Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study
Background: Spino-bulbar muscular atrophy is a rare genetic X-linked disease caused by testosterone insensitivity. An inverse correlation has been described between testosterone levels and empathic responses. The present study explored the profile of neural empathic responding in spino-bulbar muscul...
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/1/16 |
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| author | Arianna Palmieri Federica Meconi Antonino Vallesi Mariagrazia Capizzi Emanuele Pick Sonia Marcato Johann R. Kleinbub Gianni Sorarù Paola Sessa |
| author_facet | Arianna Palmieri Federica Meconi Antonino Vallesi Mariagrazia Capizzi Emanuele Pick Sonia Marcato Johann R. Kleinbub Gianni Sorarù Paola Sessa |
| author_sort | Arianna Palmieri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Spino-bulbar muscular atrophy is a rare genetic X-linked disease caused by testosterone insensitivity. An inverse correlation has been described between testosterone levels and empathic responses. The present study explored the profile of neural empathic responding in spino-bulbar muscular atrophy patients. Methods: Eighteen patients with spino-bulbar muscular atrophy and eighteen healthy male controls were enrolled in the study. Their event-related potentials were recorded during an “Empathy Task” designed to distinguish neural responses linked with experience-sharing (early response) and mentalizing (late response) components of empathy. The task involved the presentation of contextual information (painful vs. neutral sentences) and facial expressions (painful vs. neutral). An explicit dispositional empathy-related questionnaire was also administered to all participants, who were screened via neuropsychological battery tests that did not reveal potential cognitive deficits. Due to electrophysiological artefacts, data from 12 patients and 17 controls were finally included in the analyses. Results: Although patients and controls did not differ in terms of dispositional, explicit empathic self-ratings, notably conservative event-related potentials analyses (i.e., spatio-temporal permutation cluster analyses) showed a significantly greater experience-sharing neural response in patients compared to healthy controls in the Empathy-task when both contextual information and facial expressions were painful. Conclusion: The present study contributes to the characterization of the psychological profile of patients with spino-bulbar muscular atrophy, highlighting the peculiarities in enhanced neural responses underlying empathic reactions. |
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| spelling | doaj.art-558c55e829ee42d59e499c83dfebf89b2023-11-21T02:27:30ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252020-12-011111610.3390/brainsci11010016Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological StudyArianna Palmieri0Federica Meconi1Antonino Vallesi2Mariagrazia Capizzi3Emanuele Pick4Sonia Marcato5Johann R. Kleinbub6Gianni Sorarù7Paola Sessa8Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato, 35139 Padova, ItalySchool of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UKDepartment of Neurosciences (DNS) & Padova Neuroscience Centre, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani, 35128 Padova, ItalyEA 4556 Epsylon, Université Paul Valéry, 34090 Montpellier, FranceDepartment of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato, 35139 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato, 35139 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato, 35139 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Neurosciences (DNS) & Padova Neuroscience Centre, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani, 35128 Padova, ItalyPadova Neuroscience Centre (PNC), University of Padova, Via Giuseppe Orus, 35131 Padova, ItalyBackground: Spino-bulbar muscular atrophy is a rare genetic X-linked disease caused by testosterone insensitivity. An inverse correlation has been described between testosterone levels and empathic responses. The present study explored the profile of neural empathic responding in spino-bulbar muscular atrophy patients. Methods: Eighteen patients with spino-bulbar muscular atrophy and eighteen healthy male controls were enrolled in the study. Their event-related potentials were recorded during an “Empathy Task” designed to distinguish neural responses linked with experience-sharing (early response) and mentalizing (late response) components of empathy. The task involved the presentation of contextual information (painful vs. neutral sentences) and facial expressions (painful vs. neutral). An explicit dispositional empathy-related questionnaire was also administered to all participants, who were screened via neuropsychological battery tests that did not reveal potential cognitive deficits. Due to electrophysiological artefacts, data from 12 patients and 17 controls were finally included in the analyses. Results: Although patients and controls did not differ in terms of dispositional, explicit empathic self-ratings, notably conservative event-related potentials analyses (i.e., spatio-temporal permutation cluster analyses) showed a significantly greater experience-sharing neural response in patients compared to healthy controls in the Empathy-task when both contextual information and facial expressions were painful. Conclusion: The present study contributes to the characterization of the psychological profile of patients with spino-bulbar muscular atrophy, highlighting the peculiarities in enhanced neural responses underlying empathic reactions.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/1/16empathyexperience-sharingmentalizingevent-related potentialsspino-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) |
| spellingShingle | Arianna Palmieri Federica Meconi Antonino Vallesi Mariagrazia Capizzi Emanuele Pick Sonia Marcato Johann R. Kleinbub Gianni Sorarù Paola Sessa Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study Brain Sciences empathy experience-sharing mentalizing event-related potentials spino-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) |
| title | Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study |
| title_full | Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study |
| title_fullStr | Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study |
| title_short | Enhanced Neural Empathic Responses in Patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An Electrophysiological Study |
| title_sort | enhanced neural empathic responses in patients with spino bulbar muscular atrophy an electrophysiological study |
| topic | empathy experience-sharing mentalizing event-related potentials spino-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/1/16 |
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