Empathy in Autism: Conception and Measurement

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18046/recs.i25.2707

Keywords:

Empathy, Autism, Neuropsychology, Cognition, Affect, Brain areas

Abstract

This review analyzes the conceptual approach and measurement of empathy in the disorders on the autism spectrum. Empathy is a construct encompassing a variety of approaches in the cognitive sciences. In can be established that a diversity of conceptions of empathy exist. Studies show a dichotomy in the processing of empathy in subjects with autism, suggesting a deficit of empathy in cognitive functioning but not in affective functioning. In the study of these areas, there is a tendency to employ self-reports, questionnaires, and theory of mind tasks. however, brain measurements have shown atypical activations of the right prefrontal cortex, the temporoparietal junction, the insular cortex and the fusiform gyrus.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Viviana Rivera-Ortega, Universidad Icesi, Cali (Colombia)

    Psicóloga y estudiante de Maestría en Estudios Sociales y Políticos (modalidad Investigación) de la Universidad Icesi (Colombia).

References

Aan het Rot, M., y Hogenelst, K. (2014). The Influence of Affective Empathy and Autism Spectrum Traits on Empathic Accuracy. PLoS One, 9(6), e98436.

Albiero, P., Matricardi, G., Speltri, D. y Toso, D. (2009). The Assessment of Empathy in Adolescence: A Contribution to the Italian Validation of the “Basic Empathy Scale”. Journal of Adolescence, 32(2), 393-408.

Barnett, G. y Mann, R. E. (2013). Empathy Deficits and Sexual Offending: A Model of Obstacles to Empathy. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 18(2), 228-239.

Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M. y Frith, U. (1985). Does the Autistic Child Have a “Theory of Mind”? Cognition, 21(1), 37-46.

Baron-Cohen, S. y Wheelwright, S. (2004). The Empathy Quotient: An Investigation of Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High Functioning Autism, and Normal Sex Differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(2), 163-175.

Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J. y Clubley, E. (2001). The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and Mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(1), 5-17.

Beall, P. M., Moody, E. J., McIntosh, D. N., Hepburn, S. L. y Reed, C. L. (2008). Rapid Facial Reactions to Emotional Facial Expressions in Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 101(3), 206-223.

Bird, G., Silani, G., Brindley, R., White, S., Frith, U. y Singer, T. (2010). Empathic Brain Responses in Insula Are Modulated by Levels of Alexithymia but not Autism. Brain, awq060.

Bird, G. y Viding, E. (2014). The Self to Other Model of Empathy: Providing a New Framework for Understanding Empathy Impairments in Psychopathy, Autism, and Alexithymia. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 47, 520-532.

Blair, R. J. R. (2005). Responding to the Emotions of Others: Dissociating Forms of Empathy through the Study of Typical and Psychiatric Populations. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(4), 698-718.

Clark, A. J. (2010). Empathy and Sympathy: Therapeutic Distinctions in Counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32(2), 95.

Cook, R., Brewer, R., Shah, P. y Bird, G. (2013). Alexithymia, not Autism, Predicts Poor Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions. Psychological Science, 0956797612463582.

Cuff, B. M., Brown, S. J., Taylor, L. y Howat, D. J. (2014). Empathy: A Review of the Concept. Emotion Review, 1754073914558466.

Dadds, M. R., Hunter, K., Hawes, D. J., Frost, A. D., Vassallo, S., Bunn, P., . . . El Masry, Y. (2008). A Measure of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Children using Parent Ratings. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39(2), 111-122.

Davis, M. H. (1980). A Multidimensional Approach to Individual Differences in Empathy.

Decety, J. (2010). The Neurodevelopment of Empathy in Humans. Developmental Neuroscience, 32(4), 257-267.

Decety, J. y Jackson, P. L. (2006). A Social-neuroscience Perspective on Empathy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(2), 54-58.

Decety, J. y Lamm, C. (2006). Human Empathy through the Lens of Social Neuroscience. The Scientific World Journal, 6, 1146-1163.

Decety, J. y Meyer, M. (2008). From Emotion Resonance to Empathic Understanding: A Social Developmental Neuroscience Account. Development and Psychopathology, 20(04), 1053-1080.

Decety, J. y Michalska, K. J. (2010). Neurodevelopmental Changes in the Circuits underlying Empathy and Sympathy from Childhood to Adulthood. Developmental Science, 13(6), 886-899.

Dziobek, I., Fleck, S., Kalbe, E., Rogers, K., Hassenstab, J., Brand, M., . . . Convit, A. (2006). Introducing MASC: A Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(5), 623-636.

Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Fleck, S., Bahnemann, M., Heekeren, H. R., Wolf, O. T. y Convit, A. (2008). Dissociation of Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Adults with Asperger Syndrome using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(3), 464-473.

Fan, Y.-T., Chen, C., Chen, S.-C., Decety, J. y Cheng, Y. (2014). Empathic Arousal and Social Understanding in Individuals with Autism: Evidence from fMRI and ERP Measurements. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(8), 1203-1213.

Fernández-Pinto, I., López-Pérez, B. y Márquez, M. (2008). Empatía: medidas, teorías y aplicaciones en revisión. Anales de Psicología, 24(2), 284-298.

Feshbach, N. D. (1975). Empathy in Children: Some Theoretical and Empirical Considerations. The Counseling Psychologist.

Fletcher‐Watson, S., McConnell, F., Manola, E. y McConachie, H. (2014). Interventions based on the Theory of Mind Cognitive Model for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The Cochrane Library.

García-Molina, A., Enseñat-Cantallops, A., Tirapu-Ustárroz, J. y Roig-Rovira, T. (2009). Maduración de la corteza prefrontal y desarrollo de las funciones ejecutivas durante los primeros cinco años de vida. Revista de Neurología, 48(8), 435-440.

Geday, J., Gjedde, A., Boldsen, A.-S. y Kupers, R. (2003). Emotional Valence Modulates Activity in the Posterior Fusiform Gyrus and Inferior Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Social Perception. Neuroimage, 18(3), 675-684.

Geer, J. H., Estupinan, L. A. y Manguno-Mire, G. M. (2000). Empathy, Social Skills, and other Relevant Cognitive Processes in Rapists and Child Molesters. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 5(1), 99-126.

Goldman, A. I. (1993). Ethics and Cognitive Science. Ethics, 103(2), 337-360.

Greimel, E., Schulte-Rüther, M., Kircher, T., Kamp-Becker, I., Remschmidt, H., Fink, G. R., . . . Konrad, K. (2010). Neural Mechanisms of Empathy in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their Fathers. Neuroimage, 49(1), 1055-1065.

Grove, R., Baillie, A., Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S. y Hoekstra, R. A. (2014). The Latent Structure of Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Individuals with Autism, First-degree Relatives and Typical Individuals. Molecular Autism, 5(1), 1.

Hagenmuller, F., Roessler, W., Wittwer, A. y Haker, H. (2014). Empathic Resonance in Asperger Syndrome. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(7), 851-859.

Happé, F. G. (1994). An Advanced Test of Theory of Mind: Understanding of Story Characters' Thoughts and Feelings by Able Autistic, Mentally Handicapped, and Normal Children and Adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(2), 129-154.

Hirvelä, S. y Helkama, K. (2011). Empathy, Values, Morality and Asperger’s Syndrome. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 52(6), 560-572.

Hoffmann, F., Koehne, S., Steinbeis, N., Dziobek, I. y Singer, T. (2016). Preserved Self-other Distinction during Empathy in Autism is Linked to Network Integrity of Right Supramarginal Gyrus. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(2), 637-648.

Jones, A. P., Happé, F. G., Gilbert, F., Burnett, S. y Viding, E. (2010). Feeling, Caring, Knowing: Different Types of Empathy Deficit in Boys with Psychopathic Tendencies and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(11), 1188-1197.

Koehne, S., Hatri, A., Cacioppo, J. T. y Dziobek, I. (2016). Perceived Interpersonal Synchrony Increases Empathy: Insights from Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cognition, 146, 8-15.

Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M. y Cuthbert, B. N. (1999). International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Instruction Manual and Affective Ratings. The Center for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida.

Lázaro, J. C. F. y Solís, F. O. (2008). Neuropsicología de lóbulos frontales, funciones ejecutivas y conducta humana. Neuropsicología, Neuropsiquiatría y Neurociencias, 8(1), 47-58.

Lockwood, P. L. (2016). The Anatomy of Empathy: Vicarious Experience and Disorders of Social Cognition. Behavioral Brain Research, 311, 255-266.

Lockwood, P. L., Bird, G., Bridge, M. y Viding, E. (2013). Dissecting Empathy: High Levels of Psychopathic and Autistic Traits are Characterized by Difficulties in Different Social Information Processing Domains. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 760.

Mathersul, D., McDonald, S. y Rushby, J. A. (2013). Understanding Advanced Theory of Mind and Empathy in High-functioning Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 35(6), 655-668.

Mazza, M., Pino, M. C., Mariano, M., Tempesta, D., Ferrara, M., De Berardis, D., . . . Valenti, M. (2014). Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 791.

McDonald, S., Flanagan, S., Martin, I. y Saunders, C. (2004). The Ecological Validity of TASIT: A Test of Social Perception. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 14(3), 285-302.

Mehrabian, A. (1996). The Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). Unpublished document available from Albert Mehrabian, 1130.

Moya-Albiol, L., Herrero, N. y Bernal, M. C. (2010). Bases neuronales de la empatía. Rev Neurol, 50(2), 89-100.

Oliveira-Silva, P. y Gonçalves, Ó. F. (2011). Responding Empathically: A Question of Heart, not a Question of Skin. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 36(3), 201-207.

Overgaauw, S., Güroğlu, B., Rieffe, C. y Crone, E. A. (2014). Behavior and Neural Correlates of Empathy in Adolescents. Developmental Neuroscience, 36(3-4), 210-219.

Pasalich, D. S., Dadds, M. R. y Hawes, D. J. (2014). Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Children with Conduct Problems: Additive and Interactive Effects of Callous–unemotional Traits and Autism Spectrum Disorders Symptoms. Psychiatry Research, 219(3), 625-630.

Pelligra, V. (2011). Empathy, Guilt-aversion, and Patterns of Reciprocity. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 4(3), 161.

Peterson, C. (2014). Theory of Mind Understanding and Empathic Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 39, 16-21.

Pouw, L. B., Rieffe, C., Oosterveld, P., Huskens, B. y Stockmann, L. (2013). Reactive/Proactive Aggression and Affective/Cognitive Empathy in Children with ASD. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(4), 1256-1266.

Rankin, K. P., Kramer, J. H. y Miller, B. L. (2005). Patterns of Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 18(1), 28-36.

Ruggieri, V. L. (2013). Empatía, cognición social y trastornos del espectro autista. Rev Neurol, 56(Supl 1), S13-21.

Samson, A. C., Huber, O. y Gross, J. J. (2012). Emotion Regulation in Asperger's Syndrome and High-functioning Autism. Emotion, 12(4), 659.

Schulte-Rüther, M., Greimel, E., Piefke, M., Kamp-Becker, I., Remschmidt, H., Fink, G. R., . . . Konrad, K. (2014). Age-dependent Changes in the Neural Substrates of Empathy in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(8), 1118-1126.

Schulte‐Rüther, M. y Greimel, E. (2011). Brain Networks Supporting Empathy. From DNA to Social Cognition, 47-61.

Schwenck, C., Mergenthaler, J., Keller, K., Zech, J., Salehi, S., Taurines, R., . . . Warnke, A. (2012). Empathy in Children with Autism and Conduct Disorder: Group‐specific Profiles and Developmental Aspects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(6), 651-659.

Shamay-Tsoory, S., Tomer, R., Yaniv, S. y Aharon-Peretz, J. (2002). Empathy Deficits in Asperger Syndrome: A cognitive profile. Neurocase, 8(2), 245-252.

Singer, T. y Lamm, C. (2009). The Social Neuroscience of Empathy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156(1), 81-96.

Stocks, E. L., Lishner, D. A., Waits, B. L. y Downum, E. M. (2011). I'm Embarrassed for You: The Effect of Valuing and Perspective Taking on Empathic Embarrassment and Empathic Concern. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(1), 1-26.

Stotland, E. (1969). Exploratory Investigations of Empathy. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 4, 271-314.

Sucksmith, E., Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S., Chakrabarti, B. y Hoekstra, R. (2013). Empathy and Emotion Recognition in People with Autism, First-degree Relatives, and Controls. Neuropsychologia, 51(1), 98-105.

Thioux, M. y Keysers, C. (2010). Empathy: Shared Circuits and their Dysfunctions. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 12(4), 546-552.

Tousignant, B., Eugène, F. y Jackson, P. L. (2016). A Developmental Perspective on the Neural Bases of Human Empathy. Infant Behavior and Development.

Wellman, H. M. y Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of Theory‐of‐mind Tasks. Child Development, 75(2), 523-541.

Zahavi, D. (2008). Simulation, Projection and Empathy. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(2), 514-522.

Published

2018-05-01

How to Cite

Rivera-Ortega, V. (2018). Empathy in Autism: Conception and Measurement. Revista CS, (25), 191-211. https://doi.org/10.18046/recs.i25.2707