Empathic Response or Affective Response: A Study on the Affective Cue in the Empathy for Pain Paradigm

Research on neural correlates of empathy towards pain identified as an event-related potential (ERP) component has become popular recently. However, N1, P2, and N2 components were found to be unreliable indicators of empathy-related processes. Thus, we decided to test whether the neuronal response of these components relates to empathy or whether it is an affective response to a stimulus connected with pain. According to our results, the amplitude of the N1, N2, and P3 ERP components was sensitive to the type of subject (human vs. vegetable/fruit). However, stimulation had a significant effect on the P2 component. The amplitude of P2 was significantly different when participants observed affective cues (needle or cotton stick), regardless of whether it concerned another person or an object. According to our knowledge, this is the first study on affective/ empathic stimuli and ERP components.