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Social attention, affective arousal and empathy in men with Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY): evidence from eyetracking and skin conductance

Van Rijn,, Sophie, Barendse, Marjolein, Van Goozen, Stephanie Helena Maria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5983-4734 and Swaab, Hanna 2014. Social attention, affective arousal and empathy in men with Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY): evidence from eyetracking and skin conductance. Plos One 9 (1) , e84721. 10.1371/journal.pone.0084721

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Abstract

Individuals with an extra X chromosome (Klinefelter syndrome) are at risk for problems in social functioning and have an increased vulnerability for autism traits. In the search for underlying mechanisms driving this increased risk, this study focused on social attention, affective arousal and empathy. Seventeen adults with XXY and 20 non-clinical controls participated in this study. Eyetracking was used to investigate social attention, as expressed in visual scanning patterns in response to the viewing of empathy evoking video clips. Skin conductance levels, reflecting affective arousal, were recorded continuously during the clips as well. Empathic skills, i.e. participants' understanding of own and others' emotions in response to the clips was also assessed. Results showed reduced empathic understanding, decreased visual fixation to the eye region, but increased affective arousal in individuals with Klinefelter syndrome. We conclude that individuals with XXY tend to avoid the eye region. Considering the increased affective arousal, we speculate that this attentional deployment strategy may not be sufficient to successfully downregulate affective hyper-responsivity. As increased affective arousal was related to reduced empathic ability, we hypothesize that own affective responses to social cues play an important role in difficulties in understanding the feelings and intentions of others. This knowledge may help in the identification of risk factors for psychopathology and targets for treatment.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Psychology
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher: Public Library of Science
ISSN: 1932-6203
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 11 May 2023 00:22
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/57800

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