疼痛共情是共情的重要表现形式，不仅与个体异常的疼痛行为和感知密切相关，并且是个体内化问题发生发展的重要预测和表现因素。非自杀性自伤(简称自伤)作为一种严重的内化问题，往往伴随着异常的疼痛感知和行为表现，可能同样会表现出对他人疼痛异常的共情表现。不仅如此，这种自身疼痛感知和对他人疼痛的共情异常在自伤女性群体中会表现得更为显著。然而，目前仍未有研究系统考察自伤个体生理和社会疼痛共情的表现特点及其影响因素。鉴于自伤行为的严重性和消极影响的持续性，考察自伤个体疼痛共情的发展特点将有利于深入了解自伤行为以及自伤个体身心状况的风险性发展。基于此，本研究采取混合实验设计，共选取97名成年女性，其中自伤组被试共47名(自伤得分 = 10.40 ± 6.50)。研究一采用经典的疼痛共情图片范式考察自伤个体生理和社会疼痛共情在行为层面的特点，研究二结合事件相关电位，考察不同效价情绪对其自伤个体疼痛共情水平的影响。主要结果如下：(1)自伤组被试在特质共情水平上与一般被试没有显著差别，但在行为层面上对他人生理疼痛的认知共情水平要显著低于控制组。(2)与控制组相比，自伤组被试在包括N1、N2和P2等标志情感共情水平的早期ERP成分上没有表现出疼痛刺激与中性刺激的显著差异，表明了自伤组被试对他人生理和社会疼痛均表现出更低的情感共情水平。(3)相比于其他情绪启动，自伤组被试在消极情绪启动后表现出了对他人疼痛刺激更强的P2成分，表明消极情绪能够一定程度提高自伤组被试对生理和社会疼痛的情感共情水平。(4)消极情绪启动与情感共情相关的早期ERP成分关系更紧密，消极和积极情绪启动则与认知共情相关的中晚期ERP成分联系更紧密，使 P3、LPP晚期正波的平均波幅得到显著增强。这表明个体对生理和社会疼痛的情感共情水平更多受情绪效价的影响，而认知共情水平则主要受情绪唤醒水平的影响。

Pain empathy is a significant predictive and demonstrative factor of an individual’s internalizing problems, and is in close relationship with abnormal pain-related behaviours and perceptions. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a serious internalizing behavioural problem, and often co-morbid with abnormal pain experiences and perceptions. Therefore, individuals with NSSI history may also demonstrate abnormalities in pain empathy, among which females with NSSI history demonstrate even more deviant pain perceptions and potential empathy deviation. Given the severity and lingering effects of NSSI, identifying distinct developmental characteristics of individuals with NSSI history is crucial to further understand the developmental risk of NSSI and physical and mental well-being of individuals with NSSI history. However, there is seldom research systematically examining the characteristics and antecedent factors of pain empathy in individuals with NSSI history.

To address these gaps, a total of 97 adult females participated in the present study, in which 47 participants (Frequency _NSSI = 10.40 ± 6.50) have a history of NSSI in the recent half year. Through two studies, we utilized the classical picture paradigm of pain empathy combined with event-related potentials (ERP) technique to investigate the characteristics of pain empathy in individuals with NSSI history. Furthermore, we also examined the effects of emotion primes of different valences on such pain empathy characteristics to comprehensively understand the characteristics of empathy for both physical and social pain in individuals with NSSI history. The main results are as follows:

(1) There was no significant difference in trait empathy between NSSI and the control group. While on the behavioural level, significant differences in cognitive empathy towards others’ physical pain between groups were found.

(2) Compared with the control group, NSSI participants failed to show significant differences between painful stimuli and neutral stimuli in ERP potentials including N1, N2 and P2 in the early stage that symbolized emotional empathy, indicating failures in sharing emotional distress from others’ pain.

(3) Negative emotional priming significantly enhanced the P2 potential in NSSI participants when observing others in pain, indicating that negative emotions could reduce threshold of emotional empathy in NSSI group to some extent.

(4) Negative emotional priming was associated with ERP potentials related to emotional empathy in an early stage. While both negative and positive emotional priming were related to ERP potentials marked cognitive empathy in a middle and late stages, which significantly enhance the average amplitude of the P3 and LPP potentials. The results generally suggest that emotional empathy might be more affected by prime of emotional valence, while cognitive empathy is mainly related to general emotional arousal.