Table_1_Volitional Modulation of the Left DLPFC Neural Activity Based on a Pain Empathy Paradigm—A Potential Novel Therapeutic Target for Pain.DOCX

The ability to perceive and feel another person' pain as if it were one's own pain, e.g., pain empathy, is related to brain activity in the “pain-matrix” network. A non-core region of this network in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) has been suggested as a modulator of the attentional-cognitive dimensions of pain processing in the context of pain empathy. We conducted a neurofeedback experiment using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI-NF) to investigate the association between activity in the left DLPFC (our neurofeedback target area) and the perspective assumed by the participant (“first-person”/“Self” or “third-person”/“Other” perspective of a pain-inducing stimulus), based on a customized pain empathy task. Our main goals were to assess the participants' ability to volitionally modulate activity in their own DLPFC through an imagery task of pain empathy and to investigate into which extent this ability depends on feedback. Our results demonstrate participants' ability to significantly modulate brain activity of the neurofeedback target area for the “first-person”/”Self” and “third-person”/”Other” perspectives. Results of both perspectives show that the participants were able to modulate (with statistical significance) the activity already in the first run of the session, in spite of being naïve to the task and even in the absence of feedback information. Moreover, they improved modulation throughout the session, particularly in the “Self” perspective. These results provide new insights on the role of DLPFC in pain and pain empathy mechanisms and validate the proposed protocol, paving the way for future interventional studies in clinical populations with empathic deficits.

感知并体会他人痛苦如同己身之痛，即所谓的共情痛苦，此能力与“疼痛矩阵”网络中的大脑活动密切相关。该网络非核心区域，即背外侧前额叶皮层（Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex，简称DLPFC），被提议为在共情痛苦情境中调节疼痛处理注意力和认知维度的调节因子。本研究通过实时功能性磁共振成像（Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging，简称rt-fMRI-NF）的神经反馈实验，旨在探究左侧DLPFC（即我们的神经反馈目标区域）的活动与参与者所采取的视角（如痛苦诱导刺激的“第一人称”/“自我”或“第三人称”/“他人”视角）之间的关联，基于定制化的共情痛苦任务。本研究的主要目标是评估参与者通过疼痛共情的意象任务自愿调节自身DLPFC活动的能力，并探讨这种能力在多大程度上依赖于反馈。研究结果证实，参与者能够显著调节神经反馈目标区域的脑活动，针对“第一人称”/“自我”和“第三人称”/“他人”两种视角。两种视角的结果均表明，尽管参与者对任务一无所知，甚至在缺乏反馈信息的情况下，他们仍能在会话的第一轮中调节（具有统计学意义的）活动，并且在会话过程中，尤其是在“自我”视角下，调节能力得到了提升。这些结果为DLPFC在疼痛及疼痛共情机制中的作用提供了新的洞见，并验证了所提出的方案，为未来在共情缺陷临床人群中的干预性研究铺平了道路。