{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,22]],"date-time":"2026-07-22T17:59:16Z","timestamp":1784743156275,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,8]],"date-time":"2021-10-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1633651200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009360","name":"king\u2019s college london","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009360","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>There is evidence that humans mirror others\u2019 emotional responses: brain responses to observed and experienced emotion overlap, and reaction time costs of observing others\u2019 pain suggest that others\u2019 emotional states interfere with our own. Such emotional mirroring requires regulation to prevent personal distress. However, currently it is unclear whether this \u201cempathic interference effect\u201d is uniquely social, arising only from the observation of human actors, or also from the observation of non-biological objects in \u201cpainful\u201d states. Moreover, the degree to which this interference relates to individual differences in self-reported levels of empathy is yet to be revealed. We introduce a modified pain observation task, measuring empathic interference effects induced by observation of painful states applied to both biological and non-biological stimuli. An initial validation study ( N\u2009=\u200950) confirmed that painful states applied to biological stimuli were rated explicitly as more painful than non-painful states applied to biological stimuli, and also than both painful and non-painful states applied to non-biological stimuli. Subsequently, across two independent discovery ( N\u2009=\u200983) and replication ( N\u2009=\u200980) samples, the task elicited slowing of response times during the observation of painful states when compared to non-painful states, but the magnitude of this effect did not differ between biological and non-biological stimuli. Little evidence was found for reliable relationships between empathic interference and self-reported empathy. Caution should therefore be taken in using the current task to pursue an individual differences approach to empathic interference, but the task shows promise for investigating the specificity of the mechanism involved in regulating emotional mirroring.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/17470218211049780","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,20]],"date-time":"2021-09-20T06:53:55Z","timestamp":1632120835000},"page":"1302-1313","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Regulating mirroring of emotions: A social-specific mechanism?"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"75","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9913-0515","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sophie","family":"Sowden","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King\u2019s College London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Divyush","family":"Khemka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King\u2019s College London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6996-4295","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Caroline","family":"Catmur","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King\u2019s College London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1023\/B:JONB.0000039649.20015.0e"},{"key":"bibr2-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nn1481"},{"key":"bibr3-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2008.08.001"},{"key":"bibr4-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-021-84280-z"},{"key":"bibr5-17470218211049780","first-page":"31","volume-title":"Emotion and social judgments","author":"Bower G. H.","year":"1991"},{"key":"bibr6-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2009.0066"},{"key":"bibr7-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1747021818816051"},{"key":"bibr8-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0019325"},{"key":"bibr9-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsycho.2017.06.005"},{"key":"bibr10-17470218211049780","volume-title":"A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy","author":"Davis M. H.","year":"1980"},{"key":"bibr11-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9780262012973.003.0016"},{"key":"bibr12-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2015.0079"},{"key":"bibr13-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0110470"},{"key":"bibr14-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8721.01235"},{"key":"bibr15-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-007-0486-x"},{"key":"bibr16-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1751-9004.2008.00115.x"},{"key":"bibr17-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ejp.607"},{"key":"bibr18-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2007.02.025"},{"key":"bibr19-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/aws199"},{"key":"bibr20-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4844-09.2010"},{"key":"bibr21-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-psych-010416-044046"},{"key":"bibr22-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2004.09.006"},{"key":"bibr23-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139087759"},{"key":"bibr24-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.84.3.231"},{"key":"bibr25-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.60.2.307"},{"key":"bibr26-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3758\/s13423-019-01656-z"},{"key":"bibr27-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0924-9338(09)71073-9"},{"key":"bibr28-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-021-82138-y"},{"key":"bibr29-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2012.10.018"},{"key":"bibr30-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/ejn.13036"},{"key":"bibr31-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2011.11.004"},{"key":"bibr32-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1093535"},{"key":"bibr33-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bht306"},{"key":"bibr34-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2015.08.014"},{"key":"bibr35-17470218211049780","volume-title":"Using multivariate statistics","author":"Tabachnick B. G.","year":"2001","edition":"4"},{"issue":"4","key":"bibr36-17470218211049780","first-page":"40","volume":"25","author":"Van de Mortel T. F.","year":"2008","journal-title":"The Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing"},{"key":"bibr37-17470218211049780","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2008.02099.x"}],"updated-by":[{"DOI":"10.1177\/17470218211067030","type":"correction","label":"Correction","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,6]],"date-time":"2021-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1638748800000}}],"container-title":["Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/17470218211049780","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/17470218211049780","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/17470218211049780","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T07:07:11Z","timestamp":1777705631000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/17470218211049780"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,8]]},"references-count":37,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/17470218211049780"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/17470218211049780","relation":{},"ISSN":["1747-0218","1747-0226"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1747-0218","type":"print"},{"value":"1747-0226","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,8]]}}}