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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 April 2024
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: This study seeks to elucidate the relationships between early life adversity (ELA), social learning, and empathic responding. Specifically, it aims to understand the impact of ELA on the expression of empathy and ability to adjust behavior after social observation. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: 60 healthy participants ages 18-65 will be recruited from the greater Baltimore area. They will undergo a placebo manipulation paradigm with simultaneous EEG recording to capture neural oscillations in frontal and insular cortices and event-related potentials. Participants will observe a demonstrator who indicates pain relief in response to the application of an inert cream. Then, while undergoing heat pain stimulations, the participant will receive the same inert cream and rate their physiological and psychological pain experience using a visual analog scale. The heat stimulations will be lowered without their knowledge to measure placebo response. Participants will also answer a battery of questionnaires which assess personality, psychological factors, life history, empathy, and current social life. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: It is expected that ELA will result in decreased placebo response, interpreted as deficits in social learning. Further, we expect that this effect is moderated by state empathy, empathy in a specific context or moment. We predict that individuals with lower state empathy and exposure to adversity will have greater deficits in social learning. We also expect to see more robust event-related potentials preceding painful stimulations at electrodes corresponding to the medial and ventral prefrontal cortex and insula in ELA-exposed participants. Because these brain regions are connected to anticipatory and predictive circuits, this would indicate that the individual has not adjusted their expectations according to the social information gained via observation. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Results of this study will expand our understanding of how ELA impacts behavior throughout life. Individuals with a history of ELA often face social difficulties and a higher risk of psychiatric disorders. This study will illuminate possible neural correlates of these differences in social behavior and, more generally, the expression of empathy.