Disrupted cognitive and affective empathy network interactions in autistic children viewing social animation

Empathy can be divided into two core components, cognitive empathy (CE) and affective empathy (AE), mediated by distinct neural networks. Deficient empathy is a central feature of autism spectrum conditions (ASC), but it is unclear if this deficit results from disruption solely within empathy networks or from disrupted functional integration between cognitive and affective empathy networks. To address this issue, we measured functional connectivity (FC) patterns both within and between empathy networks in autistic children (4–8 years, n = 31) and matched typically developing (TD) children (n = 26) using near-infrared spectroscopy during presentation of an animated story evoking CE and AE. Empathy and social communication ability were also assessed using the Empathy Quotient/Systemizing Quotient (EQ/SQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), respectively. The results showed that the FC in the AE network of autistic children did not differ from the TD group across conditions; however, ASC group showed weaker FC in the CE network under the CE condition and weaker FC between networks when processing AE information, the latter of which was negatively correlated with EQ scores in ASC. The empathy defect in ASC may involve abnormal integration of CE and AE network activities under AE condition.