Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study
Introduction Empathizing with others’ pain appears to recruit the whole pain matrix, including a collection of frontal regions involved in the affective, motivational, cognitive, and attentional dimension of pain. Objectives This research explored how the modulation of interoceptive attentivenes...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2021-04-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933821011640/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797616301529628672 |
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| author | L. Angioletti M. Balconi |
| author_facet | L. Angioletti M. Balconi |
| author_sort | L. Angioletti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Introduction
Empathizing with others’ pain appears to recruit the whole pain matrix, including a collection of frontal regions involved in the affective, motivational, cognitive, and attentional dimension of pain.
Objectives
This research explored how the modulation of interoceptive attentiveness (IA) can influence the frontal (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -DLPFC- and somatosensory cortices) activity related to the emotional regulation and sensory response of observing pain in others.
Methods
22 healthy participants were required to observe face versus hand, painful/non-painful stimuli in an individual versus social condition while brain hemodynamic response (oxygenated [O2Hb] and deoxygenated hemoglobin [HHb] components) was measured by functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). The sample was divided into experimental (EXP) and control (CNT) groups and the EXP group was explicitly required to focus on its interoceptive correlates while observing the stimuli.
Results
In the individual condition, higher brain responsiveness was detected for painful confronted to non-painful stimuli, and a left/right hemispheric lateralization was found for the individual and social condition, respectively. Besides, both groups showed higher DLPFC activation for face stimuli displayed in the individual condition compared to hand stimuli in the social condition. However, face stimuli activation prevailed for the EXP group, suggesting the direct interoceptive phenomenon has certain features, namely it manifests itself in the individual condition and for pain stimuli.
Conclusions
We can conclude that IA modulation promoted the recruitment of internal adaptive regulatory strategies engaging both DLPFC and somatosensory regions towards emotionally relevant stimuli (painful faces displayed in the individual condition). Therefore IA could be trained for promoting emotion regulation and empathic response.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:39:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9530ad65e8a9438b82d8458077c26b7e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:39:13Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-9530ad65e8a9438b82d8458077c26b7e2023-11-17T05:08:55ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852021-04-0164S436S43610.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.1164Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs studyL. Angioletti0M. Balconi1International Research Center For Applied Cognitive Neuroscience (irccan), Research Unit In Affective And Social Neuroscience, Department Of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy, Milano, ItalyInternational Research Center For Applied Cognitive Neuroscience (irccan), Research Unit In Affective And Social Neuroscience, Department Of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy, Milano, Italy Introduction Empathizing with others’ pain appears to recruit the whole pain matrix, including a collection of frontal regions involved in the affective, motivational, cognitive, and attentional dimension of pain. Objectives This research explored how the modulation of interoceptive attentiveness (IA) can influence the frontal (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -DLPFC- and somatosensory cortices) activity related to the emotional regulation and sensory response of observing pain in others. Methods 22 healthy participants were required to observe face versus hand, painful/non-painful stimuli in an individual versus social condition while brain hemodynamic response (oxygenated [O2Hb] and deoxygenated hemoglobin [HHb] components) was measured by functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). The sample was divided into experimental (EXP) and control (CNT) groups and the EXP group was explicitly required to focus on its interoceptive correlates while observing the stimuli. Results In the individual condition, higher brain responsiveness was detected for painful confronted to non-painful stimuli, and a left/right hemispheric lateralization was found for the individual and social condition, respectively. Besides, both groups showed higher DLPFC activation for face stimuli displayed in the individual condition compared to hand stimuli in the social condition. However, face stimuli activation prevailed for the EXP group, suggesting the direct interoceptive phenomenon has certain features, namely it manifests itself in the individual condition and for pain stimuli. Conclusions We can conclude that IA modulation promoted the recruitment of internal adaptive regulatory strategies engaging both DLPFC and somatosensory regions towards emotionally relevant stimuli (painful faces displayed in the individual condition). Therefore IA could be trained for promoting emotion regulation and empathic response. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933821011640/type/journal_articleinteroceptive attentivenessPainempathyfNIRS |
| spellingShingle | L. Angioletti M. Balconi Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study European Psychiatry interoceptive attentiveness Pain empathy fNIRS |
| title | Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study |
| title_full | Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study |
| title_fullStr | Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study |
| title_short | Can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others? A fnirs study |
| title_sort | can interoceptive attentiveness modulate the brain correlates of observation of pain in others a fnirs study |
| topic | interoceptive attentiveness Pain empathy fNIRS |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933821011640/type/journal_article |
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