Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
J Sleep Res. 2021 Oct;30(5):e13325. doi: 10.1111/jsr.13325. Epub 2021 Mar 1.
Literature supports the existence of a significant relationship between sleep quality/quantity and empathy. However, empathic ability and empathic propensity are distinct constructs. Expression of empathic propensity depends on the subjective cognitive costs attributed to the empathic experience. Studies on the effects of the experimental reduction in sleep duration on empathic behaviour are still lacking. Therefore, we investigated the consequences of 5 consecutive nights of sleep restriction on empathic propensity. A total of 42 university students (mean [SEM] age 24.09 [0.65] years; 22 females) underwent a cross-over design consisting of 5 consecutive nights of regular sleep and 5 consecutive nights of sleep restriction with a maximum of 5 hr sleep/night. After each condition, all participants were evaluated using the Empathy Selection Task, a new test assessing the motivated avoidance of empathy for its associated cognitive costs. The results showed different effects of sleep restriction depending on the habitual way of responding in the empathic context. Participants with baseline high levels of empathic propensity reduced their empathic propensity after prolonged sleep restriction. Differently, participants who tended to avoid empathising already in the habitual sleep condition maintained their empathic behaviour unchanged after sleep curtailment. In conclusion, inter-individual variability should be taken into account when evaluating the effects of sleep restriction on empathic propensity. People with habitual higher tendency to empathise could choose to avoid empathic experience following several consecutive nights of inadequate sleep.
文献支持睡眠质量/数量与同理心之间存在显著关系。然而，同理心能力和同理心倾向是不同的概念。同理心倾向的表达取决于对同理心体验归因的主观认知成本。关于实验性减少睡眠时间对同理心行为影响的研究仍然缺乏。因此，我们研究了连续 5 晚睡眠限制对同理心倾向的后果。共有 42 名大学生（平均[SEM]年龄 24.09[0.65]岁；22 名女性）接受了一项交叉设计，包括连续 5 晚的正常睡眠和连续 5 晚的睡眠限制，每晚最多可睡 5 小时。在每种情况下之后，所有参与者都使用同理心选择任务进行评估，这是一种新的测试，用于评估为相关认知成本而有意避免同理心的能力。结果表明，睡眠限制的影响取决于在同理心情境中习惯的反应方式。基线时同理心倾向较高的参与者在长时间睡眠限制后降低了同理心倾向。相反，在习惯性睡眠条件下已经倾向于避免同理心的参与者，在睡眠限制后其同理心行为保持不变。总之，在评估睡眠限制对同理心倾向的影响时，应考虑个体间的差异。习惯性更倾向于同理心的人可能会在连续几个晚上睡眠不足后选择避免同理心体验。
