Vicarious facilitation of facial responses to pain: Does the others' expression need to be painful?

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Prior exposure to others' facial expressions of pain can lead to a facilitation of pain responses, including its corresponding response channel, namely facial responses to pain. It has been questioned, however, whether this vicarious pain facilitation occurs only when observing others' pain or whether the observation of other negative expressions can trigger similar facilitation of facial responses to pain. The study aimed to test this, by comparing the impact of viewing others' facial expressions of pain versus another negative expression (sadness) and two control expressions (neutral, happiness) on facial responses to pain.

Method

Participants (N = 56; 31 females), watched short video clips of computer-generated facial expressions (pain, sadness, neutral & hap

SUBMITTER: Goller PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11609883 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature