Cultural modulation of the neural correlates of emotional pain perception: The role of other-focusedness Bobby K. Cheon a,n,1 , Dong-Mi Im b , Tokiko Harada a,2 , Ji-Sook Kim b , Vani A. Mathur a,3 , Jason M. Scimeca a,4 , Todd B. Parrish c , HyunWook Park b , Joan Y. Chiao a,d a Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road,102 Swift Hall Evanston, IL 60208-2710, USA b Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejon, Republic of Korea c Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, 737 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, USA d Northwestern Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Evanston, IL 60208, USA article info Article history: Received 30 October 2012 Received in revised form 26 March 2013 Accepted 26 March 2013 Available online 6 April 2013 Keywords: Cross-cultural comparisons Empathy Pain processing Emotion fMRI abstract Cultures vary in the extent to which they emphasize group members to habitually attend to the needs, perspectives, and internal experiences of others compared to the self. Here we examined the influence that collectivistic and individualistic cultural environments may play on the engagement of the neurobiological processes that underlie the perception and processing of emotional pain. Using cross-cultural fMRI, Korean and Caucasian-American participants passively viewed scenes of others in situations of emotional pain and distress. Regression analyses revealed that the value of other-focusedness was associated with heightened neural response within the affective pain matrix (i.e. anterior cingulate cortex and insula) to a greater extent for Korean relative to Caucasian-American participants. These findings suggest that mindsets promoting attunement to the subjective experience of others may be especially critical for pain-related and potentially empathic processing within collectivistic relative to individualistic cultural environments. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Culture shapes how we navigate the social world. While Western cultures (e.g. Europe, North America) generally endorse higher levels of individualism, east-Asian cultures (e.g. China, Japan, Korea), typically endorse relatively higher levels of collectivism (Fincher, Thornhill, Murray, & Schaller, 2008; Hofstede, 2001; Suh, Diener, Oishi, & Triandis, 1998). Individualistic cultures place greater emphasis on autonomy and independence, uniqueness of the self, personal choice, and pursuit of aspirations. Conversely, collectivistic cultures place greater emphasis on interdependence and connectedness of the self to others, as well as the maintenance of social harmony, fitting in, and the fulfillment of duties and obligations (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Nisbett et al., 2001; Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002; Triandis, 1994). The pursuit of socially-sanctioned values and selves promoted by collectivistic and individualistic cultural contexts may be associated with distinct profiles of processing socially-relevant information and navigating the social world, such that members of collectivistic and individualistic cultures may habitually be attentive and attuned to the perspectives, needs, and outcomes of others (other-focusedness) or the self (self-focusedness), respectively (Chiao & Blizinsky, 2010; Oyserman et al., 2002; Wong & Hong, 2005; Wu & Keysar, 2007). Consequently, collectivistic cultural environments may demand individuals to maintain an “outsider” perspective in social situations, readily focusing on and attending to the internal processes of others and adopting a third-person perspective of the self. On the other hand, members of individualistic cultures may be more likely to maintain an “insider” perspective in social situations, preferentially processing and attending to their own internal experiences and adopting a first-person perspective of the self (Cohen & Gunz, 2002; Cohen, Hoshino-Browne, & Leung, 2007; Wu & Keysar, 2007). This cultural variation in subjective experience and perception during social interaction may be necessary given the discrepant social demands and constraints placed upon the self between collectivistic and individualistic cultures. While being other-focused and attentive to the feelings and perspectives of others may be an important information processing strategy for pursuing the social goals of fitting in, maintaining harmony, and fulfilling obligations prevalent in collectivistic cultures, the tendency to recognize one' s own feelings and experiences during social interactions may be an important Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/neuropsychologia Neuropsychologia 0028-3932/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.03.018 n Corresponding author. Tel.: +65 6790 4642. E-mail address: Bobbycheon2012@u.northwestern.edu (B.K. Cheon). 1 Present adderess: Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological Univer- sity, Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798. 2 Present adderess: National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan. 3 Present adderess: Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. 4 Present adderess: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, 75 Waterman St. Providence, RI 02906, USA. Neuropsychologia 51 (2013) 1177–1186