Mental Attribution Research Articles

How intelligent is a cephalopod? Lessons from comparative cognition.

The soft-bodied cephalopods including octopus, cuttlefish, and squid are broadly considered to be the most cognitively advanced group of invertebrates. Previous research has demonstrated that these large-brained molluscs possess a suite of cognitive attributes that are comparable to those found in some vertebrates, including highly developed perception, learning, and memory abilities. Cephalopods are also renowned for performing sophisticated feats of flexible behaviour, which have led to claims of complex cognition such as causal reasoning, future planning, and mental attribution. Hypotheses to explain why complex cognition might have emerged in cephalopods suggest that a combination of predation, foraging, and competitive pressures are likely to have driven cognitive complexity in this group of animals. Currently, it is difficult to gauge the extent to which cephalopod behaviours are underpinned by complex cognition because many of the recent claims are largely based on anecdotal evidence. In this review, we provide a general overview of cephalopod cognition with a particular focus on the cognitive attributes that are thought to be prerequisites for more complex cognitive abilities. We then discuss different types of behavioural flexibility exhibited by cephalopods and, using examples from other taxa, highlight that behavioural flexibility could be explained by putatively simpler mechanisms. Consequently, behavioural flexibility should not be used as evidence of complex cognition. Fortunately, the field of comparative cognition centres on designing methods to pinpoint the underlying mechanisms that drive behaviours. To illustrate the utility of the methods developed in comparative cognition research, we provide a series of experimental designs aimed at distinguishing between complex cognition and simpler alternative explanations. Finally, we discuss the advantages of using cephalopods to develop a more comprehensive reconstruction of cognitive evolution.

Increased Alexithymia But No Profound Emotion Processing Disorder in Burnout Syndrome.

Our objectives were to investigate alexithymia in burnout patients while controlling for depression and anxiety, as well as to evaluate whether alexithymia may be part of a profound emotional processing disorder or of a mentalization deficit. Alexithymia, depressive, and anxious feelings were compared in patients with burnout, depression, and healthy controls using an age-, sex-, and education-matched cross-sectional design (n = 60). A facial emotion recognition task and an emotional mentalizing performance test as well as physical and emotional violation experiences were conducted. Alexithymia was significantly increased in burnout patients, mediated by negative affect in this group. No impairment of facial emotion recognition or mental attribution could be shown. Burnout patients demonstrated slightly increased emotional abuse experiences in early childhood. The present results corroborate the supposition that alexithymia in burnout primarily depends on affect and may rise due to current strain and overload experience, rather than based on a profound developmental disorder in emotion processing.

Mental Health Attribution for Mexican-Origin Latinx and Non-Latinx Older Adults: A Latent Class Analysis.

Background and ObjectivesProviding appropriate and culturally sensitive care to the rapidly growing number of U.S. Latinx older adults with psychiatric conditions presents a major public health challenge. We know little about older Latinx adults’ perceived causes of mental health problems, offering clinicians limited insight to guide successful and culturally congruent treatment. Moreover, there is a paucity of mental health research examining heterogeneity in how Latinx individuals may attribute mental health symptoms. The present study sought to identify how Latinx and non-Latinx older adults attributed the sources of their mental health problems and how these types of attributions differ by ethnicity.Research Design and MethodsThis study analyzed data collected from a retrospective chart review and survey of 673 adults aged 55–95 years (430 Mexican origin and 244 non-Latinx) from a rural psychiatric outpatient clinic near the California–Mexico border. We conducted stratified latent class analysis (LCA) by race/ethnicity to explore the mental health attribution beliefs of Mexican-origin and non-Latinx clinic patients.ResultsDifferent LCA patterns for Mexican-origin Latinx versus non-Latinx groups were found. For non-Latinx adults, there was a class of individuals who attributed their mental health issues to social and financial problems. For Mexican-origin adults, there was a class of individuals who attributed their mental health issues to spiritual and/or supernatural factors, unaffected by acculturation level, depressive symptom severity, and time spent in the United States, but differing by gender. We found within-group heterogeneity: Not all Mexican-origin or non-Latinx older adults were alike in how they conceptualized their mental health.Discussion and ImplicationsMexican-origin Latinx and non-Latinx older adults attributed their mental health issues to different causes. More Mexican-origin older adults attributed their symptoms to spiritual causes, even after controlling for contextual factors. Further research is needed to determine whether attribution beliefs are affected by specific mental health diagnoses and other cultural factors not measured in this study.

The Acceptability and Effectiveness of an Online Intervention for Youth With Parents With a Mental Illness and/or Substance Use Issue

PurposeThere is a paucity of interventions for young adults who have parents with a mental health or substance use issue. The 6-week mi.spot (supportive, preventive, online, and targeted) professionally moderated, online intervention fills this gap. The purpose of this study was to present evidence of the acceptability, safety, and preliminary effectiveness of this intervention. MethodsIn response to social media advertising, 31 young people aged 18–25 years participated in mi.spot. Intervention effectiveness was examined via a single-group pre, post, and 6-week follow-up study design, measuring primary changes in depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being and secondary changes in coping, self-efficacy, social connectedness, attribution of responsibility, help-seeking, and mental health literacy. Acceptability and safety were determined by system use and participants' self-reports. ResultsOver the 6 weeks of the intervention, 28 (90.3%) of 31 participants used one or more components of the mi.spot intervention. Significant improvements were reported in depression and stress from preintervention to 6-week postintervention. Trend improvements were evident in well-being, social connection, and coping. No change was reported in general help-seeking, social connectedness, mental health literacy, self-efficacy, or attribution. No safety violations were reported. Participants reported mi.spot to be safe and acceptable. Conclusionsmi.spot appears to be safe and acceptable and shows promise as an effective online intervention to improve the mental health and well-being of young adults with parents with mental health and/or substance use issues.

Diversity and Inclusion in Psychiatry: The Pursuit of Health Equity.

The increasing diversity of America requires a workforce that is able to serve the mental health needs of individuals from multiple backgrounds, with a culturally proficient, inclusive, and affirming approach. To accomplish this, clinicians must be mindful of the multiple challenges presented by social determinants of mental health and access to care; the role of culture in wellness protection, mental illness expression, symptom attribution, and help seeking; the impact of provider factors, such as availability and cultural and linguistic congruence and proficiency; and the interaction of clinician and patient, who are with increasing frequency members of differing identity groups. The authors highlight the central role of clinical providers, academic institutions, and service organizations to advance health equity through training and commitment to increase high-quality services that are available, accessible, affordable, and acceptable, improving the care of all individuals.

Public attitudes towards depression and schizophrenia in an urban Turkish sample.

Stigma towards mental illness influences help-seeking behavior and prevents individuals with a mental illness from seeking the appropriate treatment for their condition. In Turkey, a shift from inpatient psychiatric mental health care towards a community-based, low-threshold system highlights the importance of understanding public attitudes towards the mentally ill. This study aims to underpin developments in mental health care through culturally sensitive research. Public stigma towards schizophrenia and depression is examined for the first time simultaneously in a community sample. Unlabeled case vignettes of either schizophrenia or depression as well as an assessment of mental illness attribution and the desire for social distance (SDS) were presented to an urban Turkish sample (N = 295). Analysis of variance revealed that attribution to mental illness determines significant levels of stigma for schizophrenia, however not for depression. Furthermore, desire for social distance (SDS) was significantly higher for the schizophrenia condition compared to depression. Depression and schizophrenia evoke different reactions within the Turkish population, specifically the attribution to mental illness increases stigma. This finding is discussed in light of the contact hypothesis, and furthermore contextualized within literature on familiarity with depression symptoms on the one hand, and perceived dangerousness and symptom severity of schizophrenia on the other hand. Implementation of timely and culturally sensitive adapted interventions within the ongoing reform of the Turkish mental health care system is recommended.

The Social Cover View: a Non-epistemic Approach to Mindreading

Mindreading capacity has been widely understood as the human ability to gain knowledge about the inner processes and states of others that bring about the behavior of these agents. This paper argues against this epistemic view of mindreading on the basis of different empirical studies in linguistics and social and developmental psychology: we are systematically biased in attributing mental states, and many everyday uses of mental ascription sentences do not reflect an epistemic function in our social interactions. We introduce an alternative view of mental ascriptions, the social cover view, which is consistent with the evidence. The social cover view holds that the main function of mental ascriptions is to cover the social status and reputation of an agent rather than to gain knowledge about her inner processes and states. Finally, we discuss two possible objections to our proposal.

Parent–child mentalizing in pediatric epilepsy

BackgroundChild psychopathology involves inappropriate or biased attributions of others' mental states (mentalizing), and parents' assessment of their children's mentalizing significantly predicts the latter's psychosocial outcomes. Behavioral difficulties are frequent in children with epilepsy (CWE) yet biased mentalizing and parental accuracy in understanding their child's mental states reasoning have not been addressed. MethodsThis study compared the performance of 34 CWE aged 9 to 16 years with 67 language age-matched controls on a biased mentalizing task. The task required children to infer on the mental states of peers in stories involving social scenarios. Responses were scored as positive, negative, or rational mentalizing attributions. To measure parental accuracy, a parent version was administered in the patient group that required a parent to identify their child's responses correctly. Relationships with the child's cognitive, behavioral, and epilepsy-related factors were examined. ResultsPatients made greater negative mental states attributions compared with control children. This negative mentalizing bias was accurately identified by parents and was associated with children's behavioral problems. Parental accuracy was reduced for patients with lower cognitive abilities. Parents did not accurately identify an overly positive (OP) bias in their child's mental states attributions. Children's positive response bias correlated with their lower executive function (EF) skills. Epilepsy factors predicted cognitive deficits but not biased mentalizing or behavioral problems. ConclusionBiased mentalizing characterizes social cognition in CWE with behavioral problems. Further investigation of the mentalizing biases and parental awareness of children's mental states reasoning is required to fully understand the greater psychosocial and behavioral difficulties found in CWE.

Mental attribution is not sufficient or necessary to trigger attentional orienting to gaze

Attention can be shifted in the direction that another person is looking, but the role played by an observer's mental attribution to the looker is controversial. And whether mental attribution to the looker is sufficient to trigger an attention shift is unknown. The current study introduces a novel paradigm to investigate this latter issue. An actor is presented on video turning his head to the left or right before a target appears, randomly, at the gazed-at or non-gazed at location. Time to detect the target is measured. The standard finding is that target detection is more efficient at the gazed-at than the nongazed-at location, indicating that attention is shifted to the gazed-at location. Critically, in the current study, an actor is wearing two identical masks – one covering his face and the other the back of his head. Thus, after the head turn, participants are presented with the profile of two faces, one looking left and one looking right. For a gaze cuing effect to emerge, participants must attribute a mental state to the actor – as looking through one mask and not the other. Over the course of four experiments we report that when mental attribution is necessary, a shift in social attention does not occur (i.e., mental attribution is not sufficient to produce a social attention effect); and when mental attribution is not necessary, a shift in social attention does occur. Thus, mental attribution is neither sufficient nor necessary for the occurrence of an involuntary shift in social attention. The present findings constrain future models of social attention that wish to link gaze cuing to mental attribution.

La Perspectiva de Segunda Persona de la Atribución de Estados Mentales: Una Revisión Sistemática de su Estado Actual de Desarrollo

In psychology and philosophy of mind, the problem of knowledge of other minds is a field of rich disputes. Running counter to the perspectives of first- and third-person mental attribution, which assume that minds are opaque and that access to them is inferential, the second-person perspective postulates the existence of a non-representational way of knowing other minds, which is presumed to emerge within early communicative exchanges in the form of natural, basic, and direct emotional involvement. In this systematic review article, 57 philosophy or psychology manuscripts were selected with the aim of analyzing and comparing them. This study makes it possible to assess: (a) the current status of the second person perspective, (b) its main findings in developmental psychology and psychopathology, (c) the methodological discussions that stem from its assumption, and (d) a set of internal and external criticisms and questions formulated with respect to it. It is concluded that the second person perspective has a heuristic value and would be remarkably enriched if it carefully addressed the criticisms leveled against it.

The relationship between causal beliefs and desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia and depression: Results from a survey of young Ghanaian adults

This study examines attitudes of the young Ghanaian population regarding the relationship between causal beliefs and desire for social distance from people with symptoms of schizophrenia and depression. Respondents (n = 507) were presented with depression and schizophrenia symptoms using unlabeled case vignettes. A factor analysis examined three factors for causal beliefs, and multiple linear regression analysis on the desire for social distance was conducted.The desire for social distance was higher when symptoms in both case-vignettes were attributed to childhood adversities and overall lower when respondents lived in northern regions of Ghana. Only, for vignettes depicting schizophrenia, mental illness attribution was associated with more desire for social distance. Significant gender effects were found for depression vignettes only: female respondents reported significantly more desire for social distance, whereas female gendered vignettes were associated with less desire for social distance by respondents of both genders.

Mental Attribution in Interaction: How the Second Person Perspective dissolves the Problem of Other Minds

In this paper, we will address the question of the impact of the second person perspective of psychological attribution on the traditional problem of knowing other minds. With that purpose in mind, we will introduce the notion of a second-personal perspective of mental attribution within the context of the classical problem of other minds, and discuss the epistemic and ontological implications that follow once the second person perspective is honored. In particular, we will examine how its recognition transforms the traditional problem of other minds, both in its epistemological, ontological and semantical dimensions, and offers a way to go beyond the objective/subjective dichotomy of Modern Philosophy. A proper notion of intersubjectivity, we will argue, is not a simple addition to this dichotomy, but it offers the way to get over the traditional philosophical problems that follow from this modern philosophical paradigm.

Executive and social-cognitive determinants of environmental dependency syndrome in behavioral frontotemporal dementia.

Environmental dependency syndrome (EDS), including utilization (UB) and imitation (IB) behaviors, is often reported in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). These behaviors are commonly attributed to executive dysfunction. However, inconsistent associations between EDS and poor executive performance has led to an alternative "social hypothesis," instead implicating patients' misinterpretation of the examiner's intention. We investigated the possible explanatory cognitive mechanisms of EDS in bvFTD by relating UB and IB to performance on tests of executive functioning and theory of mind (ToM). This study analyzed retrospective data of 32 bvFTD patients. Data included scores of UB and IB, various executive measures, and ToM assessment using the faux pas test, from which we extracted a mental attribution score. Of the patients, 15.6% and 40.6% exhibited UB and IB, respectively. We conducted an automatic linear modeling analysis with executive and mental attribution measures as predictor variables, and UB and IB sequentially considered as target variables. ToM mental attribution score, visual abstraction and flexibility measures from the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and motor sequence performance significantly (corrected ps < .05) predicted IB. No executive or ToM measures significantly predicted UB. These findings reveal a complex interaction between executive dysfunction and mental attribution deficits influencing the prevalence of EDS in bvFTD. Further investigation is required to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mental toughness and attributions of failure in high performing male and female swimmers

This study examined the relationship between mental toughness and failure attributions in high level swimmers. Participants were 80, (Mage=21.64, S.D: 4.96 years) regional and national level swimmers who were currently competing. Participants were asked to recall a perceived failure in the previous four weeks, fill in the controllability, stability, globality and universality attribution measure (CSGU) and eight weeks later complete the mental toughness questionnaire-48 (MTQ48). Multiple regression analysis found a significant effect of mental toughness and stability on controllability (ΔR2 = 0.042, p = 0.021) when the generalizability dimensions were added to the model. Separate multiple regression analysis for both genders, revealed that males mental toughness and stability predicted controllability (ΔR2 = 0.200, p = 0.029) compared to females mental toughness and universality (ΔR2 = 0.080, p = 0.027) predicting controllability. In conclusion the present study found evidence for mental toughness predicting controllability attributions following competitive failure for a group of high level male and female swimmers. Gender differences were found in how the generalizability attributions predicting controllability. Findings are discussed in terms of mental toughness and the generalizability dimensions predicting controllability attributions in response to competitive failure and suggestions to examine the relationship further.

Attribution Through the Layperson's Lens: Development and Preliminary Validation of an Inclusive, International Measure of Beliefs About the Causes of Mental Illness

ABSTRACTAttributions, or beliefs about the causes of mental illness, have traditionally been dichotomized based on their locus, controllability, specificity, and stability. However, scholars have introduced an alternative lay beliefs model identifying attributions related to specific biological, social, and spiritual attributions. This research describes the potential benefits of this alternative model and outlines the validation of a comprehensive, international measure of lay beliefs, the Mental Illness Attribution Questionnaire (MIAQ). Validation included piloting, qualitative rating, confirmatory factor analysis, and evaluation of internal consistency, convergent validity, and test–retest reliability with a sample of 680 U.S.-based international students representing 94 nations. Scales measured attributions related to supernatural forces, social stress, lifestyle, health, substance use, heredity, and personal weakness. This structure was tested across 3 conditions—schizophrenia, depression, and alcoholism—demonstrating strong psychometric properties. The lay beliefs model appears to closely reflect the manner in which laypersons attribute cause for mental health problems, making it a natural fit for community-based research. Further, its validation with 2 international samples supports its utility in diverse populations. Together, the results support the MIAQ as a valid and reliable measure of mental illness attribution with potential for examining help-seeking and stigmatizing behavior across cultures.

Mental disorder between naturalism and normativism

AbstractWorries about the potential medicalization of social and moral problems has propelled the debate on the nature of mental disorder, with normativists insisting that psychiatric classification is inherently value‐laden and naturalists maintaining that a purely descriptive account of disease is possible. In recent work, some authors take a different path, accepting that the concepts of disease and mental disorder are value‐laden but maintaining that this does not prevent objective truths regarding mental disorder attribution. This paper explores two such accounts and the important steps they provide toward rethinking the nature and metaphysical status of mental disorder. The challenges raised in this paper are meant to contribute to the further development of this stimulating work.

Empathy networks in the parental brain and their long-term effects on children's stress reactivity and behavior adaptation

Parental empathy is a key component of sensitive parenting that supports children's social adaptation throughout life. Consistent with a two dissociable network perspective on empathy, we measured within- and between-network integrity of two empathy-related networks in the parental brain as predictors of children's social outcomes across the first six years of life. We focused on two empathy networks; embodied simulation, which supports parents' capacity to resonate with infant state and emotions and implicates cingulo-insulary structures, and mentalizing, which underpins parents' theory-of-mind and mental attributions via prefrontal-temporo-parietal circuit. We followed 87 first-time parents across the first six years of family formation, including heterosexual and homosexual parents. In infancy, parents' brain response to own versus unfamiliar infant stimuli was imaged; in preschool, children's cortisol production and emotion regulation were assessed; and at six years, children's behavior problems were reported. Parents' intra- and inter- network integrity increased when viewing their own infant compared to unfamiliar infant, suggesting that attachment stimuli increase network coherence in the parental brain. Functional connectivity within the parent's embodied simulation network in infancy predicted lower child cortisol production while inter-network connectivity among the embodied simulation and mentalizing networks was associated with more advanced child emotion regulation skills in preschool and lower internalizing problems at six years. Children's emotion regulation capacities mediated the link between inter-network integrity in the parental brain and internalizing symptoms. Our findings, the first to demonstrate that integrity of empathy-related networks in the parental brain shape children's long-term stress reactivity and emotional adaptation, highlight the brain component of the parental empathy attribute, suggest that increased coherence within the "parental caregiving network" marks a key feature of parent-infant attachment, and contribute to discussion on biobehavioral mechanisms underpinning the cross-generation transmission of human stress reactivity and sociality.

The knowns and unknowns of boredom: a review of the literature.

Despite the ubiquitous nature of boredom, the definition, function, and correlates of boredom are still poorly understood. In this review, we summarize the "known" (consistent evidence) and "unknown" (inconsistent evidence) correlates of boredom. We show that boredom is consistently related to negative affect, task-unrelated thought, over-estimation of elapsed time, reduced agency, as well as to over- and under-stimulation. Activation of the default mode network was consistent across the few available fMRI studies, while the recruitment of other brain areas such as the hippocampus and anterior insular cortex, was a notable but less consistent correlate of boredom. Other less consistent correlates of boredom are also reviewed, such as the level of arousal and the mental attributions given to fluctuations of attention. Finally, we identify two critical factors that may contribute to current inconsistencies in the literature and may hamper further progress in the field. First, there is relatively little consistency in the way in which boredom has been operationalized across studies to date, with operationalizations of boredom ranging from negative affect paired with under-stimulation, over-stimulation, to negative affect paired witha lack of goal-directed actions. Second, preliminary evidence suggests the existence of distinct types of boredom (e.g., searching vs. apathetic) that may have different and sometimes even opposing correlates. Adopting a more precise and consistent way of operationalizing boredom, and arriving at an empirically validated taxonomy of different types of boredom, could serve to overcome the current roadblocks to facilitate further progress in our scientific understanding of boredom.

Is God just a big person? Children's conceptions of God across cultures and religious traditions.

The present research examines the influence of intuitive cognitive domain and religion on the God concepts of children growing up in religious traditions that present God in ways varying from abstract to concrete. In Study 1, we compared children from a Latter-Day Saints (LDS) background with those from mainstream Christian (MC) backgrounds in the United States. In contrast to MC theology that holds that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and disembodied, LDS theology depicts God as embodied. In Study 1, 3- to 7-year-olds from LDS and MC backgrounds were asked about supernatural mental and immaterial attributes of God, a ghost, a dad, and a bug. In Study 2, children ages 3-7 from Muslim and Catholic backgrounds in Indonesia were presented with a variant of Study 1. Taken together, the two studies examine the God concepts of children raised in three different religious traditions with God concepts that range from highly abstract to concrete. Overall, we find that the youngest children, regardless of religion, distinguish God from humans and hold similar ideas of God, attributing more supernatural psychological than physical properties. Older children's conceptions of God are more in line with the theological notions of their traditions. The results suggest that children are not simply anthropomorphic in their God concepts, but early on understand supernatural agents as having special mental properties and they continue to learn about differences between agents, influenced by their religious traditions. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject Research on children's God concepts has established that children begin to distinguish the mind of God from that of humans by around age 4-5. The main debate in the field is whether children start out thinking about God in anthropomorphic terms or whether they start out with an undifferentiated idea of agents' minds as all having access to knowledge. Research on children's understanding of immortality has demonstrated that around the same age that children begin differentiating God's mind from human minds, they also differentiate between the two in terms of life-cycle attributes, attributing immortality to God, but not to humans. What does this study add? The present research contributes to the field by examining the God concepts of children from different religious backgrounds. These religious backgrounds have theologies with God concepts that range from physically concrete (Latter-Day Saints or Mormonism) to highly abstract (Islam). We also include Christian samples for comparison. The present research examines children's attributions to different supernatural agents including God, but also a ghost and an angel. The present studies look at children's attribution of not only supernatural mental attributions, but also the supernatural physical attributions of immateriality and omnipresence that have been understudied.

Modeling the Mental Attribution of JSAR Team

The JSAR (Joint Search And Rescue) is often operated under the complex environment, and the automatic planning capability of the JSAR mission is one of the key points of mission success. The decision based on the mental attribution can improve the decision capability under uncertain, complex rescue environment. In this paper, the composition of organization of the JSAR team is presented according to the requirements of the JSAR mission, firstly; and then the mental attribution of the JSAR team are modeled according to the information, motivation and the capability, which include the Rescue belief, Mission goal and the operating plan; finally, the dynamic attributes of the JSAR team mental states, such as the Rescue belief revision, mission combat goal and operating plan updating etc., in the light of the rescue mission, situation and the capability, etc.