Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41329424›Full record

ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2025

Aberrant Cognitive-Affective Empathy in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Electrophysiological Evidence of Viewing Social Animation.

Yimeng Pan, Chuanyong Xu, Binbin Sun, Jierong Chen, Xinrong Guo, Zhen Wei, Ziwen Peng

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yimeng Pan *Center for the Study of Applied Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Guangzhou, 510631, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0003-2651-6312
Chuanyong Xu *School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
Binbin SunDepartment of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Affiliated Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Women and Children's Medical Center, Southern Medical University, No. 50 Fuqiang Road, Shenzhen, 518017, Guangdong, China.
Jierong ChenCenter for the Study of Applied Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
Xinrong GuoDepartment of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Affiliated Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Women and Children's Medical Center, Southern Medical University, No. 50 Fuqiang Road, Shenzhen, 518017, Guangdong, China.
Zhen WeiDepartment of Child Psychiatry and Rehabilitation, Affiliated Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Women and Children's Medical Center, Southern Medical University, No. 50 Fuqiang Road, Shenzhen, 518017, Guangdong, China. guilinweizhen106@126.com.
Ziwen PengCenter for the Study of Applied Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Guangzhou, 510631, China. pengzw@m.scnu.edu.cn.

Funding

Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation 2023A1515011782National Natural Science Foundation of China 32171081National Natural Science Foundation of China 32471141Research Center for Brain Cognition and Human Development, Guangdong, China 2024B0303390003
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeEmpathy has become a key area of research in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in recent years. However, the neural characteristics of empathy in children with ASD remain controversial. To advance the understanding of the neural mechanism of ASD's empathy and test the classic empathy imbalance hypothesis, it is necessary to explore the cognitive-affective empathy in young children with ASD from another electrophysiological perspective in detail.

methodsThe present study explored the specific neural characteristics of children with ASD and typically developing children under cognitive empathy and affective empathy via simultaneous EEG recording of social animation, which would be able to capture reliable and effective evidence in children with ASD.

resultsThe present study mainly revealed that the ASD group had abnormal electrophysiological characteristics under cognitive empathy, including increased functional connectivity in the θ band and abnormalities in the microstate classes C and D. Incidentally, this study also roughly found that the severity of autism symptoms was significantly correlated with the β-band amplitude of certain brain regions when viewing cognitive empathy clips, whereas the severity of autism symptoms was significantly correlated with the θ-band amplitude when viewing affective empathy clips.

conclusionThe present study supported the empathy imbalance hypothesis in young children with ASD and might indicate that children with ASD have distinct neural characteristics related to cognitive empathy and affective empathy processing. Future studies can combine eye movement measurements while watching animations, and further longitudinal studies on the electrophysiological characteristics of empathy in children with ASD.

Indexed as

Affective empathyAutism spectrum disorderCognitive empathyElectrophysiological characteristics

Identifiers

PMID41329424

What Socratic holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.