Empathy and judging other's pain: An fMRI study of alexithymia
Empathy and judging other's pain: An fMRI study of alexithymia
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhl130
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发表时间：
2007-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Komaki, Gen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Moriguchi, Yoshiya;Decety, Jean;Komaki, Gen
因为意识到自我情绪状态是识别他人情绪状态的先决条件，述情障碍（ALEX），即识别和表达自己情绪状态的困难，应该涉及同理心障碍。使用功能磁共振成像 (fMRI)，我们比较了 ALEX 组 (n = 16) 和非述情障碍 (non-ALEX) 组 (n = 14) 对描绘人类手脚在痛苦情况下的图片的视觉感知的局部血流动力学反应。两组之间还比较了图片的主观疼痛评级和同理心相关的心理评分。 ALEX 组在疼痛矩阵内的左侧背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC)、背侧脑桥、小脑和左侧尾部前扣带皮层 (ACC) 的大脑激活较少。 ALEX 组的右侧岛叶和额下回表现出更大的激活。此外，有述情障碍的参与者在疼痛评分和与成熟同理心相关的分数上得分较低。总之，DLPFC、脑干、小脑和 ACC 的功能减退以及 ALEX 中较低的疼痛等级和共情相关评分与认知障碍有关，特别是情绪处理的执行和调节方面，并支持自我意识在共情中的重要性。
Because awareness of emotional states in the self is a prerequisite to recognizing such states in others, alexithymia (ALEX), difficulty in identifying and expressing one's own emotional states, should involve impairment in empathy. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we compared an ALEX group (n = 16) and a non-alexithymia (non-ALEX) group (n = 14) for their regional hemodynamic responses to the visual perception of pictures depicting human hands and feet in painful situations. Subjective pain ratings of the pictures and empathy-related psychological scores were also compared between the 2 groups. The ALEX group showed less cerebral activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the dorsal pons, the cerebellum, and the left caudal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) within the pain matrix. The ALEX group showed greater activation in the right insula and inferior frontal gyrus. Furthermore, alexithymic participants scored lower on the pain ratings and on the scores related to mature empathy. In conclusion, the hypofunction in the DLPFC, brain stem, cerebellum, and ACC and the lower pain-rating and empathy-related scores in ALEX are related to cognitive impairments, particularly executive and regulatory aspects, of emotional processing and support the importance of self-awareness in empathy.