Psychic/empathic powers' real mechanisms are still unclear.
Many hypotheses have been proposed in an effort to understand this phenomenon.
Mechanisms abound, but they're all based on speculation. Not all empaths have the same abilities. Some people can gather knowledge by combining several psychic abilities into a single "super" psychic ability.
An empath, for example, may use his psychometric ability to gather information simply by touching a human or an entity. The knowledge is then processed by his empathic power, which causes emotions to be induced. Beyond those two psychic powers, the empath can also have extreme clairaudience, clairvoyance, and other abilities that help him absorb all of the knowledge he receives.
It will be impossible for a psychic empath to find ways to manipulate the input he collects before he evaluates his own mechanisms and determines whether he is relying solely on empathic ability or a combination of abilities. It takes a lot of flexibility and time to test oneself on each possible skill.
However, after the empath has formed a baseline, understanding how his different psychic powers are interconnected, as well as how his collective abilities work and communicate, would be much simpler.
You may also want to read more about Empaths, Psychic Empaths, Intuitive Empaths, and Healing here.
