ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理科学进展 ›› 2016, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (9): 1368-1376.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2016.01368

• 研究前沿 • 上一篇    下一篇

共情特质的神经生物学基础

岳童; 黄希庭   

  1. (西南大学心理学与社会发展研究中心; 西南大学心理学部, 重庆 400715)
  • 收稿日期:2015-11-20 出版日期:2016-09-15 发布日期:2016-09-15
  • 通讯作者: 黄希庭, E-mail: xthuang@swu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:

    西南大学心理学与社会发展研究中心重点项目“积极共情对幸福感的影响及其作用机制研究”(16SKB011)。

The neurobiological underpinnings of trait empathy

YUE Tong; HUANG Xiting   

  1. (Research Center for Psychology and Social Development, Southwest University; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)
  • Received:2015-11-20 Online:2016-09-15 Published:2016-09-15
  • Contact: HUANG Xiting, E-mail: xthuang@swu.edu.cn

摘要:

共情特质的个体差异是心理学研究领域中的一个重要主题。近些年来, 研究者开始关注导致人们共情能力高低有别的神经生物学基础问题。研究发现, 不论是情感共情特质还是认知共情特质, 其个体差异均在大脑进行共情反应、脑结构态及静息态功能连接上有所体现。它们共同说明, 人们的共情能力与其具身模仿能力, 情感加工能力及情绪理解能力密切相关。不仅如此, 共情特质也具有高度的可遗传性, 一些基因类型与该能力存在着紧密的关系。在今后的研究中, 需要扩展对共情特质结构的进一步认识, 关注环境和基因在影响共情特质上存在的交互作用, 并努力将理论研究成果应用于共情能力训练和提高的临床实践中。

关键词: 共情特质, 脑机制, 脑结构, 静息态, 基因

Abstract:

Individual differences in trait empathy is one of the important research topics in psychology. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have been done to reveal the neurobiological underpinnings of trait empathy. As these studies found out, both trait emotional empathy and trait cognitive empathy show individual differences in the brain’s empathic responses, brain structures and resting-state functional connectivity. Such findings imply that trait empathy is closely related with imitative ability, emotional processing capacity and emotion understanding level. Moreover, with several types of genes related to it, trait empathy is also highly inheritable. Further studies are needed to extend the understanding of the structure of empathy, explore the interaction of environment and gene in shaping individual differences in trait empathy, and apply theoretical findings to the clinical practice of training and improving empathy ability.

Key words: trait empathy, brain mechanism, brain structure, resting-state, genetics