Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, United States
Choong-Wan Woo
Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
Luke J Chang
Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States
Luka Ruzic
Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, United States
Xiaosi Gu
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States
Marina López-Solà
Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
Philip L Jackson
École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada
Jesús Pujol
MRI Research Unit, Radiology Department, Hospital del Mar, CIBERSAM G21, Barcelona, Spain
Department of Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York, New York City, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, United States
Tor D Wager
Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
Understanding how humans represent others’ pain is critical for understanding pro-social behavior. ‘Shared experience’ theories propose common brain representations for somatic and vicarious pain, but other evidence suggests that specialized circuits are required to experience others’ suffering. Combining functional neuroimaging with multivariate pattern analyses, we identified dissociable patterns that predicted somatic (high versus low: 100%) and vicarious (high versus low: 100%) pain intensity in out-of-sample individuals. Critically, each pattern was at chance in predicting the other experience, demonstrating separate modifiability of both patterns. Somatotopy (upper versus lower limb: 93% accuracy for both conditions) was also distinct, located in somatosensory versus mentalizing-related circuits for somatic and vicarious pain, respectively. Two additional studies demonstrated the generalizability of the somatic pain pattern (which was originally developed on thermal pain) to mechanical and electrical pain, and also demonstrated the replicability of the somatic/vicarious dissociation. These findings suggest possible mechanisms underlying limitations in feeling others’ pain, and present new, more specific, brain targets for studying pain empathy.
