Characterization of empathy deficits following prefrontal brain damage: The role of the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Characterization of empathy deficits following prefrontal brain damage: The role of the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex
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DOI：
10.1162/089892903321593063
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发表时间：
2003-04-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Aharon-Peretz, J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Shamay-Tsoory, SG;Tomer, R;Aharon-Peretz, J
脑损伤后患者的共情反应受损，表明共情可能是脑损伤扰乱社会行为的一个基本方面。然而，共情受损的神经解剖学基础尚未得到详细研究。将前额皮质局部病变患者（n = 25）的共情反应与后额叶病变患者（n = 17）和健康对照受试者（n = 19）的共情反应进行比较。研究移情能力背后的认知过程。同理心分数与认知灵活性、情感识别和心理理论（TOM）任务的表现之间的关系也被检验。与后部损伤的患者和健康对照组相比，前额叶损伤的患者，特别是当其损伤包括腹内侧前额叶皮质时，同理心显着受损。然而，在后部病变的患者中，右半球受损的患者受到损害，而左后部病变的患者表现出与健康对照组相似的同理心水平。9名共情缺陷最严重的患者中有7名患有右腹内侧病变。关于共情和认知表现之间的关系的差异模式也被发现：而背外侧前额叶损伤患者的共情与认知灵活性有关，但不与TOM和影响识别，共情分数与腹内侧损伤患者的TOM，但不与认知灵活性。我们的研究结果表明，前额叶结构中起着重要的作用，在网络介导的移情反应，特别是右腹内侧皮层有一个独特的作用，在整合认知和情感产生的移情反应。
Impaired empathic response has been described in patients following brain injury, suggesting that empathy may be a fundamental aspect of the social behavior disturbed by brain damage. However, the neuroanatomical basis of impaired empathy has not been studied in detail. The empathic response of patients with localized lesions in the prefrontal cortex (n = 25) was compared to responses of patients with posterior (n = 17) and healthy control subjects (n = 19). To examine the cognitive processes that underlie the empathic ability. the relationships between empathy scores and the performance on tasks that assess processes of cognitive flexibility, affect recognition, and theory of mind (TOM) were also examined. Patients with prefrontal lesions, particularly when their damage included the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, were significantly impaired in empathy as compared to patients with posterior lesions and healthy controls. However, among Patients with posterior lesions, those with damage to the right hemisphere were impaired, whereas those with left posterior lesions displayed empathy levels similar to healthy controls. Seven of nine patients with the most profound empathy deficit had a right ventromedial lesion. A differential pattern regarding the relationships between empathy and cognitive performance was also found: Whereas among patients with dorsolateral prefrontal damage empathy was related to cognitive flexibility but not to TOM and affect recognition, empathy scores in patients with ventromedial lesions were related to TOM but not to cognitive flexibility. Our findings suggest that prefrontal structures play an important part in a network mediating the empathic response and specifically that the right ventromedial cortex has a unique role in integrating cognition and affect to produce the empathic response.