title: Dissociating emotional and cognitive empathy in pre-clinical and clinical Huntington's disease.
abstract: Huntington's disease (HD) is centrally characterized by motor, neurocognitive and psychiatric symptoms, but impaired emotional decoding abilities have also been reported. However, more complex affective abilities are still to be explored, and particularly empathy, which is essential for social relations and is impaired in various psychiatric conditions. This study evaluates empathic abilities and social skills in pre-clinical and clinical HD, and explores the distinction between two empathy sub-components (emotional-cognitive). Thirty-six HD patients (17 pre-clinical) and 36 matched controls filled in the Empathy Quotient Scale, while controlling for psychopathological comorbidities. At the clinical stage of HD, no global empathy impairment was observed but rather a specific deficit for the cognitive sub-component, while emotional empathy was preserved. A deficit was also observed for social skills. Pre-clinical HD was not associated with any empathy deficit. Emotional deficits in clinical HD are thus not limited to basic emotion decoding but extend towards complex interpersonal abilities. The dissociation between impaired cognitive and preserved emotional empathy in clinical HD reinforces the proposal that empathy subtypes are sustained by distinct processes. Finally, these results underline the extent of distinct affective and social impairments in HD and the need to grasp them in clinical contexts.
authors: Laboratory for Experimental Psychopathology, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, 10 Place C. Mercier, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Electronic address: Pierre.maurage@uclouvain.be.
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Maurage
authors: Laboratory for Experimental Psychopathology, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, 10 Place C. Mercier, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors: Magali
authors: M
authors: Lahaye
authors: Université de Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000 Lille, France.
authors: Delphine
authors: D
authors: Grynberg
authors: Department of Neurology, Saint-Luc University Hospital, 10 Avenue Hippocrate, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Jeanjean
authors: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Beauvallon Psychiatric Hospital, 205 Rue de Bricgniot, B-5002 Saint-Servais, Belgium.
authors: Lamia
authors: L
authors: Guettat
authors: Institute of Pathology and Genetics, 25 Avenue George Lemaître, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Verellen-Dumoulin
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Liège University Hospital, Domaine Universitaire du Sart Tilman, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors: Stéphane
authors: S
authors: Halkin
authors: Laboratory for Experimental Psychopathology, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, 10 Place C. Mercier, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors: Alexandre
authors: A
authors: Heeren
authors: Laboratory for Experimental Psychopathology, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, 10 Place C. Mercier, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors: Joël
authors: J
authors: Billieux
authors: Department of Adult Psychiatry, Saint-Luc University Hospital, 10 Avenue Hippocrate, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Constant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Empathy; Huntington; Neurodegenerative disease; Social cognition; Social skills