While it is very difficult to measure empathy in patients suffering from autism or schizophrenia, researchers have discovered that it is possible to calculate it by studying the brain activity of people at rest.
Empathy is characterized by the ability to identify with others in their feelings. In people suffering from mental disorders such as autism or schizophrenia, this ability can be altered and therefore often difficult to measure by health professionals. Now US researchers have discovered that it is possible to assess a person’s ability to feel empathy by studying their brain activity while they are resting. The results of this study were published on February 14 in the journal Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. Ultimately, these could help to improve the diagnosis of certain mental disorders as well as their treatment.
Dr. Marco Iacoboni, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (USA), has been studying empathy in humans for years. Traditionally, the latter is assessed using a questionnaire and psychological assessment. However, people who suffer from schizophrenia or autism often have difficulty completing these questionnaires, which complicates studies and diagnoses.
This is why, here, in addition to the traditional questionnaires, Iacoboni and his colleagues decided to measure the brain activity of the participants in their study. The researchers followed 58 patients, aged 18 to 35, and asked them to let their minds wander while they stared at a cross on a black screen. They then collected data on their brain activity using functional reasoning imaging, which studies small changes in blood flow. They then analyzed them using artificial intelligence.
“Assessing empathy is often most difficult in populations that need it most”
Participants were then asked to respond to phrases such as “I often have tender and worried feelings for people less fortunate than me” or “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective. sight”.
Result: Thanks to brain measurements, the researchers were able to predict the results of the questionnaire of each participant and their empathetic disposition. Thus, brain networks in the brain at rest can interact in the same way as when performing a task. “We found that even when not directly involved in a task that involves empathy, brain activity within these networks can reveal people’s empathetic disposition.”explains Marco Iacoboni.
“Assessing empathy is often most difficult in populations that need it most, he continues. LEmpathy is a cornerstone of mental health and well-being. It promotes social and cooperative behavior through our concern for others. It also helps us infer and predict the feelings, behavior and intentions of others. Yes we can demonstrate that the brains of people with schizophrenia or autism have the capacity for empathy, we can work to improve it through training and the use of other therapies.”
“Adapt optimal strategies from the start”
Eventually, this technique could be extended to improve the treatment as well as the diagnosis of patients. “The predictive power of machine learning algorithms like this, when applied to brain data, can also help us predict how a given patient will respond to a given intervention, helping us tailor optimal treatment strategies. from the start”adds lead author Leonardo Christov-Moore.
Empathy is made up of three components. Our ability to read the emotions on another’s face is attributed to cognitive empathy, the ability to visualize a person’s mental states. Affective empathy is the component that pushes us to feel the emotions mirroring those felt by the other. Thus, it is unpleasant for us to see someone suffer. Finally, compassionate empathy or caring consists of noticing the suffering or joy of another and having a benevolent attitude towards these emotions.
In 2017, a British study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, showed that our ability to decipher the emotions of others would be associated with a gene present on chromosome 3. The latter, also called LRRN1, exists in several variants. Some of them would be linked in particular to a better perception of emotions in women.
