Is the Extrastriate Body Area (EBA) Sensitive to the Perception of Pain in Others?

Abstract

Recent neuroimaging findings suggest a role of the extrastriate body area (EBA) in self/other distinction and in the perception of pain and emotions in others. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated whether EBA is modulated by the perception of pain in others. Participants were scanned during 2 consecutive sessions: 1) a localizer task precisely identifying EBA in each individual and 2) event-related trials in which participants watched pictures of pain (needle injections into human hands) inflicted in others or control stimuli showing hands in no pain. The perception of pain recruited large parts of the so-called pain matrix, documenting shared neural representations between the perception of pain in self and other. Both the needle injections and the control stimuli consistently activated bilateral EBA, replicating involvement of this area in the perception of body parts. However, activation during the perception of painful stimuli was not different from signal changes during perception of the control stimuli. This suggests that EBA is not specifically involved in empathy for pain.