Cognitive Neural Mechanism Of The Influence Of Attention Cues On Compassion Fatigue

Empathy is the basis for developing human social civilization and one of the human instincts.Empathy can help us understand others’ emotions,regulate social morality and promote harmonious development,and is an indispensable prerequisite for interpersonal communication.However,the ability to empathize can also bring certain side effects,such as compassion fatigue.Compassion fatigue manifests itself as a depressed mood,feeling tired,and reduced empathic ability.This study explores the effects of attention cues on empathy fatigue from the perspective of brain mechanisms.This study explored the effects of having subjects complete a pain judgment task(in which subjects’ attention was directed to cognitive cues)and an emotional judgment task(in which subjects’ attention was directed to emotional cues)on compassion fatigue under two visual-auditory modalities,respectively.Study 1 used visual stimuli as experimental material.Experiment 1a of Study 1 used a 2(task type: pain judgment task,emotion judgment task)× 3(time zone groups: block 1,block 2,and block 3)within-subject design through a behavioral experiment in which 40 subjects performed different judgment tasks,i.e.,an emotion judgment task and a pain judgment task,for three timezone groups.Experiment 1b of Study 1 used a 2(task type: pain judgment task,emotion judgment task)× 3(time zone group: block 1,block 2,and block 3)within-subjects design by ERP experiment and had 27 subjects perform different judgment tasks,i.e.,emotion judgment task and pain judgment task,for three timezone groups.Study 2 used auditory stimuli as the experimental material.Experiment 2a of Study 2 used a within-subject design of 2(task type: pain judgment task,emotion judgment task)× 3(time zone groups: block 1,block 2,and block 3)through behavioral experiments,allowing 40 subjects to perform different judgment tasks,i.e.,emotion judgment task and pain judgment task,for three timezone groups.Experiment 2b of Study 2 used a 2(task type: pain judgment task,emotion judgment task)× 3(time zone group: block 1,block 2,and block 3)within-subject design by ERP experiment,and had27 subjects perform different judgment tasks,i.e.,emotion judgment task and pain judgment task,for three timezone groups.The main findings were as follows:Study 1 found that the task type and timezone group interactions were significant under the visual modality.The results of behavioral experiments showed that when attention was paid to emotional cues,subjects had more pronounced empathic responses,were more depressed,had significantly diminished empathic responses,and experienced compassion fatigue.However,when attention was paid to cognitive cues,subjects’ emotional arousal was significantly diminished.ERP experiments showed that the timezone group and task type interaction was significant,and individuals evoked significantly larger N2 wave amplitude in block 1 and in block 2 than in block 3 during the emotion judgment task.This indicates that compared to attention to pain cues,empathic responses diminished significantly,and stronger compassion fatigue occurred when individuals attended to emotional cues.Study 2 found that under the auditory modality,the timezone group and task type interaction was significant,and the N1 wave amplitude evoked by block 1 was significantly larger than that evoked by block 3 in the pain judgment task.This indicates that when individuals attend to cognitive cues,compared to attending to emotional cues,subjects’ empathic responses are significantly diminished and stronger compassion fatigue occurs.The above findings suggest that compassion fatigue is differentially affected by attention cues in different modalities.At the cognitive-neural level,attention to emotional cues elicited stronger compassion fatigue compared to attention to cognitive cues in visual processing.In auditory processing,cognitive cues elicited stronger compassion fatigue compared to emotional cues.Different findings were obtained for different stimulus materials.The results of this study help people to choose appropriate coping styles for different empathic stresses.This study expands the scope of empathic fatigue research,involves daily hot topics,is close to life reality,and has some educational significance for different populations.