Effects of social presence on behavioural, neural and physiological aspects of empathy for pain

Abstract

Social interactions are rich in cues about others’ mental and emotional states, and these cues have been shown to facilitate empathy. As more and more social interactions shift from direct to mediated interactions with reduced social cues, it’s possible that empathy is affected. We tested whether behavioural, neural and physiological aspects of empathy for pain are reduced in a video-mediated interaction. To this end, 30 human participants (23 females, 7 males) observed one of 5 targets (all female) undergoing painful electric stimulation, once in a direct interaction and once in a live, video-mediated interaction (within-subject design) while EEG was measured. On a behavioural level, we found that observers were as accurate in judging others’ pain via video as in a direct encounter and reported the same level of distress. On the neural and physiological levels, the theta response to others’ pain and skin conductance coupling in the dyad were reduced in the mediated condition. Other measures, including mu suppression (a common marker of pain empathy), were not affected by condition. To conclude, a video-mediated interaction did not impair the cognitive aspects of empathy for pain, i.e., understanding the other accurately. However, the reduced theta response and reduced skin conductance coupling suggest that physical proximity with its rich social cues is important for other stimulus-driven physiological responses that may be related to resonance with the other’s experience. Our results encourage more research on the role of social presence for different empathy components.