Abstract：
Although empathy for pain plays an important role in positive interpersonal relationships and encourages engagement in prosocial behavior, it remains largely unknown whether empathy for pain could be effectively altered by psychophysiological techniques. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a single session of diaphragmatic breathing practice on empathy for pain and examine the potential mechanism involving interoceptive awareness. A total of 66 healthy participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group received a 15-minute diaphragmatic breathing (DB) practice with real-time biofeedback, while the control group was to gaze at a black screen at rest and not engaged in any other activities. Before and after the invention, all participants were instructed to evaluate the intensity and unpleasantness of empathy for pain while watching different pictures with pain or non-pain conditions. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) was then administered to measure interoceptive awareness. The results indicated a significant interaction between group and time with regard to empathy for pain and MAIA. The DB group showed a statistically significant decrease in both pain intensity and unpleasantness during the pain picture condition, as well as a noteworthy increase in MAIA scores. The control group did not demonstrate any substantial changes. More importantly, the regulation of attention, a dimension of MAIA, had a significant mediating effect on the impact of diaphragmatic breathing on reported unpleasantness. Diaphragmatic breathing could serve as a simple, convenient, and practical strategy to optimize human empathy for pain that warrants further investigation, which has important implications not only for individuals with impaired empathy for pain but also for the improvement of interoceptive awareness.
摘要：
尽管对疼痛的同情在积极的人际关系中起着重要作用，并鼓励参与亲社会行为，心理生理学技术是否可以有效改变对疼痛的同理心，这在很大程度上仍然是未知的。这项研究旨在调查一次diaphragm呼吸练习对疼痛同理心的影响，并检查涉及感受意识的潜在机制。将66名健康参与者随机分配到干预组或对照组。干预组接受了15分钟的diaphragm肌呼吸（DB）实践与实时生物反馈，而对照组则在休息时凝视黑屏，不从事任何其他活动。发明前后,所有参与者在观看不同的疼痛或非疼痛情况下的图片时,被指示评估对疼痛的同理心的强度和不愉快性.然后进行多维度感受意识评估（MAIA）以测量感受意识。结果表明，在对疼痛和MAIA的同情方面，小组和时间之间存在显着相互作用。在疼痛图片条件下，DB组的疼痛强度和不愉快感都显示出统计学上的显着降低，以及MAIA分数的显著增加。对照组没有表现出任何实质性变化。更重要的是,注意力的调节，MAIA的一个维度，对膈呼吸对报告的不愉快的影响有显著的中介作用。膈肌呼吸可以作为一个简单的，方便,以及优化人类对疼痛的同情的实用策略，值得进一步调查，这不仅对疼痛同理心受损的个体有重要意义，而且对提高互感意识也有重要意义。
