▁the ▁control ▁group , ▁while ▁those ▁who ▁had ▁never ▁experienced ▁cons pec ific ▁dist ress ▁expressed ▁greater ▁than ▁three - fold ▁more ▁responses ▁to ▁lower ▁a ▁dist ress ed ▁cons pec ific ▁relative ▁to ▁the ▁control ▁group . ▁This ▁suggests ▁that ▁r ats ▁will ▁act ively ▁work ▁to ▁reduce ▁the ▁dist ress ▁of ▁a ▁cons pec ific , ▁a ▁phenomen on ▁related ▁to ▁em path y . ▁Compar able ▁results ▁have ▁also ▁been ▁found ▁in ▁similar ▁experiments ▁designed ▁for ▁mon keys . ▁ ▁Lang ford ▁et ▁al . ▁exam ined ▁em path y ▁in ▁rod ents ▁using ▁an ▁approach ▁based ▁in ▁neu ros cience . ▁They ▁reported ▁that ▁( 1 ) ▁if ▁two ▁m ice ▁experienced ▁pain ▁together , ▁they ▁expressed ▁greater ▁levels ▁of ▁pain - related ▁behavior ▁than ▁if ▁pain ▁was ▁experienced ▁individually , ▁( 2 ) ▁if ▁experien cing ▁different ▁levels ▁of ▁pain ▁together , ▁the ▁behavior ▁of ▁each ▁mouse ▁was ▁mod ulated ▁by ▁the ▁level ▁of ▁pain ▁experienced ▁by ▁its ▁social ▁partner , ▁and ▁( 3 ) ▁sens itivity ▁to ▁a ▁no x ious ▁stim ulus ▁was ▁experienced ▁to ▁the ▁same ▁degree ▁by ▁the ▁mouse ▁obser ving ▁a ▁cons pec ific ▁in ▁pain ▁as ▁it ▁was ▁by ▁the ▁mouse ▁directly ▁experien cing ▁the ▁pain ful ▁stim ulus . ▁The ▁authors ▁suggest ▁this ▁respons iveness ▁to ▁the ▁pain ▁of ▁others ▁demonstrated ▁by ▁m ice ▁is ▁indic ative ▁of ▁emot ional ▁cont ag ion , ▁a ▁phenomen on ▁associated ▁with ▁em path y , ▁which ▁has ▁also ▁been ▁reported ▁in ▁p igs