Examining cognitive and affective empathy in substance use disorder and psychopathy using self-report and neuroimaging

Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) and psychopathy are highly comorbid and prevalent among individuals involved in the criminal justice system, yet their distinct and overlapping contributions to empathy deficits remain poorly understood. The present studies examined the shared and unique effects of substance use severity (SUS) and psychopathic traits on cognitive and affective empathy-related impairments in a forensic population. Study 1 used self-report measures in a sample of 142 community-based offenders to assess empathy. SUS was initially associated with cognitive empathy, but this effect did not remain after accounting for psychopathy; no effects emerged for affective empathy. Study 2 employed fMRI with a subset of participants (n = 48) to assess neural responses during a Theory of Mind empathy task. Higher SUS was linked to reduced activation in regions supporting both cognitive and affective empathy, while psychopathy showed no deficits but rather heightened empathic abilities. Empathy deficits were more consistently associated with SUD, particularly through substance-related neurocognitive impairments.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Forensic Psychology

Grantor

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Picco, Corina Ziara Dubon

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Shane, Matthew

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10155/2016

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/2016