Trait empathy modulates brain response to empathy for social rejection: Evidence from electrophysiology

Empathy which can understand and respond to the unique affective experiences of others plays an essential role in social interaction. Although many neuroimaging studies have investigated the neural mechanisms underlying empathy for social pain, how its mechanisms are modulated by trait empathy remains unknown. The present event-related potential (ERP) study used Chatroom Interact Task to examine how trait empathy modulates brain response to empathy for social rejection. The behavior results showed that participants were less pleasant when observing rejection compared to observing acceptance in both high- and low-levels empathy groups. The ERP results revealed more negative-going N2 for social acceptance compared to rejection in both groups, but there was no difference in N2 between high- and low- empathy group. However, the late components, i.e., the P3b, N400 and LPP, revealed significant difference between social acceptance and rejection in high empathic participants rather than low empathic participants. These findings suggested that individuals with high empathic traits could devote more attention and mental resources to process observing ostracism.