No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia
The present study has been designed to disentangle cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy in a group of mentally healthy and highly alexithymic individuals (ALEX, n = 24) and well-matched controls (n = 26) through questionnaire Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and Multifaceted Empathy Tas...
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2020-09-01
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doaj-d749dc6f2234437d94ea0a1310c9d58d2020-11-25T03:43:50ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532020-09-011410.3389/fnbeh.2020.00112512613No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in AlexithymiaElif Alkan Härtwig0Sabine Aust1Hauke R. Heekeren2Isabella Heuser3Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Charité University Medicine, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Charité University Medicine, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, GermanyThe present study has been designed to disentangle cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy in a group of mentally healthy and highly alexithymic individuals (ALEX, n = 24) and well-matched controls (n = 26) through questionnaire Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and Multifaceted Empathy Task (MET) used during the fMRI and after the fMRI. Simultaneously, Skin Conductance Response (SCR) has been acquired as an implicit measure of emotional reaction. Results show an impaired emotional empathic ability in alexithymic individuals, with lower levels of SCR and higher activation in prefrontal brain regions such as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Cognitive empathy was not impaired in the alexithymic group and the results were accompanied by a higher activation left IFG. The study leads to the conclusion that alexithymia does not only involve a diminished ability to identify and describe one’s own emotions. Furthermore, it is related to a deeper disability of emotion regulation, which becomes visible through impaired emotional concern for others and higher levels of personal distress.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00112/fullalexithymiafMRIcognitive empathyemotional empathysubjective arousal |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Elif Alkan Härtwig Sabine Aust Hauke R. Heekeren Isabella Heuser |
spellingShingle |
Elif Alkan Härtwig Sabine Aust Hauke R. Heekeren Isabella Heuser No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience alexithymia fMRI cognitive empathy emotional empathy subjective arousal |
author_facet |
Elif Alkan Härtwig Sabine Aust Hauke R. Heekeren Isabella Heuser |
author_sort |
Elif Alkan Härtwig |
title |
No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia |
title_short |
No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia |
title_full |
No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia |
title_fullStr |
No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia |
title_full_unstemmed |
No Words for Feelings? Not Only for My Own: Diminished Emotional Empathic Ability in Alexithymia |
title_sort |
no words for feelings? not only for my own: diminished emotional empathic ability in alexithymia |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
issn |
1662-5153 |
publishDate |
2020-09-01 |
description |
The present study has been designed to disentangle cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy in a group of mentally healthy and highly alexithymic individuals (ALEX, n = 24) and well-matched controls (n = 26) through questionnaire Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and Multifaceted Empathy Task (MET) used during the fMRI and after the fMRI. Simultaneously, Skin Conductance Response (SCR) has been acquired as an implicit measure of emotional reaction. Results show an impaired emotional empathic ability in alexithymic individuals, with lower levels of SCR and higher activation in prefrontal brain regions such as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Cognitive empathy was not impaired in the alexithymic group and the results were accompanied by a higher activation left IFG. The study leads to the conclusion that alexithymia does not only involve a diminished ability to identify and describe one’s own emotions. Furthermore, it is related to a deeper disability of emotion regulation, which becomes visible through impaired emotional concern for others and higher levels of personal distress. |
topic |
alexithymia fMRI cognitive empathy emotional empathy subjective arousal |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00112/full |
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