Empathy in schizophrenia: impaired resonance

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Empathic resonance, involving unconscious motor mimicry, underpins emotional sharing and empathy.
• Contagious yawning and laughing are observable manifestations of empathic resonance.
• Impaired empathic resonance is frequently observed in individuals with schizophrenia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in empathic resonance (yawning and laughing contagion) between individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls.
• To examine the relationship between empathic resonance, psychopathology, and social functioning in schizophrenia.

Main Methods:

• 43 schizophrenia outpatients and 45 healthy controls viewed videos of yawning, laughing, and neutral faces.
• Participants were video-recorded to assess contagion rates for yawning and laughing.
• Self-rated empathy, psychopathology, social dysfunction, and executive functions were assessed.

Main Results:

• Schizophrenia patients displayed significantly lower contagion rates for both yawning and laughing compared to controls.
• Self-rated empathic concern did not differ between groups and did not correlate with contagion.
• Lower laughing contagion correlated with negative symptoms of schizophrenia and greater social dysfunction.

Conclusions:

• Impaired observable empathic resonance is a characteristic feature in schizophrenia, potentially hindering social functioning.
• Reduced contagious behaviors do not necessarily indicate a deficit in subjective empathic concern.
• These findings highlight a disconnect between observable empathic resonance and internal empathic experience in schizophrenia.