Empathy for pain and Alexithymia : a rTMS study

Empathy is a multi-facet function regulating social life. In this study, we investigated empathy in relation to alexithymia. Alexithymia is considered as a state showing difficulties in identification and distinction of one’s own emotional life, as well as difficulties in identification/distinction of others emotions. Thus, alexithymia is considered as an empathy trouble. Previous studies demonstrated that alexithymia is characterized by a particular pattern of cerebral activation comprising some important zones of emotional control (i.e., left DLPFC hyperactivation, left ACC hypoactivation). In the present study, we investigated the electrodermal response of participants during an empathy for pain task before and after an inhibiting rTMS on the right DLPFC to facilitate the ACC activation, with the aim to enhance the emotional expression for alexithymic population. Results showed that rTMS on the right DLPFC increase the relaxation of the alexithymic participants facing the stimuli. This can match our assumptions but further research is needed to clarify this situation.