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Oxford University Press, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(7), p. 535-541

DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsr034

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Empathic neural responses to others’ pain depend on monetary reward

Journal article published in 2011 by Xiuyan Guo, Li Zheng, Wei Zhang, Lei Zhu, Jianqi Li, Qianfeng Wang, Zoltan Dienes ORCID, Zhiliang Yang
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Human empathy is not merely a resonance with others’ physical condition, but is modulated by social factors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study demonstrated an increased brain empathic response to others in pain when they received no rather than a large reward, with increments of the ACC, aMCC, insula and postcentral gyrus in the pain matrix and temporoparietal junction. Thus, pain target’s financial situation modulated brain empathic responses in the pain matrix based on an understanding of the situation pain target faces.