Empathic brain responses in insula are modulated by levels of alexithymia but not autism
University College London · Birkbeck, University of London · +2 more institutions
Abstract
Difficulties in social cognition are well recognized in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (henceforth 'autism'). Here we focus on one crucial aspect of social cognition: the ability to empathize with the feelings of another. In contrast to theory of mind, a capacity that has often been observed to be impaired in individuals with autism, much less is known about the capacity of individuals with autism for affect sharing. Based on previous data suggesting that empathy deficits in autism are a function of interoceptive deficits related to alexithymia, we aimed to investigate empathic brain responses in autistic and control participants with high and low degrees of alexithymia. Using functional magnetic…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 19.26
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 107
Authors
6Topics & keywords
- Alexithymia
- Autism
- Empathy
- Psychology
- Theory of mind
- Affect (linguistics)
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Social cognition