Abstract
We previously reported finding that performance was impaired on four out of five theory of mind (ToM) tests in a group of 21 individuals diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (pScz), relative to a non-clinical group of 29 individuals (Scherzer et al., 2012). Only the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test did not distinguish between groups. A principal components analysis revealed that the results on the ToM battery could be explained by one general ToM factor with the possibility of a latent second factor. As well, the tests were not equally sensitive to the pathology. There was also overmentalization in some ToM tests and under-mentalisation in others. These results led us to postulate that there is more than one component to ToM. We hypothesized that correlations between the different EF measures and ToM tests would differ sufficiently within and between groups to support this hypothesis. We considered the relationship between the performance on eight EF tests and five ToM tests in the same diagnosed and non-clinical individuals as in the first study. The ToM tests shared few EF correlates and each had its own best EF predictor. These findings support the hypothesis of multiple ToM components.
Highlights
Research in social cognition in Scz has revealed reliable and large impairments in understanding first and second order false beliefs (Bora et al, 2009a; Bozikas et al, 2011), understanding indirect messages (Corcoran et al, 1995; Greig et al, 2004), inferring affect based on photos of the area around the eyes (Baron-Cohen et al, 2001) identifying irony and faux pas Theory of mind and executive functions (Shamay-Tsoory et al, 2005; Chung et al, 2014), and making in support of a multi- component theory of mind (ToM)
The present study is an attempt to reexamine the link between ToM and EF, in a group of patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia to determine if different EF measures, are good predictors of performance on a battery of ToM tests and if the ToM tests share the same relationship with the EF measures
We first predicted that some ToM measures would be more sensitive and better discriminate between the paranoid schizophrenia (pScz) and nonclinical group and this hypothesis was confirmed
Summary
Theory of mind (ToM) is but one component of social cognition Green et al (2008). ToM is defined as the ability to attribute, correctly or incorrectly, beliefs, knowledge, feelings or intentions to others, in order to understand and predict their behavior (Perner, 1991; Perner and Lang, 2000; Green et al, 2008). Second order false beliefs correlated with letter-number sequencing, WCST perseveration and categories, but not with Digit Span backward These results could lead one to consider that there are likely different ToM components as different ToM tests load differentially on EF tests. The present study is an attempt to reexamine the link between ToM (faux pas, lies, indirect messages, inferring facial expressions of emotions etc) and EF (cognitive flexibility, deductive reasoning, etc), in a group of patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (pScz) to determine if different EF measures, are good predictors of performance on a battery of ToM tests and if the ToM tests share the same relationship with the EF measures. We predict that correlations between the different EF measures and ToM tests, will differ sufficiently within and between groups to support the contention that there is more than one component to ToM
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