SynthesisCognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience2026
Temporal and neural dynamics of racial bias in pain empathy: A systematic review of event-related potentials.
Synthesis in Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSeveral studies have demonstrated that potent sociocognitive factors, particularly perceived race, strongly influence empathy leading to altered social interactions, especially in clinical settings. This systematic review aimed to clarify how racial bias influences brain responses to others' pain.
methodsFor this review, 17 eligible studies included based a systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science for this review. All included studies utilized event-related potentials to investigate the neural correlates of empathy for pain in visual empathy judgment tasks.
resultsEarly event-related potential (ERP) components, such as P1 and N170, reflect initial processing biases in racial pain judgment. The P2 component highlights automatic emotional biases, evidenced by enhanced neural responses to same-race suffering. Finally, the flexible P3 component indicates higher-level cognitive appraisal and controlled processing, influenced by individual beliefs and social context. These ERP findings are consistent with neurocognitive models that involve brain networks involved in salience recognition (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, insula) and top-down regulation (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and are aligned with theoretical frameworks, such as predictive coding theory and dual-process theories.
conclusionsReviewed ERP evidence provides a precise neurocognitive time course of how racial bias shapes empathic pain processing. Distinct ERP components reveal a progression from rapid perception (e.g., P1, N170) to automatic affective bias (P2) and later cognitive appraisal (P3). These findings underscore empathy as a dynamic and flexible process, amenable to targeted interventions. This neurophysiological insight establishes a promising foundation for developing strategies to motivate prosocial behavior, challenge discrimination, and advance equity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41219660What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.