Alcoholism has been also associated with difficulties in processing humor and irony (Amenta et al., 2013; Uekermann et al., 2007), identifying and describing emotions, i.e., alexithymia, (Stasiewicz et al., 2012; Uzun et al., 2003), and experiencing empathy (Martinotti et al., 2009; Maurage et al., 2011b). In some alcoholics, the emotional component of empathy (i.e., experiencing and sharing emotional states of another person) can be impaired, while the cognitive component of empathy (i.e., understanding mental states of another person) can be relatively preserved (Maurage et al., 2011b).
