The latent structure of cognitive and emotional empathy in individuals with autism, first-degree relatives and typical individuals
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Empathy is a vital component for social understanding involving the ability to recognise emotion (cognitive empathy) and provide an appropriate affective response (emotional empathy). Autism spectrum conditions have been described as disorders of empathy. First-degree relatives may show some mild traits of the autism spectrum, the broader autism phenotype (BAP). Whether both cognitive and emotional empathy, rather than cognitive empathy alone, are impaired in autism and the BAP is still under debate. Moreover the association between various aspects of empathy is unclear. This study aims to examine the relationship between different components of empathy across individuals with varying levels of genetic vulnerability to autism. METHODS: Factor analyses utilising questionnaire and performance-based task data were implemented among individuals with autism, parents of a child with autism and controls. The relationship between performance-based tasks and behavioural measures of empathy was also explored. RESULTS: A four-factor model including cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, social skills and a performance-based factor fitted the data best irrespective of genetic vulnerability. Individuals with autism displayed impairment on all four factors, with parents showing intermediate difficulties. Performance-based measures of empathy were related in almost equal magnitude to cognitive and emotional empathy latent factors and the social skills factor. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests individuals with autism have difficulties with multiple facets of empathy, while parents show intermediate impairments, providing evidence for a quantitative BAP. Impaired scores on performance-based measures of empathy, often thought to be pure measures of cognitive empathy, were also related to much wider empathy difficulties than impairments in cognitive empathy alone.
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The relation between the Eyes Test and self-report measures of Cognitive Empathy is mixed; the test has been shown to be both weakly negatively related and weakly positively related to self-reported cognitive empathy.
“Likewise, the relation between the Eyes Test and self-report measures of Cognitive Empathy is mixed; the test has been shown to be both weakly negatively related (Spreng et al., 2009) and weakly positively related to self-reported cognitive empathy (Grove et al., 2014).”
From A psychometric analysis of the reading the mind in the eyes test: toward a brief form for research and applied settings (2015) · cites this paper as Grove et al., 2014
In Results, Table 3 (page unavailable), the factor combining the Eyes and KDEF tasks correlates positively with self-reported cognitive empathy in the autism group (r = 0.32) and parent group (r = 0.48); the control-group correlation is not significant. This supports a positive association in some groups, but the paper reports correlations for a combined performance-task factor, not the Eyes Test alone, and the parent-group correlation is not clearly weak. The negative finding is attributed to Spreng et al., not Grove et al. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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Isaksson, J., Neufeld, J., & Bölte, S. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.575100 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
A systematic review and meta-analysis of empathy in autism: The influence of measures
Cusson, N., Meilleur, A., Bernhardt, B. C., Soulières, I., & Mottron, L. (2025) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2025.102623 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Empathic responding in preschool‐aged children with familial risk for autism
McDonald, N. M., Murphy, H. G., & Messinger, D. S. (2017) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1819 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Meng, C., Huo, C., Ge, H., Li, Z., Hu, Y., & Meng, J. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254207 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Empathy has been defined as the drive of an individual to identify and respond appropriately to emotions and mental states of others, which includes the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others [15].”
BackgroundSvedholm‐Häkkinen, A. M., Halme, S., & Lindeman, M. (2017) · International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.ijchp.2017.11.001 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“This replicates the ew studies that have investigated the relationships using ll the AQ subscales (Grove et al., 2013, 2014), and may eflect the possibility that, like in ASDs (Happé, Ronald, & lomin, 2006), deviations in social and non-social informaion processing related to autistic traits are…”
MethodAutomatic and controlled processing and the Broad Autism Phenotype
Camodeca, A., & Voelker, S. L. (2015) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2015.11.012 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Tsang, T., Gillespie‐Lynch, K., & Hutman, T. (2016) · Autism Research and Treatment · doi:10.1155/2016/6309189 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“, [63]), a behavioral measure of ToM (the Eyes Test) was unrelated to cognitive and affective empathy among adults in the general population [64].”
Genzer, S., Adiva, Y. B., & Perry, A. (2023) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009281072 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Tkalcec, A., Bierlein, M., Seeger‐Schneider, G., Walitza, S., Jenny, B., Menks, W. M., Felhbaum, L. V., Borbás, R., Cole, D. M., Raschle, N. M., et al. (2023) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.2993 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“…2012; Shalev et al., 2022; Smith, 2006, 2009), and neurotypicals with elevated autistic traits (Shalev & Uzefovsky, 2020) would display deficits in understanding others ’ emotions (CE) and a surfeit in AE, while others suggest a more global empathy deficit including AE and CE (Grove et al., 2014).”
BackgroundUsing and reasoning about social strategies in autism spectrum disorder in everyday situations
Bellesi, G., Jameel, L., Vyas, K., Crawford, S., & Channon, S. (2016) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2016.02.004 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“, 2008), although some people with ASD may have both impaired cognitive and emotional empathy (Grove et al., 2014).”
BackgroundResultThompson, E. L., Gillespie‐Smith, K., Mair, A. P. A., & Obsuth, I. (2024) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-024-06276-8 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Similarly, other researchers have proposed that autism is dimensional (Wiggins et al., 2012), and there is a continuum of social communication understanding within the general population (Grove et al., 2014, 2015).”
Sönmez, D., & Jordan, T. R. (2023) · International Journal of Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1080/20473869.2022.2163605 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“While cognitive empathy (i.e. theory of mind, Grove et al. 2014) is defined by identifying, understanding, and reasoning own and other ’ s mental states (e.g. beliefs, intentions, desires, etc.) in terms of explaining and predicting actions and behaviours (Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright 2004, Blair…”
BRÍGIDO, E., RODRIGUES, A., & Santos, S. (2022) · Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial · doi:10.1590/1980-54702022v28e0033 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Trastorno del espectro autista y cognición social: un estudio de revisión
Arias, M. L., Arias, Y. L. L., & Valencia, J. B. Z. (2022) · Psicoespacios · doi:10.25057/21452776.1483 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Qin, C.-S., Wong‐Parodi, G., & Fan, B. (2020) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101383 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
BRÍGIDO, E., RODRIGUES, A., & Santos, S. (2023) · Revista Brasileira de Educação Especial · doi:10.1590/1980-54702023v29e0007 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Reconsidering Empathy Deficits in Children and Adolescents with Autism
van der Zee, E., & Derksen, J. J. L. (2019) · Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities · doi:10.1007/s10882-019-09669-1 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Components of Empathy in Children: Factor Structure of the Empathy Quotient for Children (EQ-C)
Smees, R., Rinaldi, L. J., & Simner, J. (2025) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-024-06649-z · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“The three-and four-factor solutions could be particularly advantageous to differentiate emo - tional, cognitive or behavioural aspects of empathy, as demonstrated in adults through the use of the EQ (Groen et al., 2018; Grove et al., 2014; Pepper et al., 2019).”
Relationship between the Broader Autism Phenotype and empathy among students
Dučić, B., Kaljača, S. S., & Stojković, I. (2022) · Primenjena psihologija · doi:10.19090/pp.v15i3.2381 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Grove et al. (2014) differentiated between the cognitive, emotional, and social skills dimensions of empathy, as measured by the Empathy Quotient questionnaire (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004), and found that parents of children with autism scored higher than persons with autism, but lower than…”
MethodMarkiewicz, K., Kaczmarek, B. L. J., & Filipiak, S. (2020) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04756-1 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Decreased Empathy Response to Other’s Pain in Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Qiu, X., Li, X., & Zhang, S. (2022) · Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000001525 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Broader autism phenotype, the default mode network, and brain entropy: A network-level hypothesis
Dubey, S., Sarkhel, S., Sengupta, S., Dubey, M. J., Ghosh, R., & Benito‐León, J. (2026) · Research in Neurodiversity · doi:10.1016/j.rin.2026.100044
“…depression and anxiety are also frequently reported (Robel et al., 2014; Kalnak et al., 2012; Hanson et al., 2015; Colvert et al., 2015b; López-Mourelo et al., 2017; Grove et al., 2014; Cullen et al., 2008; Sarovic, 2021; Perfilyeva et al., 2022; Nenadić et al., 2024; Schmitt et al., 2019).”
Zhao, L.-Y., Jiang, Y.-X., Chen, Z.-W., & Song, Y. (2026) · Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1002/brb3.71236
“Conversely, the processing pathways for AE appear more congruent between the groups, suggesting the primary divergence lies within the cognitive domain (Dziobek et al. 2008 ; Grove et al. 2014 ).”
Fan, Y., Shu, L.-T., & Zhang, S. (2025) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-025-07178-z
Simulation and Modeling of Expert System for Prediction of Autism using Naïve NLP Method
Bhangale, P. P., & Patil, R. B. (2025) · International Journal of Environmental Science · doi:10.64252/2gps8460
“To categorize voice and text samples relevant to ASD, prior research has used a variety of machine learning techniques, such as Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forest, and Deep Learning models [7].”
Kognitive Dysfunktionen bei Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen
Baum, K., & Roesch-Ely, D. (2019) · Psychotherapie: Manuale · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-58182-7_6
- Authors
- Grove, R., Baillie, A., Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hoekstra, R. A.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- The Open University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Grove, Rachel
- Venue
- Molecular Autism
- Published
- 2014
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 42
- ISSN
- 2040-2392 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4123248
- OpenAlex
- W2151679234
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Molecular Autism (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Research Online - ORO (The Open University) (acceptedVersion)
- UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council (1017041)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, broader autism phenotype, first-degree relatives, parents of autistic children, social skills
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