共情特质的神经生物学基础

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。

The neurobiological underpinnings of trait empathy

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.