The emotion regulation and recognition account of empathy‐related processes in autism: a multimodal, multilevel case–control study

IF 6.6 1区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Pub Date : 2026-10-10 DOI:10.1111/jcpp.70249

Jeffrey J. Wood, Stian Orm, Karen S. Wood, Jolie Straus, Samara Wolpe, Ashley Morrissey, Maria Cornejo Guevara, Sheila E. Crowell

{"title":"The emotion regulation and recognition account of empathy‐related processes in autism: a multimodal, multilevel case–control study","authors":"Jeffrey J. Wood, Stian Orm, Karen S. Wood, Jolie Straus, Samara Wolpe, Ashley Morrissey, Maria Cornejo Guevara, Sheila E. Crowell","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.70249","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background Recent evidence suggests that many autistic individuals exhibit heightened emotional responsiveness to others' affect despite greater difficulty recognizing others' emotions and accurately inferring their perspectives. This study introduces and preliminarily evaluates the Emotion Regulation and Recognition Account (ERRA), a model proposing that susceptibility to emotion dysregulation and challenges with emotion cue interpretation jointly shape empathy‐related processing in autism. Methods Children aged 6–13 years ( N autistic = 103; N non‐autistic = 40) participated; groups were matched demographically. Children watched five videos of youth exhibiting strong affect (e.g. sad and angry) and answered questions about their reactions to and understanding of the videos. These responses were coded for empathy‐related processes such as emotional contagion and perspective taking. Electrodermal reactivity to and eye gaze towards the videos were also measured. Multilevel models were employed to test hypothesized pathways in the ERRA. Results Autistic children experienced greater affective intensity but exhibited less accurate emotion recognition than non‐autistic children when observing youth exhibiting strong affect. Greater physiological and affective intensity were associated with greater attention shifting, and more frequent attention shifting among autistic children was associated with less accurate emotion recognition. Less accurate emotion recognition was, in turn, associated with less emotional synchrony and perspective taking, which were linked with less prosocial motivation. Conclusions The findings provide initial support for the ERRA by suggesting that, rather than experiencing indifference, many autistic individuals have strong affective reactions when observing others in distress. These reactions may lead to attention shifting, which can reduce awareness of others' emotional cues, potentially interrupting the unfolding of empathic understanding and responding. Empathy‐supporting interventions can build upon the affective responsiveness to others experienced by many autistic individuals.","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70249","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background Recent evidence suggests that many autistic individuals exhibit heightened emotional responsiveness to others' affect despite greater difficulty recognizing others' emotions and accurately inferring their perspectives. This study introduces and preliminarily evaluates the Emotion Regulation and Recognition Account (ERRA), a model proposing that susceptibility to emotion dysregulation and challenges with emotion cue interpretation jointly shape empathy‐related processing in autism. Methods Children aged 6–13 years ( N autistic = 103; N non‐autistic = 40) participated; groups were matched demographically. Children watched five videos of youth exhibiting strong affect (e.g. sad and angry) and answered questions about their reactions to and understanding of the videos. These responses were coded for empathy‐related processes such as emotional contagion and perspective taking. Electrodermal reactivity to and eye gaze towards the videos were also measured. Multilevel models were employed to test hypothesized pathways in the ERRA. Results Autistic children experienced greater affective intensity but exhibited less accurate emotion recognition than non‐autistic children when observing youth exhibiting strong affect. Greater physiological and affective intensity were associated with greater attention shifting, and more frequent attention shifting among autistic children was associated with less accurate emotion recognition. Less accurate emotion recognition was, in turn, associated with less emotional synchrony and perspective taking, which were linked with less prosocial motivation. Conclusions The findings provide initial support for the ERRA by suggesting that, rather than experiencing indifference, many autistic individuals have strong affective reactions when observing others in distress. These reactions may lead to attention shifting, which can reduce awareness of others' emotional cues, potentially interrupting the unfolding of empathic understanding and responding. Empathy‐supporting interventions can build upon the affective responsiveness to others experienced by many autistic individuals.

查看原文本刊更多论文

自闭症共情相关过程的情绪调节和认知：一项多模式、多层次的病例对照研究

最近的证据表明，许多自闭症患者对他人的影响表现出更高的情绪反应，尽管他们更难以识别他人的情绪并准确地推断他们的观点。本研究引入并初步评估了情绪调节和识别账户（ERRA）模型，该模型提出了情绪失调的易感性和情绪线索解释的挑战共同塑造了自闭症的共情相关加工。方法6 ~ 13岁儿童（自闭症患儿103例，非自闭症患儿40例）参与研究；各组按人口统计学进行匹配。孩子们观看了五段青少年表现出强烈情感（例如悲伤和愤怒）的视频，并回答了他们对这些视频的反应和理解。这些反应被编码为共情相关的过程，如情绪感染和观点采纳。同时还测量了对视频的皮肤电反应和眼睛注视。采用多层模型来检验ERRA的假设通路。结果自闭症儿童在观察表现出强烈情感的青少年时，情感强度高于非自闭症儿童，但情感识别的准确性低于非自闭症儿童。更大的生理和情感强度与更大的注意力转移有关，而自闭症儿童更频繁的注意力转移与更不准确的情绪识别有关。而情绪识别的准确性较低则与情绪同步性和观点接受度较低有关，而情绪同步性和观点接受度又与亲社会动机较低有关。结论：研究结果初步支持了ERRA，表明许多自闭症个体在观察他人处于困境时，并没有表现出冷漠，而是表现出强烈的情感反应。这些反应可能会导致注意力转移，从而降低对他人情绪暗示的意识，可能会中断移情理解和反应的展开。移情支持干预可以建立在许多自闭症患者对他人的情感反应的基础上。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

13.80

自引率

5.30%

发文量

169

审稿时长

1 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) is a highly regarded international publication that focuses on the fields of child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry. It is recognized for publishing top-tier, clinically relevant research across various disciplines related to these areas. JCPP has a broad global readership and covers a diverse range of topics, including: Epidemiology: Studies on the prevalence and distribution of mental health issues in children and adolescents. Diagnosis: Research on the identification and classification of childhood disorders. Treatments: Psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological interventions for child and adolescent mental health. Behavior and Cognition: Studies on the behavioral and cognitive aspects of childhood disorders. Neuroscience and Neurobiology: Research on the neural and biological underpinnings of child mental health. Genetics: Genetic factors contributing to the development of childhood disorders. JCPP serves as a platform for integrating empirical research, clinical studies, and high-quality reviews from diverse perspectives, theoretical viewpoints, and disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach is a key feature of the journal, as it fosters a comprehensive understanding of child and adolescent mental health. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry is published 12 times a year and is affiliated with the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), which supports the journal's mission to advance knowledge and practice in the field of child and adolescent mental health.