Decety Jean, Holvoet Et Claire
Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, 5448 South University Avenue, Chicago 60637, USA.
Centre de recherche sur les fonctionnements et dysfonctionnements psychologiques, EA7475, Université de Rouen Normandie, Rouen, France.
Neuropsychiatr Enfance Adolesc. 2021 May 2;69(3):147-152. doi: 10.1016/j.neurenf.2021.02.002. Epub 2021 Mar 2.
Empathy is a complex social-cognitive ability that is best understood by distinguishing its emotional, cognitive and motivational dimensions, which from early childhood interact between the child and her/his social environment. To date, among the many factors that are acknowledged to influence the development of empathy, children's temperament and parenting behaviors have been identified as interacting in predicting the extent to which children demonstrate empathic responses. Recent studies in developmental social neuroscience cast light on the neural networks engaged in the development of each of the dimensions that constitute empathy, which are needed to navigate social interaction and establishing positive social relationships. Indeed, early deficits in empathic processes can lead to difficulties in socialization, particularly associated with reduced attention to others' emotions, especially when they are suffering, a lesser degree of remorse and guilt, and a greater tendency to ignore social norms or break the rules. Difficulties in socialization are particularly visible in two well-known developmental disorders: children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with conduct disorder and callous unemotional traits (CU). This paper provides a critical and selective review of recent empirical studies in psychopathology and developmental neuroscience by addressing the dimensions underlying empathy, specifically emotional sharing and caring for others. For children with ASD, some studies report that they pay less attention to another person in distress. However, functional neuroimaging studies conducted with ASD adolescents indicate that the emotional dimension appears to be preserved, but a lack of emotional self-regulation may impair them from experiencing empathic concern. Children with conduct disorder and CU traits clearly manifest a reduced autonomic nervous system response to others' distress or suffering. This may account for their disregard or contempt for others' well-being and social norms. Functional neuroimaging studies show that atypical patterns of brain activity at 15 months of age can predict later severe conduct disorder. Neural regions engaged in emotional processing such as the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and amygdala shown reduced activation to empathy-eliciting stimuli in children with CU. Finally, the genetic nature of CU traits is highlighted in several studies. We conclude by proposing several avenues for developmental research to identify biomarkers from an early age and by inviting to focus on psychological interventions with those populations accordingly.
共情是一种复杂的社会认知能力，最好通过区分其情感、认知和动机维度来理解，这些维度从幼儿期起就在儿童与其社会环境之间相互作用。迄今为止，在众多被认为会影响共情发展的因素中，儿童的气质和养育行为已被确定为在预测儿童表现出共情反应的程度方面相互作用。发展社会神经科学的最新研究揭示了参与构成共情的各个维度发展的神经网络，这些维度是进行社会互动和建立积极社会关系所必需的。事实上，共情过程的早期缺陷会导致社交困难，特别是与对他人情绪的关注度降低有关，尤其是当他人受苦时，悔恨和内疚程度较低，以及忽视社会规范或违反规则的倾向更大。社交困难在两种著名的发育障碍中尤为明显：自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童和品行障碍及冷酷无情特质（CU）儿童。本文通过探讨共情的潜在维度，特别是情感分享和关心他人，对心理病理学和发展神经科学的近期实证研究进行了批判性和选择性综述。对于患有ASD的儿童，一些研究报告称他们对处于痛苦中的他人关注较少。然而，对ASD青少年进行的功能性神经成像研究表明，情感维度似乎得以保留，但缺乏情绪自我调节可能会妨碍他们体验共情关注。患有品行障碍和CU特质的儿童明显表现出自主神经系统对他人痛苦或苦难的反应减弱。这可能解释了他们对他人幸福和社会规范的漠视或蔑视。功能性神经成像研究表明，15个月大时大脑活动的非典型模式可以预测后期的严重品行障碍。在患有CU的儿童中，参与情感处理的神经区域，如前扣带回皮质、脑岛和杏仁核，对引发共情的刺激的激活减少。最后，几项研究强调了CU特质的遗传性质。我们通过提出几个发展研究的途径来识别早期生物标志物，并呼吁相应地关注对这些人群的心理干预来得出结论。
