Abstract
Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others in order to explain and predict social behavior. Recent research in this area has shown a decline in ToM abilities associated with normal aging that is of a moderate magnitude or greater. Very few studies have investigated whether it is possible to improve older adults’ ToM abilities. The present study was designed to address this gap in the literature by evaluating the impact of a ToM training on practiced and transfer tasks. We provided older adults with a variety of activities designed to facilitate the generalization of benefits to other ToM-demanding tasks. Participants were 63 healthy older adults, native Italian speakers (Mage = 71.44, SD = 5.24, age range: 63–81 years). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the ToM training (age range: 63–81 years) and the physical-conversation training (age range: 64–81 years). Training effects were measured using the strange stories (practiced task) and the animation task (transfer task). Results revealed the efficacy of the training in producing improvements on practiced but also on transfer tasks.
Highlights
Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others in order to explain and predict social behavior (Carruthers and Smith, 1996; Baron-Cohen et al, 2000)
At the pre-test, ToM Training Effects In order to analyze the effect of the training, a mixed-design ANOVA was conducted on each task, with time as the within-subjects factor and training group (ToM and physical-conversation) as the between-subjects factor
This study evaluated the effects of a ToM training program based on conversations about mental states and on a dynamic approach in healthy older adults
Summary
Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others in order to explain and predict social behavior (Carruthers and Smith, 1996; Baron-Cohen et al, 2000). Despite the fact that many studies have shown an age-related decline in mental state understanding and have highlighted the importance of ToM for social relationships (Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007; Krach et al, 2010), to date only one study has tested the possibility to train older adults on ToM. It is a study by Lecce et al (2015) on a non-clinical sample.
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