When it hurts even more: The neural dynamics of pain and interpersonal emotions (original) (raw)
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Separate neural representations for physical pain and social rejection
Nature Communications, 2014
Current theories suggest that physical pain and social rejection share common neural mechanisms, largely by virtue of overlapping functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity. Here we challenge this notion by identifying distinct multivariate fMRI patterns unique to pain and rejection. Sixty participants experience painful heat and warmth and view photos of ex-partners and friends on separate trials. FMRI pattern classifiers discriminate pain and rejection from their respective control conditions in out-of-sample individuals with 92% and 80% accuracy. The rejection classifier performs at chance on pain, and vice versa. Painand rejection-related representations are uncorrelated within regions thought to encode pain affect (for example, dorsal anterior cingulate) and show distinct functional connectivity with other regions in a separate resting-state data set (N ¼ 91). These findings demonstrate that separate representations underlie pain and rejection despite common fMRI activity at the gross anatomical level. Rather than co-opting pain circuitry, rejection involves distinct affective representations in humans.
The Neural Bases of Social Pain
Psychosomatic Medicine, 2012
Experiences of social rejection or loss have been described as some of the most 'painful' experiences that we, as humans, face and perhaps for good reason. Because of our prolonged period of immaturity, the social attachment system may have co-opted the pain system, borrowing the pain signal to prevent the detrimental consequences of social separation. This review summarizes a program of research that has explored the idea that experiences of physical and social pain rely on shared neural substrates. First, evidence showing that social pain activates painrelated neural regions is reviewed. Then, studies exploring some of the expected consequences of such a physical-social pain overlap are summarized. These studies demonstrate: 1) that individuals who are more sensitive to one kind of pain are also more sensitive to the other and 2) that factors that increase or decrease one kind of pain alter the other in a similar manner. Finally, what these shared neural substrates mean for our understanding of socially painful experience is discussed. Keywords social pain; physical pain; dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; anterior insula; brain; fMRI Psychologists have long noted the importance of social connection for human survival and have suggested that humans have a fundamental "need to belong" or to be socially connected to others [1-3]. Recent models have attempted to advance this idea further by proposing that, like other basic needs, a lack of social connection may feel "painful." Specifically, we and others have argued that there may be an overlap in the neural circuitry underlying experiences of physical pain and "social pain"-the painful feelings following social rejection or social loss [4-8]. From an evolutionary perspective, the idea that a lack of social connection feels "painful" makes good sense. As a mammalian species, humans are born relatively immature, without the capacity to feed or fend for themselves and instead rely almost completely on a caregiver to provide care and nourishment. Because of this prolonged period of mammalian immaturity, the social attachment system-which promotes social bonding-may have piggybacked onto the physical pain system, borrowing the pain signal itself to indicate when social relationships are threatened, thus promoting survival [8]. In other words, to the extent that being separated from a caregiver is such a severe threat to survival, being "hurt" by experiences of social separation may be an adaptive way to prevent them. Indeed, our language provides nice anecdotal evidence for the hypothesis that social and physical pain rely on shared neural circuitry. Specifically, when we describe experiences of social pain-social rejection or social loss-we often do so with physical pain words, complaining of "hurt feelings" or "broken hearts." In fact, this pattern has been shown to exist across many different languages and is not unique to the English language [8]. Moreover, at least in the English language, we have no other means of expressing these "hurt feelings" other than through the use of physical pain words. Still, linguistic evidence
Social rejection shares somatosensory representations with physical pain
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011
How similar are the experiences of social rejection and physical pain? Extant research suggests that a network of brain regions that support the affective but not sensory components of physical pain underlie both experiences. Here we demonstrate that when rejection is powerfully elicitedby having people who recently experienced an unwanted break-up view a photograph of their expartner as they think about being rejected -areas that support the sensory components of physical pain (secondary somatosensory cortex [S2]; dorsal posterior insula [dpINS]) become active. We demonstrate the overlap between social rejection and physical pain in these areas by comparing both conditions in the same individuals using fMRI. We further demonstrate the specificity of S2 and dpINS activity to physical pain by comparing activated locations in our study with a database of over 500 published studies. Activation in these regions was highly diagnostic of physical pain, with positive predictive values up to 88%. These results give new meaning to the idea that rejection "hurts." They demonstrate that rejection and physical pain are similar not only in that they are both distressing -they share a common somatosensory representation as well.
Although social and physical pain recruit overlapping neural activity in regions associated with the affective component of pain, the two pains can diverge in their phenomenology. Most notably, feelings of social pain can be re-experienced or "relived," even when the painful episode has long passed, whereas feelings of physical pain cannot be easily relived once the painful episode subsides. Here, we observed that reliving social (vs. physical) pain led to greater self-reported re-experienced pain and greater activity in affective pain regions (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula). Moreover, the degree of relived pain correlated positively with affective pain system activity. In contrast, reliving physical (vs. social) pain led to greater activity in the sensory-discriminative pain system (primary and secondary somatosensory cortex and posterior insula), which did not correlate with relived pain. Preferential engagement of these different pain mechanisms may reflect the use of different top-down neurocognitive pathways to elicit the pain. Social pain reliving recruited dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, often associated with mental state processing, which functionally correlated with affective pain system responses. In contrast, physical pain reliving recruited inferior frontal gyrus, known to be involved in body state processing, which functionally correlated with activation in the sensory pain system. These results update the physical-social pain overlap hypothesis: while overlapping mechanisms support live social and physical pain, distinct mechanisms guide internally-generated pain.
Social Pain and the Brain: Controversies, Questions, and Where to Go from Here
Annual Review of Psychology, 2015
Emerging evidence has shown that social pain—the painful feelings that follow from social rejection, exclusion, or loss—relies on some of the same neural regions that process physical pain, highlighting a possible physical-social pain overlap. However, the hypothesis that physical pain and social pain rely on shared neural systems has been contested. This review begins by summarizing research supporting the physical-social pain overlap. Next, three criticisms of this overlap model are presented and addressed by synthesizing available research. These criticisms include the suggestions that (a) neural responses to social pain are indicative of conflict detection processes, rather than distress; (b) all negative affective processes, rather than social pain specifically, activate these pain-related neural regions; and (c) neural responses to social (and physical) pain reflect the processing of salience, rather than hurt. Implications of these findings for understanding social and physic...
Neural Correlates of Social Pain
2016
In elementary school, many schoolchildren are introduced to the idiom, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This phrase implies not only that physical pain is entirely distinct from the negative feelings associated with a social blow, but that physical pain is far more crushing than anything inflicted by social experience, whether it be unintentionally insulting words or explicit social exclusion. However, as decades of psychological research have shown, this common schoolyard phrase does not hold true. Words and actions intended to cause psychological harm, including social exclusion, can hurt very much. In fact, research from the field of social neuroscience has helped us to understand that social pain-the painful feelings accompanying social rejection, exclusion, or loss-and physical pain are not such distinct entities. In fact, findings from social neuroscience have shown that social and physical pain are processed by overlapping neural regions, providing a solid foundation for understanding why social exclusion "hurts." As we will outline in this chapter, social and physical pain appear to share underlying neurobiological mechanisms. We will begin by discussing potential reasons for why social and physical pain evolved to share overlapping neural substrates, followed by neuroscience findings that support the social-physical pain overlap. Finally, we will conclude by discussing potential consequences of the shared neural circuitry. Why Would Social and Physical Pain Share Neural Substrates? When thinking of a list of basic human needs, vital items such as water, food, and shelter probably come to mind. Social psychologists have suggested that in addition to these basic needs, humans have a fundamental need to seek and