A meta‐analysis of the relationship between empathy and executive function

Abstract

The current meta‐analysis was designed to determine the relationship between executive function (EF) and empathy, as well as to identify any moderators. A search of Chinese and English databases yielded 18 studies and 67 effect sizes involving a total of 6006 participants. Results with the random effects model showed that EF was significantly positively correlated with empathy (r = .14, p < .001). Subgroup analysis showed that EF was more strongly related to cognitive empathy (r = .20, p < .001) than to affective empathy (r = .09, p = .03). Looking at the two dimensions of empathy, we further found that cognitive empathy is closely related to subcomponents of EF, including inhibitory control (r = .23, p < .001), working memory (r = .20, p < .001), and cognitive flexibility (r = .15, p = .036), while only affective empathy was closely related to inhibitory control (r = .12, p < .001). Results suggested that future research should consider that the relationship between empathy and EF varies depending on the division of specific subcomponents. This finding may help in explaining possible mechanisms of how EF affects empathy.

Shared Characteristics of Intrinsic Connectivity Networks Underlying Interoceptive Awareness and Empathy

“…Thus, our results support previous findings suggesting Cognitive empathy, and in particular PT, is related to a wide array of executive function skills such as working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility (Aliakbari et al, 2013;Healey & Grossman, 2018;Yan et al, 2020).…”

The Role of Executive Functions in the Development of Empathy and Its Association with Externalizing Behaviors in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Other Psychiatric Comorbidities

“…A recent meta-analysis [29] summarized these results, corroborating the evidence that empathy is strongly related to EF, and interestingly its cognitive facet is more closely related to executive skills than the affective one. Particularly, strong relationships were found between cognitive empathy and specific subcomponents of EF, including Inhibitory Control, Working Memory and Cognitive Flexibility, while affective empathy would only correlate to Inhibitory Control.…”

“…The principal goal of the present study was to assess the reciprocal relationship between empathic attitudes and EF in ADHD patients. A recent meta-analysis [29], mainly including studies performed on healthy subjects, found positive correlations between empathic competences and EF. Gökçen et al [43,44] reported similar findings in individuals with ASD traits, suggesting the role of EF in regulating empathic competences in neurodevelopmental disorders.…”

“…Our results suggest that inhibitory and emotional control play an important role in regulating externalizing behavior, even controlling for empathic competences. As stated above, empathic attitudes are activated through an emotional processing which is regulated both by bottom-up and top-down circuitry within the prefrontal and limbic cortex [29,77]. This effective control is achieved through EF modulation, allowing for a fine adjustment of the sharing experience [33].…”

“…Despite the identification of selective or global impairments of empathy in clinical settings, functional studies, aimed at assessing brain correlates of the experience of feeling the emotions of others, found that empathic attitudes are activated through an emotional processing which is regulated both by bottom-up and top-down circuitry within the prefrontal and limbic cortex [29].…”