The Experts below are selected from a list of 360 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Isabel Dziobek - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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from face to face the contribution of facial mimicry to cognitive and Emotional Empathy
Cognition & Emotion, 2019Co-Authors: Niels Landwehr, Hanna Drimalla, Ursula Hess, Isabel DziobekAbstract:Despite advances in the conceptualisation of facial mimicry, its role in the processing of social information is a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between mimicry and cognitive and Emotional Empathy. To assess mimicry, facial electromyography was recorded for 70 participants while they completed the Multifaceted Empathy Test, which presents complex context-embedded Emotional expressions. As predicted, inter-individual differences in Emotional and cognitive Empathy were associated with the level of facial mimicry. For positive emotions, the intensity of the mimicry response scaled with the level of state Emotional Empathy. Mimicry was stronger for the Emotional Empathy task compared to the cognitive Empathy task. The specific Empathy condition could be successfully detected from facial muscle activity at the level of single individuals using machine learning techniques. These results support the view that mimicry occurs depending on the social context as a tool to affiliate and it is involved in cognitive as well as Emotional Empathy.
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psychosocial stress differentially affects Emotional Empathy in women with borderline personality disorder and healthy controls
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2018Co-Authors: Katja Wingenfeld, Isabel Dziobek, Juliane Fleischer, Christian Otte, Stefan Roepke, Moritz Duesenberg, Oliver T WolfAbstract:OBJECTIVE Deficits in Empathy, an important part of social cognition, have been described in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Importantly, psychosocial stress enhances Emotional Empathy in healthy participants. However, it remains unknown whether stress affects Empathy in BPD. METHOD We randomized 47 women with BPD and 47 healthy women to either the Trier Social Stress Test or a control condition. Subsequently, all participants underwent the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), a measure of cognitive and Emotional facets of Empathy. RESULTS Across groups, stress resulted in a significant increase in cortisol and stress ratings. There was a significant stress × group interaction for Emotional Empathy (Fdf1,92 = 5.12, P = 0.04, ηp2 = 0.05). While there was no difference between patients with BPD and healthy participants after the control condition, patients with BPD had significantly lower Emotional Empathy scores after stress compared to healthy individuals. There were no effects for cognitive Empathy. CONCLUSION The current finding provides first evidence that stress differentially affects Emotional Empathy in patients with BPD and healthy individuals such that patients with BPD showed reduced Emotional Empathy compared to healthy women after stress. Given the strong impact of stress on acute psychopathology in patients with BPD, such a response may exacerbate interpersonal conflicts in stress contexts and may be an important target for therapeutic interventions.
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effect of psilocybin on Empathy and moral decision making
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2017Co-Authors: Thomas Pokorny, Katrin H Preller, Michael Kometer, Isabel Dziobek, Franz X VollenweiderAbstract:Background: Impaired empathic abilities lead to severe negative social consequences and influence the development and treatment of several psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, Empathy has been shown to play a crucial role in moral and prosocial behavior. Although the serotonin system has been implicated in modulating Empathy and moral behavior, the relative contribution of the various serotonin receptor subtypes is still unknown. Methods: We investigated the acute effect of psilocybin (0.215 mg/kg p.o.) in healthy human subjects on different facets of Empathy and hypothetical moral decision-making using the multifaceted Empathy test (n=32) and the moral dilemma task (n=24). Results: Psilocybin significantly increased Emotional, but not cognitive Empathy compared with placebo, and the increase in implicit Emotional Empathy was significantly associated with psilocybin-induced changed meaning of percepts. In contrast, moral decision-making remained unaffected by psilocybin. Conclusions: These findings provide first evidence that psilocybin has distinct effects on social cognition by enhancing Emotional Empathy but not moral behavior. Furthermore, together with previous findings, psilocybin appears to promote Emotional Empathy presumably via activation of serotonin 2A/1A receptors, suggesting that targeting serotonin 2A/1A receptors has implications for potential treatment of dysfunctional social cognition.
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modulation of beta band activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex during Emotional Empathy in treatment resistant depression
Cerebral Cortex, 2016Co-Authors: Angela Merkl, Isabel Dziobek, Wolfjulian Neumann, Julius Huebl, Sabine Aust, Andreas Horn, Joachim K Krauss, Jens Kuhn, Gerdhelge Schneider, Malek BajboujAbstract:Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising approach in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). TRD is associated with problems in interpersonal relationships, which might be linked to impaired Empathy. Here, we investigate the influence of DBS in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) on Empathy in patients with TRD and explore the pattern of oscillatory sgACC activity during performance of the multifaceted Empathy test. We recorded local field potential activity directly from sgACC via DBS electrodes in patients. Based on previous behavioral findings, we expected disrupted Empathy networks. Patients showed increased empathic involvement ratings toward negative stimuli as compared with healthy subjects that were significantly reduced after 6 months of DBS. Stimulus-related oscillatory activity pattern revealed a broad desynchronization in the beta (14-35 Hz) band that was significantly larger during patients' reported Emotional Empathy for negative stimuli than when patients reported to have no Empathy. Beta desynchronization for empathic involvement correlated with self-reported severity of depression. Our results indicate a "negativity bias" in patients that can be reduced by DBS. Moreover, direct recordings show activation of the sgACC area during Emotional processing and propose that changes in beta-band oscillatory activity in the sgACC might index empathic involvement of negative emotion in TRD.
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enhanced Emotional Empathy after psychosocial stress in young healthy men
Stress, 2015Co-Authors: Oliver T Wolf, Hanna Drimalla, Judith M Schulte, Tanja C Hamacherdang, Daria Knoch, Isabel DziobekAbstract:Empathy is a core prerequisite for human social behavior. Relatively, little is known about how Empathy is influenced by social stress and its associated neuroendocrine alterations. The current study was designed to test the impact of acute stress on Emotional and cognitive Empathy. Healthy male participants were exposed to a psychosocial laboratory stressor (trier social stress test, (TSST)) or a well-matched control condition (Placebo-TSST). Afterwards they participated in an Empathy test measuring Emotional and cognitive Empathy (multifaceted Empathy test, (MET)). Stress exposure caused an increase in negative affect, a rise in salivary alpha amylase and a rise in cortisol. Participants exposed to stress reported more Emotional Empathy in response to pictures displaying both positive and negative Emotional social scenes. Cognitive Empathy (emotion recognition) in contrast did not differ between the stress and the control group. The current findings provide initial evidence for enhanced Emotional Empathy after acute psychosocial stress.
Stefan Roepke - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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psychosocial stress differentially affects Emotional Empathy in women with borderline personality disorder and healthy controls
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2018Co-Authors: Katja Wingenfeld, Isabel Dziobek, Juliane Fleischer, Christian Otte, Stefan Roepke, Moritz Duesenberg, Oliver T WolfAbstract:OBJECTIVE Deficits in Empathy, an important part of social cognition, have been described in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Importantly, psychosocial stress enhances Emotional Empathy in healthy participants. However, it remains unknown whether stress affects Empathy in BPD. METHOD We randomized 47 women with BPD and 47 healthy women to either the Trier Social Stress Test or a control condition. Subsequently, all participants underwent the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), a measure of cognitive and Emotional facets of Empathy. RESULTS Across groups, stress resulted in a significant increase in cortisol and stress ratings. There was a significant stress × group interaction for Emotional Empathy (Fdf1,92 = 5.12, P = 0.04, ηp2 = 0.05). While there was no difference between patients with BPD and healthy participants after the control condition, patients with BPD had significantly lower Emotional Empathy scores after stress compared to healthy individuals. There were no effects for cognitive Empathy. CONCLUSION The current finding provides first evidence that stress differentially affects Emotional Empathy in patients with BPD and healthy individuals such that patients with BPD showed reduced Emotional Empathy compared to healthy women after stress. Given the strong impact of stress on acute psychopathology in patients with BPD, such a response may exacerbate interpersonal conflicts in stress contexts and may be an important target for therapeutic interventions.
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Enhanced Emotional Empathy after Mineralocorticoid Receptor Stimulation in Women with Borderline Personality Disorder and Healthy Women
Neuropsychopharmacology, 2014Co-Authors: Katja Wingenfeld, Isabel Dziobek, Linn K Kuehl, Katrin Janke, Kim Hinkelmann, Juliane Fleischer, Christian Otte, Stefan RoepkeAbstract:The mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is highly expressed in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. MR have an important role in appraisal processes and in modulating stress-associated Emotional reactions but it is not known whether the MR affects Empathy. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by disturbed emotion regulation and alterations in Empathy. In the current study, we examined whether stimulation of the MR enhances Empathy in patients with BPD and healthy individuals. In a placebo-controlled study, we randomized 38 women with BPD and without psychotropic medication, and 35 healthy women to either placebo or 0.4 mg fludrocortisone, an MR agonist. Subsequently, all participants underwent two tests of social cognition, the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) and the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC), measuring cognitive and Emotional facets of Empathy. Eighteen BPD patients and 18 healthy women received placebo, whereas 20 BPD patients and 17 healthy women received fludrocortisone. In the MET, fludrocortisone enhanced Emotional Empathy across groups, whereas cognitive Empathy was not affected. In the MASC, no effect of fludrocortisone could be revealed. In both tests, BPD patients and healthy women did not differ significantly in cognitive and Emotional Empathy and in their response to fludrocortisone. Stimulation of MR enhanced Emotional Empathy in healthy women and in BPD patients. Whether fludrocortisone might have a therapeutic role in psychotherapeutic processes, remains to be elucidated.
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neuronal correlates of altered Empathy and social cognition in borderline personality disorder
NeuroImage, 2011Co-Authors: Isabel Dziobek, Stefan Roepke, Sandra Preisler, Hauke R Heekeren, Isabella Heuser, Zarko GrozdanovicAbstract:Abstract Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric condition of undetermined brain underpinnings, which involves profound emotion regulation deficits and interpersonal impairment. To elucidate biopsychological markers of the disorder, we performed two studies: i.) assessing Empathy and social cognition and ii.) measuring the psychophysical properties and functional brain correlates of empathic functioning in a total of fifty-one affected patients and 50 age- and gender-matched controls. In the behavioral study we applied the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), a new, ecologically valid measure to assess cognitive (i.e., social cognition) and Emotional (i.e., empathic concern) Empathy to a subset of participants. In the second study, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and skin conductance measurements were performed while participants took a scanner-adapted version of the MET. Patients with BPD showed impairments in cognitive and Emotional Empathy. Brain responses during cognitive Empathy were significantly reduced in patients compared to controls in the left superior temporal sulcus and gyrus (STS/STG), where this reduction was associated with levels of intrusive symptomatology in the BPD group. During Emotional Empathy, patients with BPD exhibited greater brain activity than controls in the right middle insular cortex, a response that was associated with skin conductance responses in the patients. Results indicate that altered functioning of the STS/STG and insula represents pathophysiological mediators for reduced Empathy in BPD, with an important role for intrusive symptomatology and levels of arousal. The findings thus support a conceptualization of BPD as involving deficits in both inferring others' mental states and being Emotionally attuned to another person.
Jacqueline A Rushby - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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not knowing what i feel Emotional Empathy in autism spectrum disorders
Autism, 2017Co-Authors: Emily Trimmer, Skye Mcdonald, Jacqueline A RushbyAbstract:While there is a general consensus in the literature that individuals with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty with cognitive Empathy, much less is known about Emotional Empathy processing in these individuals. Most research has employed subjective self-report measures, which can often be misinterpreted or under-reported/over-reported. More objective measures such as psychophysiological recordings of arousal offer a more objective response. Furthermore, combining physiological responses with self-report ratings allows us to explore the relationship between these two responses to Emotionally charged stimuli. A total of 25 individuals with autism spectrum disorder were compared with 25 matched controls on their physiological (arousal) and psychological (self-report) responses to Emotionally distressing video scenes. These responses were also then compared with self-report cognitive and Emotional trait Empathy. Results indicate that while individuals with autism spectrum disorder appear to respond simil...
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changes in Emotional Empathy affective responsivity and behavior following severe traumatic brain injury
Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 2012Co-Authors: Arielle De Sousa, Skye Mcdonald, Jacqueline A RushbyAbstract:This study was designed to examine the relationship between deficits in Empathy, Emotional responsivity, and social behavior in adults with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). A total of 21 patients with severe TBI and 25 control participants viewed six film clips containing pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral content whilst facial muscle responses, skin conductance, and valence and arousal ratings were measured. Emotional Empathy (the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale, BEES: self-report) and changes in drive and control in social situations (The Current Behaviour Scale, CBS: relative report) were also assessed. In comparison to control participants, those in the TBI group reported less ability to empathize Emotionally and had reduced facial responding to both pleasant and unpleasant films. They also exhibited lowered autonomic arousal, as well as abnormal ratings of valence and arousal, particularly to unpleasant films. Relative reported loss of Emotional control was significantly associated with heightened Empathy, while there was a trend to suggest that impaired drive (or motivation) may be related to lower levels of Emotional Empathy. The results represent the first to suggest that level of Emotional Empathy post traumatic brain injury may be associated with behavioral manifestations of disorders of drive and control.
Giuseppe Iaria - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury
Hindawi Limited, 2019Co-Authors: Veronica Guadagni, Giuseppe Iaria, Marco Sarà, Massimiliano Conson, Antonio Carolei, Simona Sacco, Silvia Vadini, Caterina Pistarini, Arcangelo Barbonetti, Francesca PistoiaAbstract:Background. Empathy has been conceptualized as comprising a cognitive and an Emotional component, the latter being further divided into direct and indirect aspects, which refer, respectively, to the explicit evaluation of the observer’s feelings while attending someone in an Emotional situation and to the physiological response of the observer. Empathy has been previously investigated in several neurological disorders. Objective. This study is aimed at investigating Empathy in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). We hypothesize that, due to deafferentation following their injury, SCI patients will display difficulty in the processing of Emotional stimuli and blunted empathic responses as compared to healthy controls. Materials and Methods. 20 patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) (12 males and 8 females, mean age=50.9, standard deviation SD=16.1 years; mean education=10.9, SD=4.1 years) were included in the study and compared to 20 matched healthy subjects. Participants were investigated using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y) (STAI-Y), the Beck Depression Scale, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Moreover, participants were further evaluated by means of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), which explores both cognitive and Emotional aspects of Empathy, and through an experimental protocol based on the use of a modified version of the computerized Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) to evaluate Emotional (direct and indirect) Empathy and the ability to judge the valence of complex Emotional scenes. Results. As compared to healthy controls, SCI patients reported higher scores on the Perspective-Taking subscale of the IRI, while, on the modified MET, they were less accurate in identifying the valence of neutral scenes, notwithstanding their spared direct and indirect Emotional Empathy ability. Furthermore, we found a significant negative correlation between the time interval since injury and the direct Emotional Empathy scores on the positive images, as well as a negative correlation with the indirect Emotional Empathy scores on both positive and neutral images, indicating a blunting of the empathic responses as time elapses. Conclusion. Results suggest that SCI patients, when analyzing the meaning of Emotional stimuli, tend to rely on a cognitive Empathy strategy rather than on emotion simulation
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the relationship between quality of sleep and Emotional Empathy
Journal of Psychophysiology, 2017Co-Authors: Veronica Guadagni, Ford Burles, Michele Ferrara, Silvana Valera, Emeleigh Hardwickebrown, Tavis Campbell, Giuseppe IariaAbstract:Abstract. Sleep loss is known to severely disturb individuals’ mood and emotion processing. Here, we tested the hypothesis that quality of sleep is predictive of individuals’ performance on a task evaluating Emotional Empathy. We tested 34 healthy undergraduate students [19 males, mean (SD) age = 21.82 (3.26) years; mean (SD) education = 14.98 (1.91) years] recruited through the University of Calgary research participation system. We collected objective (actigraphy) and subjective (questionnaires and self-reports) sleep measures to characterize individuals’ sleep quality, and asked participants to solve a computerized Emotional Empathy task. We first performed a dimensionality reduction analysis on the sleep-related measures, which resulted in six principal components, and then ran a stepwise multiple regression analysis to investigate the sleep measures that best predicted participants’ scores on the Emotional Empathy task. We found that subjective sleep quality, together with sleep phase, best predicted...
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neural activity related to cognitive and Emotional Empathy in post traumatic stress disorder
Behavioural Brain Research, 2015Co-Authors: Monica Mazza, Veronica Guadagni, Giuseppe Iaria, Daniela Tempesta, Maria Chiara Pino, Anna Nigri, Alessia Catalucci, M Gallucci, Michele FerraraAbstract:The aim of this study is to evaluate the empathic ability and its functional brain correlates in post-traumatic stress disorder subjects (PTSD). Seven PTSD subjects and ten healthy controls, all present in the L'Aquila area during the earthquake of the April 2009, underwent fMRI during which they performed a modified version of the Multifaceted Empathy Test. PTSD patients showed impairments in implicit and explicit Emotional Empathy, but not in cognitive Empathy. Brain responses during cognitive Empathy showed an increased activation in patients compared to controls in the right medial frontal gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus. During implicit Emotional Empathy responses patients with PTSD, compared to controls, exhibited greater neural activity in the left pallidum and right insula; instead the control group showed an increased activation in right inferior frontal gyrus. Finally, in the explicit Emotional Empathy responses the PTSD group showed a reduced neural activity in the left insula and the left inferior frontal gyrus. The behavioral deficit limited to the Emotional Empathy dimension, accompanied by different patterns of activation in Empathy related brain structures, represent a first piece of evidence of a dissociation between Emotional and cognitive Empathy in PTSD patients. The present findings support the idea that Empathy is a multidimensional process, with different facets depending on distinct anatomical substrates.
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The effects of sleep deprivation on Emotional Empathy
Journal of Sleep Research, 2014Co-Authors: Veronica Guadagni, Ford Burles, Michele Ferrara, Giuseppe IariaAbstract:Previous studies have shown that sleep loss has a detrimental effect on the ability of the individuals to process Emotional information. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that this negative effect extends to the ability of experiencing emotions while observing other individuals, i.e. Emotional Empathy. To test this hypothesis, we assessed Emotional Empathy in 37 healthy volunteers who were assigned randomly to one of three experimental groups: one group was tested before and after a night of total sleep deprivation (sleep deprivation group), a second group was tested before and after a usual night of sleep spent at home (sleep group) and the third group was tested twice during the same day (day group). Emotional Empathy was assessed by using two parallel versions of a computerized test measuring direct (i.e. explicit evaluation of empathic concern) and indirect (i.e. the observer's reported physiological arousal) Emotional Empathy. The results revealed that the post measurements of both direct and indirect Emotional Empathy of participants in the sleep deprivation group were significantly lower than those of the sleep and day groups; post measurement scores of participants in the day and sleep groups did not differ significantly for either direct or indirect Emotional Empathy. These data are consistent with previous studies showing the negative effect of sleep deprivation on the processing of Emotional information, and extend these effects to Emotional Empathy. The findings reported in our study are relevant to healthy individuals with poor sleep habits, as well as clinical populations suffering from sleep disturbances.
Jörg Frommer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Changes in brain activity of somatoform disorder patients during Emotional Empathy after multimodal psychodynamic psychotherapy
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2013Co-Authors: Moritz De Greck, Annette F. Bölter, Lisa Lehmann, Cornelia Ulrich, Eva Stockum, Björn Enzi, Thilo Hoffmann, Claus Tempelmann, Manfred E. Beutel, Jörg FrommerAbstract:Somatoform disorder patients show a variety of Emotional disturbances including impaired emotion recognition and increased empathic distress. In a previous paper, our group showed that several brain regions involved in Emotional processing, such as the parahippocampal gyrus and other regions, were less activated in pre-treatment somatoform disorder patients (compared to healthy controls) during an Empathy task. Since the parahippocampal gyrus is involved in Emotional memory, its decreased activation might reflect the repression of Emotional memories (which - according to psychoanalytical concepts - plays an important role in somatoform disorder). Psychodynamic psychotherapy aims at increasing the understanding of Emotional conflicts as well as uncovering repressed emotions. We were interested, whether brain activity in the parahippocampal gyrus normalized after (inpatient) multimodal psychodynamic psychotherapy. Using fMRI, subjects were scanned while they shared the Emotional states of presented facial stimuli expressing anger, disgust, joy and a neutral expression; distorted stimuli with unrecognizable content served as control condition. 15 somatoform disorder patients were scanned twice, pre and post multimodal psychodynamic psychotherapy; in addition, 15 age-matched healthy control subjects were investigated. Effects of psychotherapy on hemodynamic responses were analyzed implementing two approaches: (i) an a priori region of interest approach and (ii) a voxelwise whole brain analysis. Both analyses revealed increased hemodynamic responses in the left and right parahippocampal gyrus (and other regions) after multimodal psychotherapy in the contrast ‘Empathy with anger’-‘control’. Our results are in line with psychoanalytical concepts about somatoform disorder. They suggest the parahippocampal gyrus is crucially involved in the neurobiological mechanisms which underly the Emotional deficits of somatoform disorder patients.
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altered brain activity during Emotional Empathy in somatoform disorder
Human Brain Mapping, 2012Co-Authors: Moritz De Greck, Annette F. Bölter, Cornelia Ulrich, Eva Stockum, Björn Enzi, Thilo Hoffmann, Claus Tempelmann, Jörg Frommer, Lisa Scheidt, Shihui HanAbstract:Somatoform disorder patients suffer from impaired emotion recognition and other Emotional deficits. Emotional Empathy refers to the understanding and sharing of emotions of others in social contexts. It is likely that the Emotional deficits of somatoform disorder patients are linked to disturbed empathic abilities; however, little is known so far about empathic deficits of somatoform patients and the underlying neural mechanisms. We used fMRI and an Empathy paradigm to investigate 20 somatoform disorder patients and 20 healthy controls. The Empathy paradigm contained facial pictures expressing anger, joy, disgust, and a neutral Emotional state; a control condition contained unrecognizable stimuli. In addition, questionnaires testing for somatization, alexithymia, depression, Empathy, and emotion recognition were applied. Behavioral results confirmed impaired emotion recognition in somatoform disorder and indicated a rather distinct pattern of empathic deficits of somatoform patients with specific difficulties in "empathic distress." In addition, somatoform patients revealed brain areas with diminished activity in the contrasts "all emotions"-"control," "anger"-"control," and "joy"-"control," whereas we did not find brain areas with altered activity in the contrasts "disgust"-"control" and "neutral"-"control." Significant clusters with less activity in somatoform patients included the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, the left amygdala, the left postcentral gyrus, the left superior temporal gyrus, the left posterior insula, and the bilateral cerebellum. These findings indicate that disturbed Emotional Empathy of somatoform disorder patients is linked to impaired emotion recognition and abnormal activity of brain regions responsible for Emotional evaluation, Emotional memory, and emotion generation.