14 DAY TRIAL // The capacity for empathy, previously suspected but unproven even among higher primates, is also evident in lower mammals, shows a new study by McGill University professor of psychology Dr. Jeffrey Mogil.
In research published online June 29 in the journal Science, Professor Mogil, graduate student Dale Langford and their colleagues in the Pain Genetics Lab at McGill University discovered that mice that were co-housed (that is, familiar to each other) and able to see one another in pain were more sensitive to pain than those tested alone. The results, which for the first time show a form of "emotional contagion" between animals, shed light on how known social factors play a role in pain management.
The findings are not only unprecedented in what they tell us about animals, they may ultimately be relevant to understanding pain in humans. "Since we know that social interaction plays an important role in chronic pain behavior in humans," Dr. Mogil said, "then the mechanism underlying such effects can now be elucidated; why are we so affected by those around us?"
McGill University is renowned for its historic contributions to pain research, including the internationally recognized McGill Pain Questionnaire, developed by psychology professor Dr. Ronald Melzack in 1975 and still the standard today.
Photo Credit: NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute