Empathic Abilities and Theory of Mind in Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome: Insights from the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

It has been proposed in the literature that there exists a dissociation between the cognitive and the affective components of empathy among individuals with autism spectrum disorders, among them, Asperger syndrome (AS). The existing results, however, show mixed results. This literature review aims to shed some light on this field by reviewing studies on empathy and theory of mind (ToM; which is a basic requirement towards cognitive empathy) in adolescents with AS. Whereas it seems clear that ToM is impaired, but not absent in this population, the deficit in empathy appears as either specific or global to the cognitive component of empathy, depending on whether the measures used are performance or self-report measures, respectively. This literature review is the first of its kind because it is focused on quantitative data obtained using measures of both empathy and ToM. Limitations of the current evidence and future recommendations are discussed.