<p>Perhaps you're referring to Naomi Eisenberger's work on the neural basis of social pain. <a href="http://dtserv2.compsy.uni-jena.de/ss2010/sozpsy_uj/17512154/content.nsf/Pages/4ECAB2CDBFA73BDDC1257706003665A8/$FILE/Eisenberger%20Lieberman%20Williams%202002.pdf">Her seminal paper</a> found that the neural correlates of distress from social rejection overlapped with those of physical pain, i.e., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula.  </p>

<p>She's recently published a literature review on social pain in the brain (<a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115146">Eisenberger, 2015</a>), summarizing her work and addressing its various controversies. </p>

<p>However, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4285151/">Woo et al. (2014)</a> recently challenged the notion of overlapping neural bases for social and physical pain. They used fancy multivariate methods to analyze the shared vs. distinct neural representations of social vs. physical pain.  They conclude:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>These findings demonstrate that separate representations underlie pain and rejection despite common [shared] fMRI activity at the gross anatomical level. Rather than co-opting pain circuitry, rejection involves distinct affective representations in humans.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T01:27:22.477Z
2015-06-01T01:34:04.173Z
2015-06-01T01:34:04.173Z
mrt
<p>I think I've read somewhere that our brain acts as if we were physically hurt (as if we feel pain) when we catch someone lying to us. I couldn't find anything about it on google, and my memory is not reliable enough for me to be anywhere near sure of this.</p>

<p>Can anyone confirm this &amp; give a reference to something scientific?</p>

<social-psychology><perception><pain>
Does our brain react as if we were physically hurt when we are lied to?
user1999728
# Does our brain react as if we were physically hurt when we are lied to?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-05-31)

I think I've read somewhere that our brain acts as if we were physically hurt (as if we feel pain) when we catch someone lying to us. I couldn't find anything about it on google, and my memory is not reliable enough for me to be anywhere near sure of this.

Can anyone confirm this & give a reference to something scientific?

**Tags:** social-psychology, perception, pain


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-06-01. Score: 16 | Accepted answer

Perhaps you're referring to Naomi Eisenberger's work on the neural basis of social pain. [Her seminal paper](http://dtserv2.compsy.uni-jena.de/ss2010/sozpsy_uj/17512154/content.nsf/Pages/4ECAB2CDBFA73BDDC1257706003665A8/$FILE/Eisenberger%20Lieberman%20Williams%202002.pdf) found that the neural correlates of distress from social rejection overlapped with those of physical pain, i.e., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula.

She's recently published a literature review on social pain in the brain ([Eisenberger, 2015](http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115146)), summarizing her work and addressing its various controversies.

However, [Woo et al. (2014)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4285151/) recently challenged the notion of overlapping neural bases for social and physical pain. They used fancy multivariate methods to analyze the shared vs. distinct neural representations of social vs. physical pain. They conclude:

> These findings demonstrate that separate representations underlie pain and rejection despite common [shared] fMRI activity at the gross anatomical level. Rather than co-opting pain circuitry, rejection involves distinct affective representations in humans.


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