School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Cortex. 2011 May;47(5):526-35. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2010.02.004. Epub 2010 Mar 1.
People with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often find social situations challenging because they can no longer respond to the emotional state of the people they are with. Many also lack emotional empathy in their social interactions. But are these problems related? The present study addressed this question by examining psychophysiological indices of emotional responding, including facial electromyography (EMG) and skin conductance during exposure to happy and angry facial expressions, in addition to self-rated emotional empathy in 21 adults with severe TBI and 22 control participants. In comparison to control participants, those in the TBI group displayed a reduction in the ability to empathize emotionally, and showed reduced physiological responding to the emotional expression of anger. By contrast, the control group spontaneously mimicked the emotional expressions they were exposed to, regardless of affective valence, and also demonstrated higher skin conductance responsivity to angry faces. The data further suggested that a loss of emotional empathy plays a role in the emotional response deficits to angry facial expressions following TBI. The results have implications for understanding the impaired social functioning and poor quality of interpersonal relationships commonly seen as a consequence of TBI.
创伤性脑损伤（TBI）患者常常发现社交场合具有挑战性，因为他们不再能够对他们所交往的人的情绪状态做出反应。许多人在社交互动中也缺乏情感同理心。但是这些问题有关联吗？本研究通过检查情绪反应的心理生理学指标，包括在暴露于快乐和愤怒面部表情时的面部肌电图（EMG）和皮肤电导率，以及 21 名严重 TBI 患者和 22 名对照组参与者的自我评估情感同理心，来解决这个问题。与对照组相比，TBI 组的人在情感同理心方面的能力下降，并且对愤怒表情的生理反应减少。相比之下，对照组会自发地模仿他们所接触到的情绪表达，而不管情感效价如何，并且对愤怒面孔的皮肤电导率反应也更高。数据进一步表明，在 TBI 后对愤怒面部表情的情绪反应缺陷中，情感同理心的丧失起着作用。研究结果对于理解 TBI 常见的社交功能障碍和人际关系质量差具有重要意义。
