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Science 30 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5782, pp. 1967 - 1970
DOI: 10.1126/science.1128322
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Reports

Social Modulation of Pain as Evidence for Empathy in Mice

Dale J. Langford, Sara E. Crager, Zarrar Shehzad, Shad B. Smith, Susana G. Sotocinal, Jeremy S. Levenstadt, Mona Lisa Chanda, Daniel J. Levitin, Jeffrey S. Mogil*

Empathy is thought to be unique to higher primates, possibly to humans alone. We report the modulation of pain sensitivity in mice produced solely by exposure to their cagemates, but not to strangers, in pain. Mice tested in dyads and given an identical noxious stimulus displayed increased pain behaviors with statistically greater co-occurrence, effects dependent on visual observation. When familiar mice were given noxious stimuli of different intensities, their pain behavior was influenced by their neighbor's status bidirectionally. Finally, observation of a cagemate in pain altered pain sensitivity of an entirely different modality, suggesting that nociceptive mechanisms in general are sensitized.

Department of Psychology and Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jeffrey.mogil{at}mcgill.ca

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)