Inter-subject phase synchronization differentiates neural networks underlying physical pain empathy.

ABSTRACT: Recent approaches for understanding the neural basis of pain empathy emphasize the dynamic construction of networks underlying this multifaceted social cognitive process. Inter-subject phase synchronization (ISPS) is an approach for exploratory analysis of task-fMRI data that reveals brain networks dynamically synchronized to task-features across participants. We applied ISPS to task-fMRI data assessing vicarious pain empathy in healthy participants (n = 238). The task employed physical (limb) and affective (face) painful and corresponding non-painful visual stimuli. ISPS revealed two distinct networks synchronized during physical pain observation, one encompassing anterior insula and midcingulate regions strongly engaged in (vicarious) pain and another encompassing parietal and inferior f

SUBMITTER: Xu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7304508 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature