When the body resonates with the pain of the other: Empathy Bodyssence in Parkinson's disease.
María del Carmen Tejada, Antonia Zepeda, Alejandro Troncoso, Anaís Aluicio, Rebecca M. Todd, David Martínez-pernía
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2026 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niag010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Neurophenomenological study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 42 |
| Population | Individuals with Parkinson's disease |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Bodyssence Empathy Enaction Neurophenomenology Parkinson’s disease |
| Key points | Phenomenological analysis of empathic experience in Parkinson's disease identified two distinct embodied modes of empathy—Resonance Bodyssence, with tight coupling of emotion and bodily sensation, and Marginal Resonance Bodyssence, with reduced bodily resonance and more cognitive mediation. |
Abstract
Empathy plays a fundamental role in social bonding and intersubjective understanding. While recent research has emphasized how bodily processes shape empathic engagement and underlie individual differences, the impact of bodily disruptions on empathic experience in Parkinson's disease (PD) remains largely unexplored. In this study, we used a neurophenomenological approach to investigate Empathy Bodyssence in PD, conceived as an enacted organization of bodily, affective, and meaning-related dimensions of experience, by integrating first-person experiential data with motor, physiological, and self-report measures. Forty-two individuals with PD watched pain-related and baseline videos. Empathic engagement was assessed through self-reports, postural movement, and physiological recordings (heart rate and electrodermal activity). Following exposure, participants underwent phenomenological interviews designed to capture their experience of witnessing another's suffering. The interview data were analyzed through an iterative, multistage process involving independent coding, triangulation, and advanced analytical tools (CAQDAS, inter-rater agreement assessment, and interactive dashboards) to ensure analytical depth and rigor. Phenomenological analysis enabled us to categorize participants into two groups, distinguished by high versus low levels of bodily resonance in response to viewing pain. These phenomenological groupings were then integrated with quantitative data to reveal two distinct structures through which individuals with PD embodied empathy: Resonance Bodyssence, a response in which emotions are tightly coupled with bodily sensations and movement; and Marginal Resonance Bodyssence, a more observational and cognitively mediated response, marked by reduced bodily resonance. By using phenomenological structure as an organizing level of analysis, the present study shows how interindividual variability in motor and physiological responses in PD is enacted as distinct embodied modes of empathic engagement. In doing so, it advances neurophenomenological approaches and provides a more nuanced, embodied account of empathy in PD as a heterogeneous and dynamically enacted phenomenon.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualitative thematic analysis of the phenomenology of near-death experiences Cardiac arrest survivors | 2018 | Qualitative study | n = 34 |
| Phenomenology and Sequelae of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine Use Psychiatrists who had taken MDMA | 1992 | Qualitative study | n = 20 |
| A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives American Buddhist practitioners | 2014 | Qualitative study | |
| Evoking the ineffable: The phenomenology of extreme sports. Extreme sports participants across three continents, including BASE jumping, big wave... | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 15 |
| Phenomenology and content of the inhaled N, N-dimethyltryptamine (N, N-DMT) experience. Naturalistic inhaled N,N-DMT experiences posted to the r/DMT Reddit community | 2022 | Qualitative analysis | n = 3,778 |
Citations in the library
Cites 12
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Neurophenomenology - The Case of Studying Self Boundaries With Meditators. Frontiers in Psychology 2020
- Moving beyond the lab: investigating empathy through the Empirical 5E approach. Frontiers in Psychology 2023
- "I am feeling tension in my whole body": An experimental phenomenological study of empathy for pain. Frontiers in Psychology 2022
- Pain regulation during mindfulness meditation: Phenomenological fingerprints in novices and experts practitioners European Journal of Pain April 2, 2021
and 7 more in the library