Exposure to violence reduces empathetic responses to other’s pain

•Short-term media violence exposure reduced pain ratings to other’s pain.•Short-term media violence exposure reduced the activation of AI and aMCC to pain.•Violence exposure modulated empathic responses to pain through desensitization.

Past researches showed that empathy for pain not only triggers a resonance mechanism between other and self, but also is modulated by contextual factors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study demonstrated that short-term media violence exposure reduced both pain ratings and also the activation of anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex to other’s pain. Thus, violence exposure modulated empathic responses to other’s pain based on a physiological desensitization.