Parsing cognitive and emotional empathy deficits for negative and positive stimuli in frontotemporal dementia

Lindsay D Oliver; Derek G V Mitchell; Isabel Dziobek; Julia MacKinley; Kristy Coleman; Katherine P Rankin; Elizabeth C Finger

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.11.022

Parsing cognitive and emotional empathy deficits for negative and positive stimuli in frontotemporal dementia

Neuropsychologia. 2015 Jan:67:14-26. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.11.022. Epub 2014 Nov 29.

Authors

Lindsay D Oliver¹, Derek G V Mitchell², Isabel Dziobek³, Julia MacKinley⁴, Kristy Coleman⁴, Katherine P Rankin⁵, Elizabeth C Finger⁶

Affiliations

¹ Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
³ Cluster of Excellence Languages of Emotion, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: Elizabeth.Finger@lhsc.on.ca.

PMID: 25438032
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.11.022

Abstract

Objectives: Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder characterized by frontal and temporal lobe atrophy primarily affecting social cognition and emotion, including loss of empathy. Many consider empathy to be a multidimensional construct, including cognitive empathy (the ability to adopt and understand another's perspective) and emotional empathy (the capacity to share another's emotional experience). Cognitive and emotional empathy deficits have been associated with bvFTD; however, little is known regarding the performance of patients with bvFTD on behavioural measures of emotional empathy, and whether empathic responses differ for negative versus positive stimuli.

Methods: 24 patients with bvFTD and 24 healthy controls completed the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET; Dziobek et al., 2008), a performance-based task that taps both cognitive and emotional facets of empathy, and allows for the discrimination of responses to negative versus positive realistic images. MET scores were also compared with caregiver ratings of patient behaviour on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which assesses patients' everyday demonstrations of perspective taking and empathic concern.

Results: Patients with bvFTD were less accurate than controls at inferring mental states for negative and positive stimuli. They also demonstrated lower levels of shared emotional experience, more positive emotional reactions, and diminished arousal to negative social stimuli relative to controls. Patients showed reduced emotional reactions to negative non-social stimuli as well. Lastly, the MET and IRI measures of emotional empathy were found to be significantly correlated within the bvFTD group.

Conclusions: The results suggest that patients with bvFTD show a global deficit in cognitive empathy, and deficient emotional empathy for negative, but not positive, experiences. Further, a generalized emotional processing impairment for negative stimuli was observed, which could contribute to the emotional empathy deficit. This work highlights potential treatment targets and a means to assess the impact of novel therapies on socioemotional impairment in bvFTD.

Keywords: Cognitive empathy; Emotion; Emotional empathy; Emotional valence; Frontotemporal dementia; Theory of mind.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cognition*
Emotions*
Empathy*
Female
Frontotemporal Dementia / psychology*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Photic Stimulation
Theory of Mind