A Distinct Communication Strategies Model of the Double Empathy Problem

TL;DR

This paper addresses the double empathy problem by formulating a dynamical, bidirectional model of empathy exchanges between autistic and neurotypical individuals. It introduces a two-agent, two-channel framework with a 2D empathy space and three neuropsychological functions that create a feedback loop linking perceived empathy, defensivity, and output, leading to possible empathy collapse. Numerical simulations reveal two fixed points—healthy low-defensivity and collapsed high-defensivity—separated by a separatrix, with collapse likelihood governed by the output-channel asymmetry parameter $\rho_A$; the loop gain scales with $\mathcal{L}\propto(\rho_A+1)$. The study highlights verbal preservation under stress ($\rho_A<1$) as a concrete protective factor and proposes experimental designs to measure key parameters, offering actionable targets for interventions to reduce cross-neurotype communication breakdowns.

Abstract

The double empathy problem recasts the difficulty of forming empathy bonds in social interactions between autistic and neurotypical individuals as a bidirectional problem, rather than due to a deficit exclusive to the person on the spectrum. However, no explicit mechanism to explain such a phenomenon has been proposed. Here we build a feedback-loop mathematical model that would theoretically induce the empathy degradation observed during communication in neurotypical-autistic pairs solely due to differences in communication preferences between neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals. Numerical simulations of dyadic interactions show the model, whose mechanism is based solely on communication preferences, can illustrate the breakdown of empathic bonding observed clinically. Stability analysis of the model provides a way to predict the overall trajectory of the interaction in the empathy space. Furthermore, we suggest experimental designs to measure several parameters outlined here and discuss the future directions for testing the proposed model.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: A schematic diagram of the sequential exchanges of verbal and nonverbal empathy outputs between Agent A and Agent NT.
• Figure 2: A sketch of the evolution of the empathy outputs in the verbal dimension, in (a), and in the nonverbal dimension, in (b), for Agent A and Agent NT. The magnitude of the output for each agent decreases after each step, displaying this spiral dynamic.
• Figure 3: A schematic representation of the version of the model used for the numerical simulations.
• Figure 4: Representative dynamics of defensivity and empathy output for a simulation with no collapse.
• Figure 5: Representative dynamics of defensivity and empathy output for a simulation with empathy collapse.