Dissoziation von kognitiver und affektiver Empathie bei Jugendlichen mit Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen
Abstract
Bei Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen (ASD) wird von einem generellen Defizit der Empathie ausgegangen. Der Multidimensionale Empathietest (MET) von Dziobek und Mitarbeitern (2008) bietet die Möglichkeit einer fotobasierten, naturalistischen, simultanen und dennoch getrennten Erfassung beider Empathiekomponenten. Die vorliegende Studie überprüft das Vorhandensein einer Dissoziation der beiden Empathiekomponenten bei Jugendlichen mit ASD und einer Gruppe gesunder, nach Alter und IQ parallelisierter Kontrollprobanden ab 12 Jahren anhand einer jugendgerechten Überarbeitung des MET (MET-J). Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass Jugendliche mit ASD in ihrer kognitiven Empathiefähigkeit (Erkennen eines Gefühlszustands) eingeschränkt waren, sich hinsichtlich ihrer affektiven Empathiefähigkeit (angemessene emotionale Antwort eines Beobachters auf den affektiven Zustand eines Gegenübers) jedoch nicht von den Kontrollprobanden unterschieden. Auf der Grundlage der vorliegenden Untersuchung ist bei ASD nicht von einem globalen Empathiedefizit auszugehen.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have often been called empathy disorders. The Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET; Dziobek et al., 2008) is a new, photo-based measure to assess both components simultaneously. In the current study, we tested whether cognitive and emotional empathy can be dissociated in a group of adolescents with ASD between 12 and 15 years compared to an age- and IQ-matched control group using a modified and age-adapted version of the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET-J). Results suggested that adolescents with ASD differed significantly from controls in cognitive empathy, but did not have impairments in their abilities of emotional empathy. Thus, the concept of ASD as a disorder of empathy awaits revision.
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