Normally when you see or imagine someone else in pain, your brain experiences a twinge of pain as well. Not so when race and bias come into play, scientists now find. Intriguingly, people respond with empathy when pain is inflicted on others who don’t fit into any preconceived racial category, such as those who appear to have violet-colored skin. ‘This is quite important because it suggests that humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play,’ said researcher Salvatore Maria Aglioti, a cognitive and social neuroscientist at the Sapienza University of Rome in Italy. Scientists asked volunteers in Italy of Italian and African descent to watch short films showing either needles penetrating a person’s hand or a Q-tip gently touching the same spot. At the same time, they measured brain and nervous system activity. When the volunteers saw the hands get poked, the brain and nervous system activity revealed the same spot on each volunteer’s own hands reacted involuntarily when the person in the film was of the same race. Those of a different race did not provoke the same response. However, when both white and black volunteers saw violet-colored hands get jabbed, […]