van Dongen Josanne D M, Brazil Inti A, van der Veen Freddy M, Franken Ingmar H A
Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies.
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior.
Neuropsychology. 2018 Nov;32(8):996-1006. doi: 10.1037/neu0000477. Epub 2018 Sep 13.
A lack of empathy and the presence of predatory tendencies are considered key features of psychopathic meanness. Previous electrophysiological studies on empathy in relation to psychopathic traits have focused mainly on empathy for pain; therefore, little is known about the electrophysiological correlates of empathy in aggressive situations that are particularly relevant for psychopathic meanness.
We employed electroencephalography in a community sample ( = 70), the majority of whom had attained a higher level of education. All participants were screened for not having psychiatric conditions or criminal history. The P3 and late positive potential (LPP) event-related potentials and mu rhythm suppression were examined as indices of empathic processing during the observation of situations in which victims of aggression were depicted.
As predicted, it was found that persons with elevated levels of psychopathic meanness scored lower on trait empathy and assigned higher positive valence to the aggression scenes. It is interesting that those scoring higher on meanness also scored higher on empathy for the perpetrator. In addition, it was found that psychopathic meanness was negatively related to LPP amplitudes following pictures of aggressive situations. No significant associations were found between meanness and the P3 or between meanness and mu suppression.
This study was the first to assess the electrophysiological signature of empathy during the processing of pictures depicting aggressive situations and the relationships with psychopathic meanness. The outcomes highlight the need for more integrative approaches to further study the complex pattern of relationships between empathy and psychopathic meanness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
缺乏同理心和存在掠夺倾向被认为是精神病态冷酷的关键特征。以往关于同理心与精神病态特质关系的电生理学研究主要集中在对疼痛的同理心；因此，对于与精神病态冷酷特别相关的攻击情境中同理心的电生理学相关性知之甚少。
我们在一个社区样本（n = 70）中采用了脑电图技术，其中大多数人受过高等教育。所有参与者均经过筛查，无精神疾病或犯罪史。在观察描绘攻击受害者的情境时，检查P3和晚期正电位（LPP）事件相关电位以及μ节律抑制作为共情加工的指标。
正如预期的那样，发现精神病态冷酷程度较高的人在特质同理心方面得分较低，并且对攻击场景赋予更高的正性效价。有趣的是，冷酷得分较高的人对施暴者的同理心得分也较高。此外，发现精神病态冷酷与攻击情境图片后的LPP波幅呈负相关。在冷酷与P3之间或冷酷与μ抑制之间未发现显著关联。
本研究首次评估了在处理描绘攻击情境的图片时同理心的电生理特征以及与精神病态冷酷的关系。研究结果强调需要采用更综合的方法来进一步研究同理心与精神病态冷酷之间复杂的关系模式。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2018美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
