Empathy responses to others’ physical pain in the deaf college students: evidence from an event-related potential study

Abstract Facing others in pain can elicit compassion, and inclinations to comfort or help, which contributing to the construction of our harmonious society. Due to hearing impairments, deaf college students not only experienced a lot of physical pain personally but also had difficulties in social interactions. However, the empathy responses to others’ physical pain in the deaf college students is not well established. We assessed the brain activity of 27 deaf and 28 hearing college students when observing images depicting painful and nonpainful information by using event-related potentials. Results showed that compared to the hearing college students, the deaf college students exhibited greater N1, N2, and P3 amplitudes evoked by painful picture. This study indicated that deaf college students experienced heighten emotional arousal and more psychological resources costed when facing others in pain.