Perspective matters: using past experiences to understand others’ insensitivity to physical pain

Prior research has shown that autobiographical memory (AM) supports empathy, allowing individuals to use the self as a model for understanding others. However, when the subjective experience of an event diverges between observer and target, relying on AM may hinder empathic processes, rather than support them.

In this study, we recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) data from 36 healthy young adults during a pain decision task to investigate empathy for individuals described as either sensitive to physical pain (like the participants) or clinically insensitive to physical pain. Participants reported lower empathy for insensitive than for sensitive targets, regardless of whether they had personally experienced the specific event that caused physical pain.

Event-related potential (ERP) analyses revealed differences in neural responses to sensitive and insensitive targets at a late stage of processing, in the discending phase of the P300 component; these differences were positively correlated with individual differences in empathy.

To determine the underlying mechanisms, we applied multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to assess whether empathy for physical painrelies on AM reactivation or instead engages active perspective taking.

We observed that AM reactivation can serve as a flexible mechanism that supports empathy by enabling observers to shift perspective when direct experiential overlap is lacking.