Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34669949›Full record

ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2022

Increasing self-other similarity modulates ethnic bias in sensorimotor resonance to others' pain.

Ville Johannes Harjunen, Petja Sjö, Imtiaj Ahmed, Aino Saarinen, Harry Farmer, Mikko Salminen, Simo Järvelä, Antti Ruonala, Giulio Jacucci, Niklas Ravaja

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. A transdisciplinary framework for empathy research.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Ville Johannes HarjunenDepartment of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.ORCID 0000-0003-2046-0488
Petja SjöDepartment of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki 00271, Finland.
Imtiaj AhmedDepartment of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Aino SaarinenDepartment of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Harry FarmerSchool of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, UK.
Mikko SalminenGamification Group, Faculty of Information Technology and Communications, Tampere University, Tampere 33720, Finland.
Simo JärveläDepartment of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Antti RuonalaDepartment of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Giulio JacucciDepartment of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Niklas RavajaDepartment of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The tendency to simulate the pain of others within our own sensorimotor systems is a vital component of empathy. However, this sensorimotor resonance is modulated by a multitude of social factors including similarity in bodily appearance, e.g. skin colour. The current study investigated whether increasing self-other similarity via virtual transfer to another colour body reduced ingroup bias in sensorimotor resonance. A sample of 58 white participants was momentarily transferred to either a black or a white body using virtual reality technology. We then employed electroencephalography to examine event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the sensorimotor beta (13-23 Hz) oscillations while they viewed black, white and violet photorealistic virtual agents being touched with a noxious or soft object. While the noxious treatment of a violet agent did not increase beta ERD, amplified beta ERD in response to black agent's noxious vs soft treatment was found in perceivers transferred to a black body. Transfer to the white body dismissed the effect. Further exploratory analysis implied that the pain-related beta ERD occurred only when the agent and the participant were of the same colour. The results suggest that even short-lasting changes in bodily resemblance can modulate sensorimotor resonance to others' perceived pain.

Indexed as

ElectroencephalographyPainBiasEmpathyEthnicityHumansbeta desynchronizationethnicityingroup biassensorimotor resonancevicarious painvirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID34669949
PMCPMC9250302

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.