Figure 2
From: Empathy skill-dependent modulation of working memory by painful scene
The influences of empathic pain on the upcoming working memory. (a) The upcoming working memory task tested the influences of painful pictures on the working memory of events which would occur in the future. After the fixation point disappeared, either a neutral picture or a painful picture would appear on the screen center randomly. The sample array appeared later which might consist of 1, 2, 4, 6 or 10 bars. After a working memory period, a test bar appeared and the subjects should indicate whether the orientations of the sample and test bars were the same or different by pressing “S” or “D” button accordingly. (b,c) The performances of males (b) and females (c) in upcoming working memory task. The correct rate decreased as the number of items (set size) in the sample array increased. There was no statistical difference between neutral (dashed line) and painful conditions (solid line) for either gender. (d–g) The performances of high IRI male subjects (d,f) and high IRI female subjects (e,g). Subjects were arranged by their IRI scores from small to large, and high IRI subjects referred to the first 50% subjects. While the number of items was large (set size = 6, 10), the correct rates of females (e), but not those of males (d), were impaired by empathic pain. For males, the mean correct rate of large set sizes (set size = 6, 10) did not differ between the neutral and painful conditions (f). For females, the mean correct rate of large set sizes (set size = 6, 10) under painful condition decreased 7.3%, compared with neutral condition (g, F(1, 44) = 4.4788, P = 0.04, two-way ANOVA). (h–j) The mean correct rate differences between neutral and painful conditions (neutral minus painful) at large set sizes distributed differently between genders. The females exhibited relatively more dispersed distribution (h). The averaged mean correct rate difference did not differ much between males and females (i), but the absolute value of mean correct rate difference of females was significantly higher than that of males (j, P = 0.0314, d.f. = 35, t-test, d = 0.7375).
