Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:35:42 BST CiteULike: stefanherzog Crager http://www.citeulike.org/user/stefanherzog/author/Crager CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/stefanherzog/article/746297 <i>Science, Vol. 312, No. 5782. (30 June 2006), pp. 1967-1970.</i><br /><br />Empathy is thought to be unique to higher primates, possibly to humans alone. We report the modulation of pain sensitivity in mice produced solely by exposure to their cagemates, but not to strangers, in pain. Mice tested in dyads and given an identical noxious stimulus displayed increased pain behaviors with statistically greater co-occurrence, effects dependent on visual observation. When familiar mice were given noxious stimuli of different intensities, their pain behavior was influenced by their neighbor's status bidirectionally. Finally, observation of a cagemate in pain altered pain sensitivity of an entirely different modality, suggesting that nociceptive mechanisms in general are sensitized. 10.1126/science.1128322 Social Modulation of Pain as Evidence for Empathy in Mice Dale Langford Sara Crager Zarrar Shehzad Shad Smith Susana Sotocinal Jeremy Levenstadt Mona Chanda Daniel Levitin Jeffrey Mogil doi:10.1126/science.1128322 Science, Vol. 312, No. 5782. (30 June 2006), pp. 1967-1970. 2006-07-07T21:50:31-00:00 2006 Science 312 5782 1967 1970 animal empathy mice pain