ArticleNeural regeneration research2019
Brain pathways of pain empathy activated by pained facial expressions: a meta-analysis of fMRI using the activation likelihood estimation method.
Article in Neural regeneration research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Social perception in deaf individuals: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.Human brain mapping · 2023Pooled it
- Cognition, body, and mind: A three-in-one coordinate-based fMRI meta-analysis on cognitive, physical, and meditative trainings.Human brain mapping · 2023Pooled it
- Relational vs representational social cognitive processing: a coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging data.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Overlapping and specific neural correlates for empathizing, affective mentalizing, and cognitive mentalizing: A coordinate-based meta-analytic study.Human brain mapping · 2021Pooled it
- Shared and distinct functional networks for empathy and pain processing: a systematic review and meta-analysis of fMRI studies.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2020Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on pain empathy: investigating the role of visual information and observers' perspective.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Brain Regional Predictors of Surgical Response Are Dynamically Associated with Post-Surgical Pain Relief in Trigeminal Neuralgia.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- The developmental trajectory of the social brain: A movie-based exploration from childhood to adolescence.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Source-based morphometry analyses yield associations between large-scale structural brain networks and psychopathic traits in incarcerated adolescents.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Evaluating human perceptions of android robot facial expressions based on variations in instruction styles.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2025Article
- Research progress on the mechanisms of pain empathy.Ibrain · 2025Review
- How do the activity patterns of people with chronic pain influence the empathic response of future health professionals: an experimental study.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2024Article
- Psycho-Neuroendocrinology in the Rehabilitation Field: Focus on the Complex Interplay between Stress and Pain.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Review
- Empathy Modulates the Activity of the Sensorimotor Mirror Neuron System during Pain Observation.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Altered brain activity in the bilateral frontal cortices and neural correlation with cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.Brain imaging and behavior · 2022Article
- The alterations in event-related potential responses to pain empathy in breast cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Article
- Pharmacological fMRI provides evidence for opioidergic modulation of discrimination of facial pain expressions.Psychophysiology · 2021Article
- Group membership dictates the neural correlates of social optimism biases.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- The Neurosciences of Health Communication: An fNIRS Analysis of Prefrontal Cortex and Porn Consumption in Young Women for the Development of Prevention Health Programs.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe objective of this study is to summarize and analyze the brain signal patterns of empathy for pain caused by facial expressions of pain utilizing activation likelihood estimation, a meta-analysis method. DATA SOURCES: Studies concerning the brain mechanism were searched from the Science Citation Index, Science Direct, PubMed, DeepDyve, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, Wanfang, VIP, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and other databases, such as SpringerLink, AMA, Science Online, Wiley Online, were collected. A time limitation of up to 13 December 2016 was applied to this study. DATA SELECTION: Studies presenting with all of the following criteria were considered for study inclusion: Use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, neutral and pained facial expression stimuli, involvement of adult healthy human participants over 18 years of age, whose empathy ability showed no difference from the healthy adult, a painless basic state, results presented in Talairach or Montreal Neurological Institute coordinates, multiple studies by the same team as long as they used different raw data. OUTCOME MEASURES: Activation likelihood estimation was used to calculate the combined main activated brain regions under the stimulation of pained facial expression.
resultsEight studies were included, containing 178 subjects. Meta-analysis results suggested that the anterior cingulate cortex (BA32), anterior central gyrus (BA44), fusiform gyrus, and insula (BA13) were activated positively as major brain areas under the stimulation of pained facial expression.
conclusionOur study shows that pained facial expression alone, without viewing of painful stimuli, activated brain regions related to pain empathy, further contributing to revealing the brain's mechanisms of pain empathy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.