From painkiller to empathy killer: acetaminophen (paracetamol) reduces empathy for pain.

ABSTRACT: Simulation theories of empathy hypothesize that empathizing with others' pain shares some common psychological computations with the processing of one's own pain. Support for this perspective has largely relied on functional neuroimaging evidence of an overlap between activations during the experience of physical pain and empathy for other people's pain. Here, we extend the functional overlap perspective to the neurochemical level and test whether a common physical painkiller, acetaminophen (paracetamol), can reduce empathy for another's pain. In two double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, participants rated perceived pain, personal distress and empathic concern in response to reading scenarios about another's physical or social pain, witnessing ostracism in the lab, or visualizing an

SUBMITTER: Mischkowski D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5015806 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature