The dual facilitatory and inhibitory effects of social pain on physical pain perception.

ABSTRACT: Pain is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that encompasses both physical pain experienced physiologically and social pain experienced emotionally. The interactions between them are thought to lead to increased pain load. However, the effect of social pain on physical pain perception during interactions remains unclear. Four experiments were conducted merging physical and social pains to examine the behavioral pattern and neural mechanism of the effect of social pain on physical pain perception. Seemingly paradoxical effects of social pain were observed, which both facilitated and inhibited physical pain perception under different attention orientations. Brain imaging revealed that the posterior insula encoded the facilitatory effect, whereas the frontal pole engaged in the inhibitory effect.

SUBMITTER: Zhang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10844037 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature