measures. Both patient groups experienced the RHI more quickly and strongly than HCs. The RHI effects of patients with AVHs were significantly smaller than those of patients without AVHs. Another important finding was that patients with AVHs did not show a reduction in RHI under asynchronous conditions. These results emphasize the disturbances of the sense of body ownership in schizophrenia patients with/without AVHs and the associations with AVHs. Furthermore, it is suggested that patients with AVHs may have multisensory processing dysfunctions and internal timing deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingqi He
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Honghong Ren
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jinguang Li
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
- Affiliated Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Min Dong
- Guangdong Mental Health Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lulin Dai
- Department of Neurosurgery, Center for Functional Neurosurgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhijun Li
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yating Miao
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yunjin Li
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Peixuan Tan
- Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
| | - Lin Gu
- RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, Tokyo, Japan
- Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Xiaogang Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
- *Correspondence: Xiaogang Chen,
| | - Jinsong Tang
- Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run-Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zigong Mental Health Center, Zigong, China
- Jinsong Tang,
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