Previous studies have found that repeatedly exposed to a threatening situation may reduce doctors' level of empathy, reducing psychological stress and avoiding burnout and compassion fatigue. However, many essential studies found that it does not seem universal but rather modulated by group membership. In this study, we recorded event-related potentials (ERP) when doctors and controls watched visual stimuli describing patients attacking doctors (Threat events) or shaking hands with doctors (Neutral events). The present study showed an early N190 and a later centro-parietal P3 differential amplitude between threat stimuli and neutral stimuli were observed in the controls. For the doctors, there was such ERP differentiation in early N190. However, later stage P3 differential amplitude was not observed. The current research suggests that doctors could regulate empathy and avoid allocating more attention resources when processing social threats to ensure treatment efficiency and avoid burnout.

之前的研究发现，反复暴露于威胁情境可能会降低医生的同理心，减少心理压力，避免倦怠和同情疲劳。然而，许多重要的研究发现它似乎并不普遍，而是受群体成员的影响。在这项研究中，我们记录了当医生和控制人员观看描述患者攻击医生（威胁事件）或与医生握手（中性事件）的视觉刺激时的事件相关电位 (ERP)。本研究表明，在对照中观察到威胁刺激和中性刺激之间的早期 N190 和晚期中央顶叶 P3 差异幅度。对于医生来说，N190 早期就有这样的 ERP 分化。然而，没有观察到后期 P3 差分幅度。