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Byom LJ, Whalen M, Turkstra LS. Working Memory for Emotions in Adolescents and Young Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury. BRAIN IMPAIR 2022; 22:296-310. [PMID: 36703704 PMCID: PMC9873224 DOI: 10.1017/brimp.2021.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
This preliminary study investigated the interaction between working memory and social cognition in adolescents and young adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that participants with or without TBI would better recognize social information when working memory or social cognitive load was low, and that adolescents and young adults with TBI would be more affected by increased cognitive demand than their uninjured peers. Eight adolescents and young adults with complicated mild-severe TBI (aged 14-22 years) and eight age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) adolescents completed computer-based n-back tasks requiring recognition of either face identity or facial affect, with 0-back, 1-, and 2-back conditions. The TBI group had lower scores overall than the TD group, and scores for both groups were lower for affect recognition than identity recognition. Scores for both groups were lower in conditions with a higher working memory load. There was a significant group-by-working memory interaction, with larger group differences in high-working memory conditions. Study results and their potential implications for social outcomes are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey J Byom
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
| | - Meaghan Whalen
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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2
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Santini A, Bullen JC, Zajic MC, McIntyre N, Mundy P. Brief Report: The Factors Associated with Social Cognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2022:10.1007/s10803-022-05794-7. [PMID: 36287328 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05794-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
This study examined whether school-aged autistic children without co-occurring intellectual disabilities (autisticWoID) show similar difficulty on Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks as young autisticWoID children and if these difficulties are related to problems in domain-general aspects of cognition. Eighty-one autisticWoID and 44 neurotypical (NT) children between the ages of 8-16 years participated in this study and were matched on verbal IQ. ToM performance significantly and independently differentiated many, but not all, autisticWoID and NT participants above and beyond the effects of working memory and inferential thinking. However, these cognitive variables did not fully explain difficulties with social cognition in autisticWoID children. These findings have implications for understanding autism, the factors that may impact intervention for social cognition in autism, and the factors that impact the education of autistic children who may struggle in general education classrooms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anysa Santini
- Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer C Bullen
- Department of Human Ecology, Human Development, University of California Davis, One Shields Ave, 1315 Hart Hall, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - Matthew C Zajic
- Intellectual Disability/Autism Program, Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- School of Education, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Nancy McIntyre
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health Professions and Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
- School of Education, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Peter Mundy
- School of Education, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- MIND Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
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3
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Polyanskaya I, Eigsti IM, Brauner T, Blackburn P. Second-Order False Beliefs and Linguistic Recursion in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2022; 52:3991-4006. [PMID: 34524586 PMCID: PMC8920946 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05277-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This study investigates the role of recursive language and working memory (WM) in second-order false belief skills in Danish-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 62; 8 females) and typical development (n = 41; 15 females), ages 6-16. Second-order false belief skills correlated with receptive grammar, vocabulary, and age; sentential complement production predicted second-order false beliefs, controlling for age, receptive grammar and WM. Regressions showed that second-order false belief was associated with age across groups, but with sentential complements in the ASD group only. Second-order false belief skills improved in children who received training in either recursive phrases (d = 0.21) or WM (d = 0.74), compared to an active control group. Results suggest that false belief skills are entwined with both linguistic and executive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Polyanskaya
- Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Building 08.2, P.O. Box 260, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Inge-Marie Eigsti
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 146 Babbidge Road, U-1020, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA.
| | - Torben Brauner
- Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Building 08.2, P.O. Box 260, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Patrick Blackburn
- Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark
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Andrés-Roqueta C, Soria-Izquierdo E, Górriz-Plumed AB. Exploring different aspects of emotion understanding in adults with Down Syndrome. Res Dev Disabil 2021; 114:103962. [PMID: 33932849 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2020] [Revised: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Adults with Down Syndrome (DS) present difficulties in emotion understanding, although research has mainly focused on emotion recognition (external aspects), and little is known about their performance in other complex components (mental and reflective aspects). AIMS This study aims to examine different aspects of emotion understanding in adults with DS, including a codification of their error pattern, and also to determine the association with other variables that are commonly impaired in adults with DS. METHODS AND PROCEDURES Twenty-two adults with DS and twenty-two children with typical development (TD) matched for vocabulary level were assessed with the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), along with other non-verbal reasoning (NVR), structural language and working memory (WM) tasks. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Adults with DS showed lower emotion competence than children with TD in different components of the TEC, and also a different pattern of errors was observed. Structural language, NVR and WM predicted distinct emotion understanding skills in different ways. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS It is important to plan interventions aimed at improving particular aspects of emotion understanding skills for adults with DS, taking into account the different components, the type of error and the different cognitive and linguistic skills involved in each emotion understanding skill.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Andrés-Roqueta
- Department of Developmental, Educational and Social Psychology and Methodology, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Av. Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n, 12071 Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
| | - Eloy Soria-Izquierdo
- Department of Developmental, Educational and Social Psychology and Methodology, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Av. Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n, 12071 Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
| | - Ana Belén Górriz-Plumed
- Department of Developmental, Educational and Social Psychology and Methodology, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, Av. Vicent Sos Baynat, s/n, 12071 Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
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Ringshaw JE, Hamilton K, Malcolm-Smith S. Theory of Mind and Moral Decision-Making in the Context of Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 52:1693-1711. [PMID: 34105048 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05055-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Social impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been linked to Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits. However, little research has investigated the relationship between ToM and moral decision-making in children with ASD. This study compared moral decision-making and ToM between aggregate-matched ASD and neurotypical boys (n = 38 per group; aged 6-12). In a third-party resource allocation task manipulating recipient merit, wealth, and health, neurotypical children allocated significantly more resources to the morally deserving recipient, suggesting equitable allocation. A comparatively larger portion of the ASD group allocated equally. ToM emerged as a predictor of moral decision-making. We suggest that ToM (cognitive empathy) deficits may underly atypical moral decision-making in ASD by limiting the integration of empathic arousal (affective empathy) with moral information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica E Ringshaw
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. .,ACSENT Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Katie Hamilton
- ACSENT Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Susan Malcolm-Smith
- ACSENT Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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Abstract
Three studies test whether people engage in mental state reasoning or theory of mind (ToM) differently across two fundamental social contexts: cooperation and competition. Study 1 examines how children with an emerging understanding of false beliefs deploy ToM across these contexts. We find that young preschool children are better able to plant false beliefs in others' minds in a cooperative versus competitive context; this difference does not emerge for other cognitive capacities tested (e.g., executive functioning, memory). Studies 2a and 2b reveal the same systematic difference in adults' ToM for cooperation and competition, even after accounting for relevant predictors (e.g., preference for a task condition, feelings about deception). Together, these findings provide initial evidence for enhanced ToM for cooperation versus competition in early development and also adulthood.
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Pesch A, Semenov AD, Carlson SM. The Path to Fully Representational Theory of Mind: Conceptual, Executive, and Pragmatic Challenges. Front Psychol 2020; 11:581117. [PMID: 33250820 PMCID: PMC7672026 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Although an explicit Theory of Mind (ToM) has been found to develop around 4 years of age in Western societies, recent work showing that 4- and 5-year-olds fail modified versions of False Belief tasks as well as seemingly easier True Belief tasks calls into question the robustness of preschoolers’ belief understanding. Some have argued these findings illustrate children’s conceptual limitations in their understanding of belief that are masked by standard False Belief tasks. However, others claim these examples of children’s failure can be explained by pragmatics of the testing situation, rather than conceptual limitations. Given the documented relation between ToM and executive function, an unexamined possibility is that children’s failure can be explained by certain executive demands. In the current study, we examined the relation between typically developing 4- (n = 43) and 5-year-olds’ (n = 42) performance on traditional and modified False Belief tasks, True Belief tasks, and one component of executive functioning - working memory. We found that children performed worse on modified False Belief tasks and True Belief tasks compared to standard 2-option False Belief tasks, and that working memory was related to modified 3-option contents False Belief performance. These results suggest that a fully representational ToM, one that is stable in the context of increased conceptual, executive, and pragmatic demands, may develop later than traditional accounts have assumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annelise Pesch
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
| | - Andrei D Semenov
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
| | - Stephanie M Carlson
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
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Tang Y, Harris PL, Zou H, Wang J, Zhang Z. The relationship between emotion understanding and social skills in preschoolers: The mediating role of verbal ability and the moderating role of working memory. European Journal of Developmental Psychology 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2020.1854217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yulong Tang
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, P.R. China
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Paul L. Harris
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Hong Zou
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Juan Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Zhinuo Zhang
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, P.R. China
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Kim YG. Theory of mind mediates the relations of language and domain-general cognitions to discourse comprehension. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 194:104813. [PMID: 32092536 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Theory of mind has received intensive attention in research as an important skill to develop. Furthermore, recent evidence indicates its role in discourse comprehension. In the current study, we examined the mediating role of theory of mind in the relations of foundational language and cognitive skills (working memory, attentional control, vocabulary, and grammatical knowledge) to discourse comprehension using the direct and indirect effects model of text comprehension and production (Kim, 2016) as a theoretical framework, and using longitudinal data from kindergarten to Grade 2. Structural equation model results showed that theory of mind partially mediated the relations in both grades, and the effects (standardized regression weights) were similar in kindergarten and Grade 2. Interestingly, the relations of language and cognitive skills to theory of mind differed in kindergarten versus Grade 2. Language and cognitive skills had moderate to strong longitudinal stability, and these skills in kindergarten were indirectly related to discourse comprehension in Grade 2 via the language and cognitive skills in Grade 2. These results support the mediating role of theory of mind as well as the nature of structural and longitudinal relations among language and cognitive skills and to discourse comprehension.
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Green CC, Brown NJ, Yap VMZ, Scheffer IE, Wilson SJ. Cognitive processes predicting advanced theory of mind in the broader autism phenotype. Autism Res 2019; 13:921-934. [PMID: 31566923 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 08/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Little is known about executive functions (EFs) associated with advanced theory of mind (ToM) abilities. We aimed to determine if advanced ToM abilities were reduced in individuals with subclinical traits of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), known as the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (BAP), and identify the EFs that predicted unimpaired performance on an advanced ToM task, the faux pas test. We assessed 29 participants (13 males) with the BAP who were relatives of children with ASD. Thirteen participants showed reduced ability to understand a faux pas. A discriminant function analysis correctly classified 79% of cases as impaired or unimpaired, with high sensitivity (80%) and specificity (77%), which was best predicted by language-mediated EFs, including verbal generativity, working memory, cognitive inhibition, and flexibility. Autism Res 2020, 13: 921-934. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Little is known about the complex cognitive processes that enable accurate interpretation of another person's thoughts and emotions, known as "theory of mind." In relatives of individuals with autism, who had mild traits of autism themselves, approximately half had difficulty interpreting situations involving a social faux pas. Cognitive inhibition and flexibility, working memory, and verbal generativity were related to, and appeared to be protective for, unimpaired understanding of a faux pas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cherie C Green
- Department of Medicine-Austin Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
| | - Natasha J Brown
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.,Victorian Clinical Genetics Services, MCRI, Parkville, Australia.,Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Australia.,Child Health Research Unit, Barwon Health, Geelong, Australia
| | - Valerie M Z Yap
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
| | - Ingrid E Scheffer
- Department of Medicine-Austin Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.,Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Australia.,Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Sarah J Wilson
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.,Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia
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12
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Light SN. The Heterogeneity of Empathy: Possible Treatment for Anhedonia? Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:185. [PMID: 31024355 PMCID: PMC6465569 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2019] [Accepted: 03/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditionally, empathy has been described as a process by which an individual "tries on" the negative emotion of others (i. e., empathic concern). A corpus of empirical work has been devoted to the study of this particular form of empathy. However, in this paper, the heterogeneity model of empathy is proposed as a method for counteracting the lack of attention paid to "positive-valence empathy"-our ability to respond to the negative and positive emotion of others with appropriate positive affect. Both empathic concern and positive-valence empathy are argued to have distinguishable behavioral manifestations and at least partially distinguishable neurobiological underpinnings. The potential value of positive-valence empathy induction for therapeutic purposes is also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharee N Light
- Positive Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States
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Garraffa M, Obregon M, Sorace A. Linguistic and Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism with Regional Minority Languages: A Study of Sardinian-Italian Adult Speakers. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1907. [PMID: 29163288 PMCID: PMC5672013 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study explores the effects of bilingualism in Sardinian as a regional minority language on the linguistic competence in Italian as the dominant language and on non-linguistic cognitive abilities. Sardinian/Italian adult speakers and monolingual Italian speakers living in the same geographical area of Sardinia were compared in two kinds of tasks: (a) verbal and non-verbal cognitive tasks targeting working memory and attentional control and (b) tasks of linguistic abilities in Italian focused on the comprehension of sentences differing in grammatical complexity. Although no difference was found between bilinguals and monolinguals in the cognitive control of attention, bilinguals performed better on working memory tasks. Bilinguals with lower formal education were found to be faster at comprehension of one type of complex sentence (center embedded object relative clauses). In contrast, bilinguals and monolinguals with higher education showed comparable slower processing of complex sentences. These results show that the effects of bilingualism are modulated by type of language experience and education background: positive effects of active bilingualism on the dominant language are visible in bilinguals with lower education, whereas the effects of higher literacy in Italian obliterate those of active bilingualism in bilinguals and monolinguals with higher education.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Garraffa
- Department of Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Mateo Obregon
- Department of Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Antonella Sorace
- Department of Linguistics and English Language, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Arslan B, Hohenberger A, Verbrugge R. Syntactic Recursion Facilitates and Working Memory Predicts Recursive Theory of Mind. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0169510. [PMID: 28072823 PMCID: PMC5225003 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2016] [Accepted: 12/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we focus on the possible roles of second-order syntactic recursion and working memory in terms of simple and complex span tasks in the development of second-order false belief reasoning. We tested 89 Turkish children in two age groups, one younger (4;6-6;5 years) and one older (6;7-8;10 years). Although second-order syntactic recursion is significantly correlated with the second-order false belief task, results of ordinal logistic regressions revealed that the main predictor of second-order false belief reasoning is complex working memory span. Unlike simple working memory and second-order syntactic recursion tasks, the complex working memory task required processing information serially with additional reasoning demands that require complex working memory strategies. Based on our results, we propose that children's second-order theory of mind develops when they have efficient reasoning rules to process embedded beliefs serially, thus overcoming a possible serial processing bottleneck.
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Affiliation(s)
- Burcu Arslan
- Institute of Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen,AK Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Annette Hohenberger
- Department of Cognitive Science, Middle East Technical University, Üniversiteler Mahallesi, Dumlupınar Bulvarı, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Rineke Verbrugge
- Institute of Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen,AK Groningen, The Netherlands
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Klindt D, Devaine M, Daunizeau J. Does the way we read others' mind change over the lifespan? Insights from a massive web poll of cognitive skills from childhood to late adulthood. Cortex 2017; 86:205-215. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2016] [Revised: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 09/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Hamilton K, Hoogenhout M, Malcolm-Smith S. Neurocognitive considerations when assessing Theory of Mind in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Child Adolesc Ment Health 2016; 28:233-241. [DOI: 10.2989/17280583.2016.1268141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Katie Hamilton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
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Vissers C, Koolen S. Theory of Mind Deficits and Social Emotional Functioning in Preschoolers with Specific Language Impairment. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1734. [PMID: 27867370 PMCID: PMC5095688 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2016] [Accepted: 10/20/2016] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) often experience emotional and social difficulties. In general, problems in social emotional functioning can be cognitively explained in terms of Theory of Mind (ToM). In this mini-review, an overview is provided of studies on social-emotional functioning and ToM in preschoolers (average age from 2.3 to 6.2 years) with SLI. It is concluded that, similar to school-aged children with SLI, preschoolers with SLI have several social-emotional problems and that both cognitive and affective aspects of ToM are impaired in those children. Based hereon, three possible causal models for the interrelation between language, ToM and social emotional functioning are put forward. It is proposed that future research on the construct and measurement of early ToM, social emotional functioning and language development in preschoolers with SLI is needed to achieve early detection, tailored treatment, and ultimately insight into the pathogenesis of SLI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constance Vissers
- Royal Dutch Kentalis, Kentalis AcademySt Michielsgestel, Netherlands
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Sophieke Koolen
- Royal Dutch Kentalis, Kentalis AcademySt Michielsgestel, Netherlands
- Pro Persona for Mental HealthArnhem, Netherlands
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Leduc K, Williams S, Gomez-Garibello C, Talwar V. The contributions of mental state understanding and executive functioning to preschool-aged children's lie-telling. Br J Dev Psychol 2016; 35:288-302. [DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Revised: 09/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Karissa Leduc
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology; McGill University; Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - Shanna Williams
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology; McGill University; Montreal Quebec Canada
| | | | - Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology; McGill University; Montreal Quebec Canada
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Amadó A, Serrat E, Vallès-Majoral E. The Role of Executive Functions in Social Cognition among Children with Down Syndrome: Relationship Patterns. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1363. [PMID: 27679588 PMCID: PMC5020061 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2016] [Accepted: 08/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies show a link between social cognition, a set of cognitive and emotional abilities applied to social situations, and executive functions in typical developing children. Children with Down syndrome (DS) show deficits both in social cognition and in some subcomponents of executive functions. However this link has barely been studied in this population. The aim of this study is to investigate the links between social cognition and executive functions among children with DS. We administered a battery of social cognition and executive function tasks (six theory of mind tasks, a test of emotion comprehension, and three executive function tasks) to a group of 30 participants with DS between 4 and 12 years of age. The same tasks were administered to a chronological-age control group and to a control group with the same linguistic development level. Results showed that apart from deficits in social cognition and executive function abilities, children with DS displayed a slight improvement with increasing chronological age and language development in those abilities. Correlational analysis suggested that working memory was the only component that remained constant in the relation patterns of the three groups of participants, being the relation patterns similar among participants with DS and the language development control group. A multiple linear regression showed that working memory explained above 50% of the variability of social cognition in DS participants and in language development control group, whereas in the chronological-age control group this component only explained 31% of the variability. These findings, and specifically the link between working memory and social cognition, are discussed on the basis of their theoretical and practical implications for children with DS. We discuss the possibility to use a working memory training to improve social cognition in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Amadó
- Department of Psychology, University of Girona Girona, Spain
| | - Elisabet Serrat
- Department of Psychology, University of Girona Girona, Spain
| | - Eduard Vallès-Majoral
- Department of Psychology, University of GironaGirona, Spain; Servei Neuropsicopedagògic ArlotGirona, Spain
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Abstract
In standard Theory of Mind tasks, such as the Sally-Anne, children have to predict the behaviour of a mistaken character, which requires attributing the character a false belief. Hundreds of developmental studies in the last 30 years have shown that children under 4 fail standard false-belief tasks. However, recent studies have revealed that bilingual children and adults outperform their monolingual peers in this type of tasks. Bilinguals' better performance in false-belief tasks has generally been interpreted as a result of their better inhibitory control; that is, bilinguals are allegedly better than monolinguals at inhibiting the erroneous response to the false-belief question. In this review, I challenge the received view and argue instead that bilinguals' better false-belief performance results from more effective attention management. This challenge ties in with two independent lines of research: on the one hand, recent studies on the role of attentional processes in false-belief tasks with monolingual children and adults; and on the other, current research on bilinguals' performance in different Executive Function tasks. The review closes with an exploratory discussion of further benefits of bilingual cognition to Theory of Mind development and pragmatics, which may be independent from Executive Function.
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Mutter B, Alcorn MB, Welsh M. Theory of Mind and Executive Function: Working-Memory Capacity and Inhibitory Control as Predictors of False-Belief Task Performance. Percept Mot Skills 2016; 102:819-35. [PMID: 16916162 DOI: 10.2466/pms.102.3.819-835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
This study of the relationship between theory of mind and executive function examined whether on the false-belief task age differences between 3 and 5 years of age are related to development of working-memory capacity and inhibitory processes. 72 children completed tasks measuring false belief, working memory, and inhibition. Significant age effects were observed for false-belief and working-memory performance, as well as for the false-alarm and perseveration measures of inhibition. A simultaneous multiple linear regression specified the contribution of age, inhibition, and working memory to the prediction of false-belief performance. This model was significant, explaining a total of 36% of the variance. To examine the independent contributions of the working-memory and inhibition variables, after controlling for age, two hierarchical multiple linear regressions were conducted. These multiple regression analyses indicate that working memory and inhibition make small, overlapping contributions to false-belief performance after accounting for age, but that working memory, as measured in this study, is a somewhat better predictor of false-belief understanding than is inhibition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas Frye
- Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | | | - Jacob A. Burack
- Department of Educational Psychology & Counseling, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Abstract
This paper describes the epidemiologic evidence linking parent-child relationships, self-regulation, and weight status with a focus on early childhood. The emotional quality of parent-child interactions may influence children's risk for obesity through multiple pathways. Prospective studies linking observer ratings of young children's self-regulation, particularly inhibitory control, to future weight status are discussed. Although findings are preliminary, promoting positive relationships between parents/caregivers and young children holds promise as a component of efforts to prevent childhood obesity. Multi-disciplinary collaborations between researchers with training in developmental science and child health should be encouraged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E. Anderson
- Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, 336 Cunz Hall, 1841 Neil Ave, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, Ph. # 614 688 3600; Fax # 614 688-3533,
| | - Sarah A. Keim
- Center for Biobehavioral Health, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Nationwide Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43205, Ph. #614 722 2000,
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Spanoudis G. Theory of mind and specific language impairment in school-age children. J Commun Disord 2016; 61:83-96. [PMID: 27089201 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2016.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2013] [Revised: 04/03/2016] [Accepted: 04/06/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Research on the relationship between aspects of language development and Theory of Mind (ToM) in children with language impairments suggests that children with language impairment show a delay in ToM development. This study aimed to examine the relationships of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills with ToM in school-age children. Twenty children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) aged 9-12 years and two control groups, one matched for chronological age (CA) and one for language ability (LA) (aged 8-10 years) were compared on a set of language tasks tapping syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills and on an advanced test of ToM. Results showed that children with SLI performed poorly on the ToM task compared to the CA matches. Also, analysis showed that language skills and ToM are related and that syntactic and pragmatic abilities contributed significantly to the prediction of ToM performance in the SLI group. It is concluded that the syntax/pragmatic aspects of the language impact on ToM understanding in children with SLI.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Spanoudis
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Applied Neuroscience, University of Cyprus, Kallipoleos 75, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.
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26
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Im-Bolter N, Agostino A, Owens-Jaffray K. Theory of mind in middle childhood and early adolescence: Different from before? J Exp Child Psychol 2016; 149:98-115. [PMID: 26827097 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2015] [Revised: 11/23/2015] [Accepted: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Studies with preschool children have shown that language and executive function are important for theory of mind, but few studies have examined these associations in older children and in an integrative theory-guided manner. The theory of constructive operators was used as a framework to test a model of relations among mental attentional capacity, attentional inhibition, language, executive processes (shifting and updating), and higher order theory of mind in two groups of school-aged children: one in middle childhood (n=226; mean age=8.08years) and the other in early adolescence (n=216; mean age=12.09years). Results revealed a complex model of interrelations between cognitive resources and language in middle childhood that directly and indirectly predicted theory of mind. The model in early adolescence was less complex, however, and highlighted the importance of semantic language and shifting for theory of mind. Our findings suggest not only that contributors to theory of mind change over time but also that they may depend on the maturity level of the theory of mind system being examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancie Im-Bolter
- Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2, Canada.
| | - Alba Agostino
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Keely Owens-Jaffray
- Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2, Canada; Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
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Abstract
We report the results of a study which tested receptive Italian grammatical competence and general cognitive abilities in bilingual Italian–Sardinian children and age-matched monolingual Italian children attending the first and second year of primary school in the Nuoro province of Sardinia, where Sardinian is still widely spoken. The results show that across age groups the performance of Sardinian–Italian bilingual children is in most cases indistinguishable from that of monolingual Italian children, in terms of both Italian language skills and general cognitive abilities. However, where there are differences, these emerge gradually over time and are mostly in favor of bilingual children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Garraffa
- Department of Psychology, School of Life Science, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, UK
| | - Madeleine Beveridge
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK
| | - Antonella Sorace
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK
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28
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Guajardo NR, Cartwright KB. The contribution of theory of mind, counterfactual reasoning, and executive function to pre-readers' language comprehension and later reading awareness and comprehension in elementary school. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 144:27-45. [PMID: 26689129 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2015] [Revised: 11/14/2015] [Accepted: 11/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The current longitudinal study examined the roles of theory of mind, counterfactual reasoning, and executive function in children's pre-reading skills, reading awareness, and reading comprehension. It is the first to examine this set of variables with preschool and school-aged children. A sample of 31 children completed language comprehension, working memory, cognitive flexibility, first-order false belief, and counterfactual reasoning measures when they were 3 to 5 years of age and completed second-order false belief, cognitive flexibility, reading comprehension, and reading awareness measures at 6 to 9 years of age. Results indicated that false belief understanding contributed to phrase and sentence comprehension and reading awareness, whereas cognitive flexibility and counterfactual reasoning accounted for unique variance in reading comprehension. Implications of the results for the development of reading skill are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole R Guajardo
- Department of Psychology, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA 23606, USA.
| | - Kelly B Cartwright
- Department of Psychology, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA 23606, USA
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Baez S, Morales JP, Slachevsky A, Torralva T, Matus C, Manes F, Ibanez A. Orbitofrontal and limbic signatures of empathic concern and intentional harm in the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Cortex 2015; 75:20-32. [PMID: 26707083 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2015] [Revised: 09/28/2015] [Accepted: 11/12/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Perceiving and evaluating intentional harms in an interpersonal context engages both cognitive and emotional domains. This process involves inference of intentions, moral judgment, and, crucially, empathy towards others' suffering. This latter skill is notably impaired in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, the relationship between regional brain atrophy in bvFTD and deficits in the above-mentioned abilities is not well understood. The present study investigated how gray matter (GM) atrophy in bvFTD patients correlates with the perception and evaluation of harmful actions (attribution of intentionality, evaluation of harmful behavior, empathic concern, and moral judgment). First, we compared the behavioral performance of 26 bvFTD patients and 23 healthy controls on an experimental task (ET) indexing intentionality, empathy, and moral cognition during evaluation of harmful actions. Second, we compared GM volume in patients and controls using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Third, we examined brain regions where atrophy might be associated with specific impairments in the patient group. Finally, we explored whether the patients' deficits in intentionality comprehension and empathic concern could be partially explained by regional GM atrophy or impairments in other relevant factors, such as executive functions (EFs). In bvFTD patients, atrophy of limbic structures (amygdala and anterior paracingulate cortex--APC) was related to impairments in intentionality comprehension, while atrophy of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was associated with empathic concern deficits. Intentionality comprehension impairments were predicted by EFs and orbitofrontal atrophy predicted deficits in empathic concern. Thus, although the perception and evaluation of harmful actions are variously compromised in bvFTD, deficits in empathic concern may be central to this syndrome as they are associated with one of the earliest atrophied region. More generally, our results shed light on social cognition deficits in bvFTD and may have important clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Baez
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina; UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Faculty of Psychology, Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina.
| | - Juan P Morales
- UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Faculty of Psychology, Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.
| | - Andrea Slachevsky
- Departamento de Fisiopatología, ICBM y Departamento de Ciencias Neurológicas Oriente, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Unidad de Neurología Cognitiva y Demencias, Departamento de Neurología Oriente, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile y Servicio de Neurología, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile; Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Servicio de Neurología, Clínica Alemana, Santiago, Chile.
| | - Teresa Torralva
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina; UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Faculty of Psychology, Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.
| | - Cristian Matus
- Fundación Médica San Cristobal, Santiago, Chile; Hospital de Carabineros de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
| | - Facundo Manes
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina; UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Faculty of Psychology, Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina; ACR Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Agustin Ibanez
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina; UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Faculty of Psychology, Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina; Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Barranquilla, Colombia; ACR Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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30
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Sivaratnam CS, Newman LK, Tonge BJ, Rinehart NJ. Attachment and Emotion Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Neurobiological, Neuroendocrine, and Neurocognitive Considerations. Rev J Autism Dev Disord 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s40489-015-0048-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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31
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Spanoudis G, Demetriou A, Kazi S, Giorgala K, Zenonos V. Embedding cognizance in intellectual development. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 132:32-50. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2014] [Revised: 12/11/2014] [Accepted: 12/12/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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32
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Lecce S, Demicheli P, Zocchi S, Palladino P. The origins of children’s metamemory: The role of theory of mind. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 131:56-72. [PMID: 25514786 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2014] [Revised: 11/18/2014] [Accepted: 11/23/2014] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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33
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Carlson SM, Claxton LJ, Moses LJ. The Relation Between Executive Function and Theory of Mind is More Than Skin Deep. Journal of Cognition and Development 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2013.824883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Mahy CE, Moses LJ, Kliegel M. The impact of age, ongoing task difficulty, and cue salience on preschoolers’ prospective memory performance: The role of executive function. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 127:52-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2013] [Revised: 01/13/2014] [Accepted: 01/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Hao J, Su Y. Deaf children's use of clear visual cues in mindreading. Res Dev Disabil 2014; 35:2849-2857. [PMID: 25104224 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2014] [Revised: 07/15/2014] [Accepted: 07/15/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies show that typically developing 4-year old children can understand other people's false beliefs but that deaf children of hearing families have difficulty in understanding false beliefs until the age of approximately 13. Because false beliefs are implicit mental states that are not expressed through clear visual cues in standard false belief tasks, the present study examines the hypothesis that the deaf children's developmental delay in understanding false beliefs may reflect their difficulty in understanding a spectrum of mental states that are not expressed through clear visual cues. Nine- to 13-year-old deaf children of hearing families and 4-6-year-old typically developing children completed false belief tasks and emotion recognition tasks under different cue conditions. The results indicated that after controlling for the effect of the children's language abilities, the deaf children inferred other people's false beliefs as accurately as the typically developing children when other people's false beliefs were clearly expressed through their eye-gaze direction. However, the deaf children performed worse than the typically developing children when asked to infer false beliefs with ambiguous or no eye-gaze cues. Moreover, the deaf children were capable of recognizing other people's emotions that were clearly conveyed by their facial or body expressions. The results suggest that although theory-based or simulation-based mental state understanding is typical of hearing children's theory of mind mechanism, for deaf children of hearing families, clear cue-based mental state understanding may be their specific theory of mind mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Hao
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, College of Education, Capital Normal University, No. 105 North Xisanhuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China.
| | - Yanjie Su
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China.
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Robinson KE, Fountain-Zaragoza S, Dennis M, Taylor HG, Bigler ED, Rubin K, Vannatta K, Gerhardt CA, Stancin T, Yeates KO. Executive functions and theory of mind as predictors of social adjustment in childhood traumatic brain injury. J Neurotrauma 2014; 31:1835-42. [PMID: 25003478 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2014.3422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
This study examined whether executive function and theory of mind mediate the effects of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) on social adjustment, relative to children with orthopedic injury (OI). Participants included 19 children with severe TBI, 41 children with complicated mild/moderate TBI, and 57 children with OI. They completed measures of executive function, as well as cognitive, affective, and conative theory of mind. Parents provided ratings of children's social adjustment. Children with severe TBI performed more poorly than children with OI on executive function and theory of mind tasks and were rated by parents as having more behavioral symptoms and worse communication and social skills. Executive function and theory of mind were positively correlated with social skills and communication skills, and negatively correlated with behavioral symptoms. In multiple mediator models, theory of mind and executive function were not significant direct predictors of any measure of social adjustment, but mediated the association between injury and adjustment for children with severe TBI. Theory of mind was a significant independent mediator when predicting social skills, but executive function was not. TBI in children, particularly severe injury, is associated with poor social adjustment. The impact of TBI on children's social adjustment is likely mediated by its effects on executive function and theory of mind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen E Robinson
- 1 Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University and The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital , Columbus, Ohio
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Norimatsu H, Blin R, Hashiya K, Sorsana C, Kobayashi H. Understanding of others' knowledge in French and Japanese children: a comparative study with a disambiguation task on 16-38-month-olds. Infant Behav Dev 2014; 37:632-43. [PMID: 25238662 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2014] [Revised: 06/27/2014] [Accepted: 08/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In order to explain the cultural differences reported in the results of false-belief tasks, we attempted to verify the 'task bias hypothesis' suggested by certain studies (e.g. Tardif et al. (2004). Journal of Child Language, 31, 779-800; Rubio-Fernandez & Geurts (2013). Psychological Science, 24(1), 27-33. doi 10.1177/0956797612447819). At the same time, we aimed to observe the theory of mind (ToM) ability of infants and young children under the age of three in verbal communication. To this end, we propose a new protocol to test young children's ToM ability, with particular attention paid to the linguistic aspect of the task. This original disambiguation task using proper nouns (first names) was tested on a total of 32 children aged between 16 and 38 months, in France and Japan. The results revealed that after the age of 30 months children begin to correctly interpret nouns while simultaneously taking into account their partner's knowledge (50% of the French and 29% of the Japanese children were successful), whereas this remains difficult for younger children (no child under 30 months was successful). The analysis of error types has shown that 'memory bias' was dominant in younger children in particular and 'association bias' was rarely observed across all ages. Given that the results of French and Japanese children did not differ significantly, we assume that this new task design could minimise the influence of cultural difference caused by the characteristics of different languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Norimatsu
- CLLE-LTC (Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie-Laboratoire Travail & Cognition)-UMR 5263, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
| | - R Blin
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale-UMR 8563, Paris, France
| | - K Hashiya
- Faculty of Human-Environmental Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Ch Sorsana
- InterPsy Laboratory (E.A. 4432), University of Lorraine, (Nancy 2), France
| | - H Kobayashi
- Faculty of Human-Environmental Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
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38
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Dick AS. The development of cognitive flexibility beyond the preschool period: An investigation using a modified Flexible Item Selection Task. J Exp Child Psychol 2014; 125:13-34. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2013] [Revised: 01/29/2014] [Accepted: 01/30/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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39
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Baez S, Marengo J, Perez A, Huepe D, Font FG, Rial V, Gonzalez‐Gadea ML, Manes F, Ibanez A. Theory of mind and its relationship with executive functions and emotion recognition in borderline personality disorder. J Neuropsychol 2014; 9:203-18. [DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2013] [Revised: 10/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Baez
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Buenos Aires Argentina
- Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina Buenos Aires Argentina
- UDP‐INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN) Diego Portales University Santiago Chile
| | - Juan Marengo
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
| | - Ana Perez
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
| | - David Huepe
- UDP‐INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN) Diego Portales University Santiago Chile
- Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience Universidad Diego Portales Santiago Chile
| | - Fernanda Giralt Font
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
| | - Veronica Rial
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
| | - María Luz Gonzalez‐Gadea
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Buenos Aires Argentina
- UDP‐INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN) Diego Portales University Santiago Chile
| | - Facundo Manes
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Buenos Aires Argentina
- UDP‐INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN) Diego Portales University Santiago Chile
- Australian Research Council (ACR) Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders New South Wales Australia
| | - Agustin Ibanez
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN) Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) & Institute of Neuroscience Favaloro University Buenos Aires Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) Buenos Aires Argentina
- UDP‐INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN) Diego Portales University Santiago Chile
- Universidad Autónoma del Caribe Barranquilla Colombia
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Frölander HE, Möller C, Marshall JD, Sundqvist A, Rönnåsen B, Falkensson L, Lyxell B. Theory-of-mind in adolescents and young adults with Alström syndrome. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2014; 78:530-6. [PMID: 24485176 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.12.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2013] [Revised: 12/19/2013] [Accepted: 12/20/2013] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The study focuses on theory-of-mind in adolescents and young adults with Alström syndrome (ALMS). ALMS, an autosomal recessive syndrome causes juvenile blindness, sensorineural hearing loss, cardiomyopathy, endocrinological disorders and metabolic dysfunction. Theory-of-mind (ToM) refers to the ability to impute mental states to one self and to others. Clinical observations have revealed an increased occurrence of deviances in mental state understanding in ALMS. In the present study ToM will be examined and related to working memory (WM), verbal ability and sensory loss. METHODS Twelve young individuals (16-37 years) with ALMS and 24 nondisabled individuals matched on age, gender and educational level participated. ToM was assessed by means of a multiple task that taxes the ability to understand thoughts and feelings of story characters'. WM was examined by means of a reading span task and verbal ability by means of a vocabulary test. RESULTS The ALMS group performed at significantly lower levels in ToM tasks and displayed a higher variability in performance than the control group. Individuals with ALMS and a relatively poor level performance provided fewer correct mental state inferences in ToM tasks than ALMS individuals with relatively higher performance levels. ALMS individuals with relatively high performance levels made as many correct inferences in ToM tasks as the control group, but their inferences were more often incomplete. Vocabulary skills and educational level, but not WM-capacity predicted ToM performance. Degree of deafblindness did not have an impact on ToM. Age of onset of visual loss but not hearing loss related to ToM. CONCLUSIONS The individuals with ALMS display a high degree of heterogeneity in terms of ToM, where some individuals reached performance levels comparable to nondisabled individuals. The results are discussed with respect to how cognitive and verbal abilities and factors related to the disability affect ToM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Erik Frölander
- Health Academy, Örebro University, Örebro SE 701 82, Sweden; Audiological Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro SE 701 85, Sweden; The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping, Sweden; Research on Hearing and Deafness (HEAD) Graduate School, Linköping, Sweden.
| | - Claes Möller
- Health Academy, Örebro University, Örebro SE 701 82, Sweden; Audiological Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro SE 701 85, Sweden; Department of Audiology, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro SE 701 85, Sweden; The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping, Sweden; The Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Linköping, Sweden
| | | | - Annette Sundqvist
- Department of Behavioral Science and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping SE 581 83, Sweden; The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping, Sweden; The Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Berit Rönnåsen
- Health Academy, Örebro University, Örebro SE 701 82, Sweden; Audiological Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro SE 701 85, Sweden; The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping, Sweden; Research on Hearing and Deafness (HEAD) Graduate School, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Lil Falkensson
- The Swedish National Expert Team for the Diagnoses of Deafblindness, National Resource Centre, Lund, SE 223 50, Sweden
| | - Björn Lyxell
- Department of Behavioral Science and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping SE 581 83, Sweden; The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping, Sweden; The Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Linköping, Sweden
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Fizke E, Barthel D, Peters T, Rakoczy H. Executive function plays a role in coordinating different perspectives, particularly when one’s own perspective is involved. Cognition 2014; 130:315-34. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2012] [Revised: 09/18/2013] [Accepted: 11/22/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Astle A, Kamawar D, Vendetti C, Podjarny G. When this means that: The role of working memory and inhibitory control in children’s understanding of representations. J Exp Child Psychol 2013; 116:169-85. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2012] [Revised: 05/07/2013] [Accepted: 05/08/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Cavallini E, Lecce S, Bottiroli S, Palladino P, Pagnin A. Beyond False Belief: Theory of Mind in Young, Young-Old, and Old-Old Adults. Int J Aging Hum Dev 2013; 76:181-98. [DOI: 10.2190/ag.76.3.a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) refers to humans' ability to recognize the existence of mental states, such as beliefs, emotions, and desires. The literature on ToM in aging and on the relationship between ToM and other cognitive functions, like executive functions, is not homogenous. The aim of the present study was to explore the course of ToM and to investigate the role of working memory, inhibition, and language on the possible age differences in ToM. To address these issues, we examined ToM using the Strange Stories task and executive function task in three age groups. Results showed that young adults outperform both old groups on the ToM stories. This difference remains significant also when controlling for working memory and inhibitory control. Our findings suggest a specific impairment in inferring mental states starting from 60 years of age that seems to be independent of changes in executive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sara Bottiroli
- Brain Connectivity Center, IRCCS Casimiro Mondino, Pavia, Italy
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Berthiaume VG, Shultz TR, Onishi KH. A constructivist connectionist model of transitions on false-belief tasks. Cognition 2013; 126:441-58. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2009] [Revised: 10/24/2012] [Accepted: 11/15/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Abstract
Navigating the social world requires the ability to maintain and manipulate information about people's beliefs, traits, and mental states. We characterize this capacity as social working memory (SWM). To date, very little research has explored this phenomenon, in part because of the assumption that general working memory systems would support working memory for social information. Various lines of research, however, suggest that social cognitive processing relies on a neurocognitive network (i.e., the "mentalizing network") that is functionally distinct from, and considered antagonistic with, the canonical working memory network. Here, we review evidence suggesting that demanding social cognition requires SWM and that both the mentalizing and canonical working memory neurocognitive networks support SWM. The neural data run counter to the common finding of parametric decreases in mentalizing regions as a function of working memory demand and suggest that the mentalizing network can support demanding cognition, when it is demanding social cognition. Implications for individual differences in social cognition and pathologies of social cognition are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghan L. Meyer
- Psychology Department, University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA, USA
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Clarke MT, Loganathan D, Swettenham J. Assessing true and false belief in young children with cerebral palsy through anticipatory gaze behaviours: a pilot study. Res Dev Disabil 2012; 33:2058-2066. [PMID: 22750668 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2012] [Revised: 05/04/2012] [Accepted: 05/07/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Children with a clinical description of cerebral palsy (CP) commonly experience cognitive and sensory difficulties that co-occur with motor impairment, and for some children this can include impairments in social communication. While research has begun to examine theory of mind abilities in children with CP, relatively little is known about social communication difficulties in this population. Assessing theory of mind abilities in children with CP using traditional procedures such as the classic Sally-Anne task can be problematic if performance is affected by physical difficulties in signalling responses and/or by cognitive and language demands inherent to the task itself. The central aim of this study therefore was to examine the potential of using a new action anticipation task and eye-tracking technique to assess implicit true and false belief understanding in four developmentally young children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who had little or no functional speech, and one language age matched child with Down syndrome who did not have severe motor impairment. All children in this study consistently demonstrated anticipatory gaze behaviours in the context of the true belief task. One child with CP and the child with Down syndrome demonstrated anticipatory gaze behaviours indicative of an ability to attribute false belief. The findings are discussed in relation to the application of action anticipation and eye-tracking paradigms in research and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael T Clarke
- Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom.
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Jha M. Theory of Mind Deficit in Schizophrenia and Associated Cognitive Functions. Psychol Stud 2012; 57:283-291. [DOI: 10.1007/s12646-012-0148-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
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Dennis M, Simic N, Gerry Taylor H, Bigler ED, Rubin K, Vannatta K, Gerhardt CA, Stancin T, Roncadin C, Yeates KO. Theory of mind in children with traumatic brain injury. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2012; 18:908-16. [PMID: 22846440 DOI: 10.1017/S1355617712000756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) involves thinking about mental states and intentions to understand what other people know and to predict how they will act. We studied ToM in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and age- and gender-matched children with orthopedic injuries (OI), using a new three-frame Jack and Jill cartoon task that measures intentional thinking separate from contingent task demands. In the key ToM trials, which required intentional thinking, Jack switched a black ball from one hat to another of a different color, but Jill did not witness the switch; in the otherwise identical non-ToM trials, the switch was witnessed. Overall accuracy was higher in children with OI than in those with TBI. Children with severe TBI showed a larger decline in accuracy on ToM trials, suggesting a specific deficit in ToM among children with severe TBI. Accuracy was significantly higher on trials following errors than on trials following correct responses, suggesting that all groups monitored performance and responded to errors with increased vigilance. TBI is associated with poorer intentional processing in school-age children and adolescents relative to peers with OI; furthermore, children with TBI are challenged specifically by intentional demands, especially when their injury is severe. (JINS, 2012, 19, 1-9).
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Abstract
Age differences in social cognition between adolescents and young adults were investigated. Two large groups of adolescents and young adults were given tasks of theory of mind and emotion recognition. In addition, to control for possibly related basic cognitive development, working memory, speed of processing, and verbal ability were assessed. A strong age effect was revealed across both measures of social cognition. Adolescents performed with a lower accuracy than adults. Further analyses indicated that those age differences remained significant even after controlling for basic cognitive abilities. Exploratory analyses indicated no influence of pubertal phase on social cognition. Results suggest ongoing development of social cognition across adolescence, independent of individual differences in more basic cognitive abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora C Vetter
- a Department of Psychology , Technische Universitaet Dresden , Dresden , Germany
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50
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Ford RM, Driscoll T, Shum D, Macaulay CE. Executive and theory-of-mind contributions to event-based prospective memory in children: Exploring the self-projection hypothesis. J Exp Child Psychol 2012; 111:468-89. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2011] [Revised: 10/11/2011] [Accepted: 10/12/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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