Event-related correlates of compassion for social pain

Ostracism - being intentionally excluded - is painful, and when experienced vicariously, it elicits self-reported and neural responses correlated with compassion. This study examines event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to vicarious ostracism in a computer-simulated ball-toss game, called Cyberball. Participants observed three ostensible players at other universities play two rounds of Cyberball; in the first round all players were included, but in the second round, one player was ostracized. After the game, participants reported their compassion and wrote e-mails to the ostracism victims and perpetrators, coded for prosociality and harm. Condition differences in exclusion versus inclusion throws emerged in a frontal negative-going peak between 108 and 230 ms, and in a posterior long-latency positive-going deflection between 548 and 900 ms. It is believed that the former reflects the feedback error-related negativity component (fERN) and the latter the late positive potential (LPP). The fERN was not associated with self-reported compassion or helping behavior; however, the LPP was positively associated with empathic anger and helping ostracism victims. Self-reported compassion was positively correlated with a frontal positive-going peak between 190 and 304 ms, resembling the P3a. These findings highlight the importance of studying motivational dimensions of compassion alongside its cognitive and affective dimensions.