| Pain empathy can enhance pro-social behavior and maintain good interpersonal relationships.In current physiological pain empathy studies,researchers often use pictures of limb pain as stimulus materials,but the effects of different perspectives on pain empathy have not been found in terms of stimulus properties,and in studies of observer factors,observer personality traits(e.g.,trait empathy and narrative disorders)and emotional states also affect pain empathy,but their neurophysiological basis is unclear and needs to be studied in depth.Since stereotactic-EEG technology has both high temporal and spatial resolution,the present study used this technology to investigate the effects of personality traits and one’s own emotional state on intracranial electrical signals in the bilateral amygdala,left anterior cingulate gyrus and left anterior insula during limbic pain empathy in terms of time course,and to investigate the intrinsic cognitive and neural mechanisms.Experiment 1 conducted a meta-analysis of brain structures associated with trait empathy in healthy individuals and found that the main brain structures were the temporal pole/supratemporal gyrus,amygdala,hippocampus and insula of the left medial temporal lobe,which provided a structural basis for subsequent exploration of brain regions.Experiment 2 used a limb pain empathy task without an emotional background in epileptic patients,and only a pain condition main effect was found for the behavioral results.SEEG results revealed that the main frequency band of the left anterior insula and bilateral amygdala was the theta band,and twice power increases occurred between 200-300 ms and 500-700 ms in the bilateral amygdala.In the theta band,higher first perspective power was found in the left amygdala at 600-700 ms and in the right amygdala at 200-300 ms.In contrast,higher pain condition power was found in the right amygdala at 300-400 ms in the theta band and at 500-600 ms in the alpha band.Correlation analysis of personality characteristics with each condition revealed a significant positive correlation between DIF scores and the first-perspective nonpain condition in the theta band of the left amygdala,while in the alpha band of the right amygdala,there was a significant negative correlation between PT scores and the non-pain condition power and DDF scores and the pain condition power.Experiment 3 added anger,happiness and neutral emotion conditions to Experiment 2.The behavioral results showed that there was only a main effect of pain intensity ratings for the pain condition.SEEG results were only found in the bilateral amygdala,the main frequency band was theta band,and both found higher amplitude energy in the non-pain condition than in the pain condition at an early stage.In the theta band of the right amygdala,the amplitude of angry emotions was found to be significantly higher than that of happy in the 0-100 ms and 400-500 ms,and the amplitude energy of the first perspective was higher in the 0-100 ms.Correlation analysis of personality characteristics with each condition revealed that in the left amygdala only EC scores were marginally significantly negatively correlated with angry and neutral emotion.In summary,the following conclusions were drawn.1.there is a correlation between the individual’s level of alexithymia and theta\alpha band energy of the electrical signals in the bilateral amygdala during the empathic response to pain.2.there are inter-perspective differences in theta band power in the right amygdala under different conditions.3.In the right amygdala,theta band power evoked by angry emotions was significantly higher than that of happy emotions. |
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