What is theory of mind? A psychometric study of theory of mind and intelligence

Inhibitory Control Partially Mediates the Relationship between Metalinguistic Awareness and Perspective-Taking

Increased metalinguistic awareness (MLA) has been associated with improved performance in tasks of theory of mind; researchers have proposed that individuals with increased MLA, such as bilinguals, rely on metalinguistic skills when completing tasks that require taking other people's perspective into account compared to other individuals who mostly rely on general executive control to complete the same tasks. MLA would, therefore, act as a less effortful path to understanding other perspectives, especially when they differ from one's own. However, the evidence underlying this claim is scant and largely limited to children's theoretical frameworks. In this study, we investigated whether individual differences in MLA predict perspective-taking Theory of Mind above and beyond inhibitory control in a sample of diverse adults across a wide range of linguistic, socioeconomic, and cognitive factors. Bootstrapped mediation analyses revealed that inhibitory control partially, but not fully, mediated the relationship between MLA and perspective-taking. In addition, when differences in language, education and culture were controlled for, the effects of both MLA and inhibitory control were reduced. Overall, the findings emphasize the need to consider multivariate approaches towards understanding the mechanisms underlying theory of mind.

Effects of a neuropsychosocial teleassistance intervention on social cognition and health-related quality of life of pediatric patients with neuromuscular diseases

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine the effects of a neuropsychosocial teleassistance group-based intervention on improving social cognitive functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in pediatric neuromuscular diseases (NMD).

METHODS

Thirty-five pediatric patients with NMD were assigned to the neuropsychosocial intervention program (n = 20) or waiting list control condition (n = 15). The intervention group received an integrative approach that combines training in social cognition with cognitive behavioral therapy. All participants completed a neuropsychological and clinical assessment at baseline and follow-up, which included tests of social cognition, both for emotion recognition and theory of mind, and HRQoL. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance was used to determine the effects of the teleassistance program.

RESULTS

Group × Time interactions revealed significant improvements in the intervention group as compared with the control group for different social cognition's indicators (AR NEPSY-II: p = .003, η2p = .24; TM NEPSY: p < .001, η2p = .35; Verbal task: p < .001, η2p = .35; Happé's Strange Stories: p = .049, η2p = .11) and HRQoL (Psychosocial health: p = .012, η2p = .18; Emotional functioning: p = .037, η2p = 0.13; Social functioning: p = .006, η2p = .21; Total: p = .013, η2p = .17), showing medium to large effects.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients receiving the neuropsychosocial intervention showed improvements in their social cognition performance and psychosocial HRQoL, providing evidence about the positive effects of the program in pediatric patients with NMD. This should be considered in further research and interventions in this field.

Effects of tDCS on emotion recognition and brain oscillations

INTRODUCTION

Emotion recognition, the ability to interpret the emotional state of individuals by looking at their facial expressions, is essential for healthy social interactions and communication. There is limited research on the effects of tDCS on emotion recognition in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the effects of anodal stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a key region for emotion recognition from facial expressions, on emotion recognition and brain oscillations.

METHOD

A single-blind randomized-controlled study was conducted with 54 healthy participants. Before and after brain stimulation emotion recognition tasks were administered and resting-state EEG were recorded. The changes in task performances and brain oscillations were analyzed using repeated-measures two-way ANOVA analysis.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in the emotion recognition tasks between groups in pre-post measurements. The changes in delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma frequency bands in the frontal, temporal, and posterio-occipital regions, which were determined as regions of interest in resting state EEG data before and after tDCS, were compared between groups. The results showed that there was a significant difference between groups only in delta frequency before and after tDCS in the frontal and temporal regions. While an increase in delta activity was observed in the experimental group in the frontal and temporal regions, a decrease was observed in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The tDCS may not have improved emotion recognition because it may not have had the desired effect on the vmPFC, which is in the lower part of the prefrontal lobe. The changes in EEG frequencies observed section tDCS may be similar to those seen in some pathological processes, which could explain the lack of improvement in emotion recognition. Future studies to be carried out for better understand this effect are important.

Moderate similarity leads to empathic concern, but high similarity can also induce personal distress towards others' pain

Empathic concern and personal distress are common vicarious emotional responses that arise when witnessing someone else's pain. However, the influence of perceived similarity on these responses remains unclear. In this study, we examined how perceived similarity with an injured target impacts vicarious emotional responses. A total of 87 participants watched a video of an athlete in pain preceded by a clip describing the athlete's trajectory, which indicated either high, moderate, or low similarity to the participants. Emotional self-reports, facial expressions, gaze behavior, and pupil diameter were measured as indicators of the participants' emotional responses. Participants in the moderate- and high-similarity groups exhibited greater empathic concern, as evidenced by their display of more sadness compared with those in the low-similarity group. Furthermore, those in the moderate-similarity group exhibited less avoidance by displaying reduced disgust, indicating lower personal distress compared with those in the low-similarity condition. Nevertheless, the high-similarity group displayed just as much disgust as the low-similarity group. These findings suggest that perceived similarity enhances empathic concern to others' suffering, but that high similarity can also lead to personal distress. Future studies on empathy should explore distinct vicarious states using multimodal measurements to further advance our understanding of these processes.

Patients with chronic bipolar disorder show impairments in interpreting literary fiction - A preliminary explorative study with the short story task

INTRODUCTION

Theory of mind (ToM) is a crucial skill in navigating and functioning in the social world. Significant ToM impairment was consistently found in bipolar disorder; it can be both a state and trait marker of the disorder. However, most of the ToM tests are not sensitive enough to detect subtle individual differences, which would be necessary for an individualized treatment plan. The Short Story Task (SST) is a new way to sensitively assess individual differences in ToM performance. The aim of the study was to test the feasibility of SST in patients with bipolar disorder.

METHOD

31 persons (11 male, 20 female) with bipolar I disorder and 31 healthy individuals (15 males and 16 females) as a control group were recruited. SST was used to evaluate ToM performance. The SST uses a Hemingway novel, in which the patient is presented with a realistic social situation, where the motivations of the characters and the underlying relationships of events are not explicitly described.

RESULTS

In the explicit mental state reasoning questions the CG (M = 8.06) had significantly higher (p < 0.001) scores than the persons with bipolar I disorder (M = 5.03). There was no ceiling effect for explicit ToM scores in either group. Participants in CG (M = 8.03) also significantly outperformed (p = 0.006) the BG participants (M = 6.55) in the comprehension questions. The spontaneous mental state inference question was performed equally (M = 0.23) in both groups. Group assignment (t = -3.503, p < 0.001), comprehension score (t = 2.864, p = 0.006), and spontaneous mentalization (t = 2.846, p = 0.006) significantly predicted the explicit ToM performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, we found that the Short Story Task is a promising tool for measuring ToM in patients with bipolar disorder without ceiling effect. Primarily explicit ToM was found to be deficient, which corresponds well with the ToM literature in bipolar disorder. Contrary to our hypothesis we could not detect impairment in spontaneous ToM and found that patients living with bipolar disorder also showed deficits in comprehension. The lack of assessment of neurocognitive skills is a significant limitation of the current study.

Difficulties in social cognitive functioning among pediatric patients with muscular dystrophies

Introduction

Pediatric muscular dystrophies (MDs) are a heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases characterized by progressive muscle degeneration. A neuropsychosocial approach is crucial for these patients due to associated cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric comorbidities; however, the social cognitive domain has not been adequately addressed.

Methods

This study aimed to analyze on social cognition performance in a pediatric MD patient cohort. This cross-sectional study included 32 pediatric patients with MD and 32 matched-healthy controls. The Social Perception Domain of the NEPSY-II, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test-Child and Happé's Strange Stories Test were administered. General intelligence and behavioral and emotional symptoms were controlled for to eliminate covariables' possible influence. The assessments were performed remotely.

Results

Children with MDs performed significantly worse on most of the social cognition tasks. The differences found between the groups could be explained by the level of general intelligence for some aspects more related to theory of mind (ToM) (TM NEPSY-II: F = 1.703, p = .197; Verbal task: F = 2.411, p = .125; RMET-C: F = 2.899, p = .094), but not for emotion recognition. Furthermore, these differences were also independent of behavioral and emotional symptoms.

Discussion

In conclusion, social cognition is apparently impaired in pediatric patients with MD, both for emotion recognition and ToM. Screening assessment in social cognition should be considered to promote early interventions aimed at improving these patient's quality of life.

Social cognition in DMD and BMD dystrophinopathies: A cross-sectional preliminary study

Objective: The dystrophinopathies called Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies (DMD/BMD) are rare, progressive, incurable, and life-limiting paediatric-onset neuromuscular diseases. These diseases have long been associated with specific neuropsychological deficits. However, the performance of these patients in the social cognition domain has not been properly investigated. Thus, the main objective of this study was to compare the performance on social cognition between DMD/BMD patients and healthy age-matched boys. Method: This cross-sectional study included 20 DMD/BMD children and adolescents and 20 healthy controls. The protocol included the Social Perception Domain of the NEPSY-II, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test - Child and Happé's Strange Stories test. General intelligence was controlled to eliminate the possible influence of covariables. All the assessments were performed remotely. Results: Most social cognition tasks were worse in patients with DMD/BMD than in matched healthy controls. These differences remained even after controlling for the general intelligence variable, with the exception of Total Disgust Errors (F = 1.462, p = .234, η2p= .038) and Verbal task (F = 1.820, p = .185, η2p= .047) scores from the NEPSY-II. Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate that the neuropsychological domain of social cognition is impaired in DMD/BMD patients, independent of the level of general intelligence. Screening assessments in DMD/BMD patients should be promoted to allow social cognition difficulties to be detected at an early stage to enhance patients' quality of life and social development.

Psychopathic Traits and Theory of Mind Task Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

This meta-analysis aims to examine the relationship between psychopathic traits and theory of mind (ToM), which is classically and broadly defined as competency in representing and attributing mental states such as emotions, intentions, and beliefs to others. Our search strategy gathered 142 effect sizes, from 42 studies, with a total sample size of 7463 participants. Random effects models were used to analyze the data. Our findings suggested that psychopathic traits are associated with impaired ToM task performance. This relationship was not moderated by age, population, psychopathy measurement (self-report versus clinical checklist) or conceptualization, or ToM task type (cognitive versus affective). The effect also remained significant after excluding tasks that did not require the participant to 1) mentalize or 2) differentiate self and other perspectives. However, interpersonal/affective traits were associated with a more pronounced impairment in ToM task performance compared to lifestyle/antisocial traits. Future research should investigate the effects of distinct psychopathy facets that will allow for a more precise understanding of the social-cognitive bases of relevant clinical presentations in psychopathy.

The influence of in-groups and out-groups on the theory-of-mind processing: evidence from different ethnic college students

According to previous studies of theory of mind (ToM), social environment and cultural background affect individuals' cognitive ability to understand other people's minds. There are cross-group differences in ToM. The present study aimed to examine whether social environment and culture affect the ToM in Uygur and Han groups and whether the individual's cognitive ToM and affective ToM show in-group advantages. Han and Uygur college students were recruited as participants. The "self/other differentiation task" was used to measure cognitive ToM (Study 1), and the "Yoni task" was used to measure both cognitive and affective ToM (Study 2). We found that Han participants processed the cognitive and affective states of others faster and more accurately than Uygur ones. Uygur and Han participants processed in-group members' cognitive and affective states faster and more accurately. Furthermore, Uygur participants were more accurate in the cognitive ToM processing of in-group members, while Han participants were faster in the affective ToM processing of in-group members. The findings indicated that ethnic culture and group identify might influence ToM processing. Strengthening exchanges between ethnic groups may enable individuals to better process out-group members' psychological states.

On the Problem of Evidence-based Psychological Assessment of School Students’ Social Competence in Inclusive Education

<p>The purpose of the article is to analyze the problems of psychological assessment of the school students&rsquo; social competence in inclusive education according to evidence-based approach, which implies the link between science and practice. The article discusses the main theoretical approaches to the definition of the concept of social competence: through indicators of personal effectiveness and the ability to achieve personal goals in social interaction; through a set of social skills and activities: as sensitivity to the problems of interaction between people, as an outcome of social, emotional and cultural intelligence. The integrative taxonomy of social competencies is considered as a theoretical framework for reviewing existing methods and identifying the need to develop new psychodiagnostic techniques, as well as for creating individual profiles of school students in inclusive education. The possibilities and limitations of using psychological methods and techniques adapted to the Russian-speaking sample for diagnosing the social competence of school students are discussed. The use of psychological diagnostic methods to assess the effectiveness of educational practice is considered from the point of view of evidence-based approach requirements.</p>