Working memory load modulates the neural response to other's pain: Evidence from an ERP study

Fang Cui; Xiangru Zhu; Yuejia Luo; Jiaping Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2017.02.026

Working memory load modulates the neural response to other's pain: Evidence from an ERP study

Neurosci Lett. 2017 Mar 22:644:24-29. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.02.026. Epub 2017 Feb 11.

Authors

Fang Cui¹, Xiangru Zhu², Yuejia Luo³, Jiaping Cheng⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: cuifang0826@gmail.com.
² Institute of Cognition and Behavior, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.
³ Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

PMID: 28196714
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.02.026

Abstract

The present study investigated the time course of processing other's pain under different conditions of working memory (WM) load. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while the participants held two digits (low WM load) or six digits (high WM load) in WM and viewed pictures that showed others who were in painful or non-painful situations. Robust WM-load×Picture interactions were found for the N2 and LPP components. In the high WM-load condition, painful pictures elicited significantly larger amplitudes than non-painful pictures. In the low WM load condition, the difference between the painful and non-painful pictures was not significant. These ERP results indicate that WM load can influence both the early automatic N2 component and late cognitive LPP component. Compared with high WM load, low WM load reduced affective arousal and emotional sharing in response to other's pain and weakened the cognitive evaluation of task irrelevant stimuli. These findings are explained from the load theory perspective.

Keywords: ERPs; Load theory; Other’s pain; Working memory load.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attention / physiology*
Electroencephalography
Empathy / physiology*
Evoked Potentials
Female
Humans
Male
Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
Pain*
Young Adult