TY - JOUR TI - Neural mechanisms of modulations of empathy and altruism by beliefs of others’ pain AU - Wu, Taoyu AU - Han, Shihui A2 - Avenanti, Alessio A2 - de Lange, Floris P VL - 10 PY - 2021 DA - 2021/08/09 SP - e66043 C1 - eLife 2021;10:e66043 DO - 10.7554/eLife.66043 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66043 AB - Perceived cues signaling others’ pain induce empathy which in turn motivates altruistic behavior toward those who appear suffering. This perception-emotion-behavior reactivity is the core of human altruism but does not always occur in real-life situations. Here, by integrating behavioral and multimodal neuroimaging measures, we investigate neural mechanisms underlying modulations of empathy and altruistic behavior by beliefs of others’ pain (BOP). We show evidence that lack of BOP reduces subjective estimation of others’ painful feelings and decreases monetary donations to those who show pain expressions. Moreover, lack of BOP attenuates neural responses to their pain expressions within 200 ms after face onset and modulates neural responses to others’ pain in the insular, post-central, and frontal cortices. Our findings suggest that BOP provide a cognitive basis of human empathy and altruism and unravel the intermediate neural mechanisms. KW - belief KW - empathy KW - altruism KW - pain KW - EEG KW - fMRI JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -