How do we perceive the pain of others A window into the.pdfVIP

/locate/ynimg NeuroImage 24 (2005) 771– 779 How do we perceive the pain of others? A window into the neural processes involved in empathy Philip L. Jackson, Andrew N. Meltzoff, and Jean Decety* Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195-7988, USA Received 12 May 2004; revised 23 August 2004; accepted 7 September 2004 Available online 14 November 2004 To what extent do we share feelings with others? Neuroimaging as others’ emotions, desires, and intentions (Batson, 1997; investigations of the neural mechanisms involved in the perception of Brothers, 1989; Davis, 1996; Decety and Jackson, in press; Harris, pain in others may cast light on one basic component of human 2000; Meltzoff, 2002; Preston and de Waal, 2002). Various empathy, the interpersonal sharing of affect. In this fMRI study, definitions of empathy have been proposed, but two primary participants were shown a series of still photographs of hands and feet components are consistent across numerous conceptualizations: (1) in situations that are likely to cause pain, and a matched set of control an affective response to another person, which often, but not photographs without any painful events. They were asked to assess on- always, entails sharing that person’s emotional state, and (2) a line the level of p