Abstract
Empathy refers to the ability to understand someone else's emotions and fluctuates with the current state in healthy individuals. However, little is known about the neural network of empathy in clinical populations at different pain states. The current study aimed to examine the effects of long-term pain on empathy-related networks and whether empathy varied at different pain states by studying primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) patients. Multivariate partial least squares was employed in 46 PDM women and 46 healthy controls (HC) during periovulatory, luteal, and menstruation phases. We identified neural networks associated with different aspects of empathy in both groups. Part of the obtained empathy-related network in PDM exhibited a similar activity compared with HC, including the right anterior insula and other regions, whereas others have an opposite activity in PDM, including the inferior frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule. These results indicated an abnormal regulation to empathy in PDM. Furthermore, there was no difference in empathy association patterns in PDM between the pain and pain-free states. This study suggested that long-term pain experience may lead to an abnormal function of the brain network for empathy processing that did not vary with the pain or pain-free state across the menstrual cycle.
Highlights
Empathy is a complex psychological construct that enable the sharing of the emotions, pain, and sensations of others, and allow the exertion of cognitive ability in our interactions [1]
Forty-six right-handed patients with Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) and forty-six gendermatched healthy controls (HC) were recruited in the study
In the HC group, we found that the resting brain activity was negatively correlated with trait empathy in the middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, posterior cingulate, right inferior parietal lobule (IPL), postcentral gyrus, and left supramarginal gyrus (Table 3)
Summary
Empathy is a complex psychological construct that enable the sharing of the emotions, pain, and sensations of others, and allow the exertion of cognitive ability in our interactions [1]. Neuroimaging has been developed to assess the neural mechanisms of empathy in healthy individuals, and has consistently identified a core network comprising the anterior insula (AI) and the mid-cingulate cortex (MCC) in empathic states [6]. An electroencephalographic (EEG) study showed that the motor component of empathy for pain can be influenced by the mood states [5]. Given that long-term pain can lead to maladaptive alteration in the central nervous system, including regions associated with empathy [9], whether empathy in clinical populations with pain can be influenced by prior pain experiences is still unknown. PDM can be used as a great clinical model to study both the effects of long-term menstrual pain on empathy and the difference of the empathy between painful and pain-free states
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
