Empathetic Abilities Research Articles

Alexithymia in Parkinson’s Disease: Secondary Phenomenon Or Primary Neuropsychiatric feature?

ISSN 1758-2024 10.2217/NMT.12.31 © 2012 Future Medicine Ltd Neurodegen. Dis. Manage. (2012) 2(4), 343–346 part of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neuro­ degenerative disorder previously thought to be almost exclusively characterized by motor symptoms such as rigidity, brady­ kinesia, postural instability and rest tremor. However, motor symptoms are only one aspect of this multifaceted and complex disorder, which is also character­ ized by non­motor phenomena such as mood and anxiety disorders [1,2], impair­ ment of facial emotion expression recog­ nition [3,4], affective prosody and verbal emotional communication [5,6]. Alexithymia is one PD non­motor phe­ nomenon that is still poorly understood. It was originally defined as the inability to recognize and verbalize emotions [7]. People with alexithymia have reduced or missing imagery, they lack introspection ability and are inclined to adopt conform­ ist behavior. They frequently develop dependent relationships or, alternatively, prefer social isolation. Generally, people with alexithymia are unable to symbol­ ize or mentalize emotions. Indeed, these patients do not cognitively elaborate emo­ tions or conceptualize them by mental imaging or words. In alexithymic patients, emotion is just a physical and presymbolic perception. Therefore, alexithymia may be related to lost or reduced empathetic ability and, thus, may negatively affect other aspects of emotional processing, such as recog­ nition of facial emotion expressions. In other words, ‘if I am unable to compre­ hend, give meaning to and recognize my emotions how can I understand and feel other people’s emotions?’ In this regard, the brain structures that respond to emo­ tions have also been shown to be activated during the process of identification of the same emotions by others [8,9], suggesting that anatomical or functional derange­ ment of discrete neural pathways may lead to the inability to experience emotions as well as impaired recognition of the emo­ tions expressed by others. In particular, the ability to attribute mental states to others to understand and predict their emotional behavior, that is, the so­called empathetic process, requires the inter­ vention of several structures such as the amygdala, the temporal lobe (particularly

Empathie und Spiegelneurone. Ein Blick auf die gegenwärtige neuropsychologische Empathieforschung

Neurons firing both to specific actions performed by self and matching actions performed by others are classified as mirror neurons. Since its discovery in 1991, this phenomenon has been surveyed in the field of motor and sensorimotor function and incipiently in the field of language and emotions. The research group of Giacomo Rizzolatti assumes that mirror neurons form the biological basis of compassion and thereby of affective empathic experience. The research regarding mirror neurons is yet in early stages and further research is required to specify mirror neuron systems. In view of empathy it is the insula which is of central importance for the recognition of disgust. The discovery of mirror neurons allows a comprehension of empathy as an immediate and compassionate partaking of a response, enabling an understanding of the other persons feeling. At the same time, the resonating affect remains allocated to the other person, distinguishing this comprehensive process from a mere emotional contagion. At present, the phenomenon of mirror neurons is gaining clinical relevance in the field of autism spectrum disorders and apoplexia. One's own ability for empathy as well as promoting empathetic abilities of others is of central importance for the clinical praxis, in particular concerning the treatment of children and adolescents.

The reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS-J)

BackgroundThe Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) was developed to assess five levels of emotional awareness: bodily sensations, action tendencies, single emotions, blends of emotion, and combinations of blends. It is a paper and pencil performance questionnaire that presents 20 emotion-evoking scenes. We developed a Japanese version of the LEAS (LEAS-J), and its reliability and validity were examined.MethodsThe LEAS-J level was independently assessed by two researchers who scored each response according to the LEAS scoring manual. High inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were obtained for the LEAS-J. Measures were socioeconomic status, LEAS-J, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). TAS-20, IRI and NEO-FFI were the measures used to explore the construct validity of LEAS-J, as it was predicted that higher scores on the LEAS-J would be related to fewer alexithymic features, greater empathetic ability, and a greater sense of cooperation with others. Questionnaires were completed by 344 university students.ResultsThe criterion-referenced validity was determined: a significant negative relationship was found with the externally-oriented thinking scores of TAS-20, and positive relationships were found with fantasy, perspective taking, and empathic concern on IRI and with extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness on NEO-FFI.ConclusionsConsistent with our expectations, the findings provide evidence that the LEAS-J has good reliability and validity. In addition, women had significantly higher scores than men on LEAS-J, showing that the gender difference identified in the original LEAS was cross-culturally consistent.

Theory of Mind in first-episode schizophrenia patients: Correlations with cognition and personality traits

Introduction There is substantial evidence for Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Many psychotic symptoms may best be understood in light of an impaired capacity to infer one's own and other persons' mental states and to relate those to executing behavior. The aim of our study was to investigate ToM abilities in first-episode schizophrenia patients and to analyze them in relation to neuropsychological and psychopathological functioning. Materials and methods A modified Moving Shapes paradigm was used to assess ToM abilities in 23 first-episode patients with schizophrenia and 23 matched healthy controls. Participants had to describe animated triangles which moved (1) randomly, (2) goal-directed, or (3) in complex, socially interactive ways (ToM video sequences). Neuropsychological functioning, psychopathology, autistic and alexithymic features as well as empathetic abilities were correlated with ToM performance. Results Compared to healthy controls, first-episode schizophrenia patients gave more incorrect descriptions and used less ToM-related vocabulary when responding to socially complex ToM video sequences. No group differences were revealed for videos with random movements. ToM abilities correlated significantly with positive symptoms, reasoning, verbal memory performance and verbal IQ, but not with empathetic abilities or autistic and alexithymic features. When controlling for reasoning, verbal memory performance and verbal IQ, the correctness of video descriptions was still significantly worse in schizophrenia patients. Discussion The results of our study in first-episode schizophrenia patients underline recent findings on ToM deficits in the early course of schizophrenia. Only a moderate influence of neurocognitive deficits on ToM performance was observed. Impairment in ToM abilities seems to be predominantly independent of clinical state, alexithymia and empathy.