Assessment Of Social Cognition Research Articles

Theory of mind, empathy and eye gaze strategies during observation of a work of art: neurodegenerative pathologies.

Theory of mind (ToM) and empathy are severely impaired in the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and more mildly in Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's diseases (PD). Such impairments are associated with behavioural disorders. Modification of visual scanning strategies of complex visual scenes is also found in these pathologies. We hypothesised that these patients applied atypical gaze strategies when observing social events, which does not allow them to properly process social cues and results in the production of erroneous inferences and lack of empathy towards others. Fifty-five participants were divided into four groups: five bvFTD subjects, 19 AD subjects, 17 PD subjects and 14 matched control subjects. ToM and empathy were assessed by eye movement recording (eye-tracking) and by a questionnaire during a painting observation. Scores obtained were compared between each group and to social cognition reference tests and correlated to the NeuroPsychiatric Inventory. Our paradigm was suitable for assessing cognitive ToM while it lacked sensitivity for empathy assessment. Severe ToM impairment was highlighted in bvFTD, while milder difficulties were observed in AD and for PD. Subjects with bvFTD and AD produced erroneous inferences from cognitive mental states. ToM performances were linked to visual exploration strategies of the painting. Atypical visual observation was highlighted in the bvFTD and AD groups causing a time delay in taking the perspective of the other person. Finally, we highlighted that social cognition performances, gaze strategies and behavioural disorders were correlated. Observing a painting in association with eye-tracking technology can be a good support for social cognition assessment. We highlighted a link between atypical visual scanning strategies, ToM impairment and behavioural disorders in these pathologies. ToM skills could be improved by training in the search for visual social cues. Therefore, this kind of remediation could have positive effects on behavioural disorders.

Burnout and Its Relation to Emotion Dysregulation and Social Cognition among Female Interns and Undergraduate Dental Students at King Khalid University

Background: Burnout is a state of vital exhaustion that has a high global prevalence among dental professionals. Yet the early diagnosis of this syndrome is challenging due to its multidimensional nature. Aim: To assess burnout and its relation to emotional dysregulation and social cognition among undergraduate dental students. Methods: We mailed 148 self-administered questionnaires to all interns and undergraduate dental students belonging to the College of Dentistry’s female campus at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was designed comprising three measuring instruments of psychological inventories to assess work-related stress, namely, burnout (Copenhagen burnout inventory questionnaire (CBI)), emotional dysregulation (emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ)), and social cognition (interpersonal reactivity index (IRI)). We examined the difference in burnout between two cohorts (interns and undergraduates) using Student’s ‘t’ test and the association between emotional regulation/social cognition domains using Pearson’s correlation. Results: Among the participants, around 70% obtained higher scores than the cut-off points for personal and work-related domains in both groups. There was no statistically significant difference in burnout domain between the two cohorts (p > 0.05; Cohen d < 0.3). A negative correlation existed between burnout and emotion regulation, i.e., higher burnout score is associated with lesser cognitive reappraisal and more expressive suppression (CBI—personal burnout r = −0.251; r = −0.220 respectively). Social cognitive scores had various associations among interns and undergraduates, with personal distress being significantly associated with greater burnout levels among both groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The present study revealed significantly elevated burnout levels among both interns and undergraduate students. Emotional dysfunction and social cognition assessment can be a valuable adjunct in identifying this erosive syndrome. Early recognition and primordial prevention targeting burnout are strongly recommended.

Hypermentalizing and Borderline Personality Disorder: A Meta-Analytic Review.

A hypermentalizing impairment, or tendency to overattribute mental states to others, has been identified among individuals with borderline personality disorder. However, associations between hypermentalizing and other disorders call into question the specificity of this impairment to borderline personality disorder. This study aimed to evaluate the relative strength of the association between hypermentalizing and borderline personality disorder compared with other disorders and to assess the impact of moderators on the relationship between hypermentalizing and psychopathology. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 36 studies (N=4,188 people) to investigate the relative strength of the association between hypermentalizing and borderline personality disorder, compared with other disorders, and to assess the impact of moderators on this relationship. The Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition, an ecologically valid experimental instrument, was used to measure hypermentalizing. Results indicated support for an association between psychopathology and hypermentalizing (r=0.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.17 to 0.31), but the association was not significantly stronger for borderline personality disorder (r=0.26, 95% CI=0.12 to 0.39) than for other disorders (r=0.24, 95% CI=0.14 to 0.33). Neither age nor gender significantly moderated the association between psychopathology and hypermentalizing. Hypermentalizing may be related to psychopathology in general rather than borderline personality disorder in particular. The findings are discussed in view of the possibility that features of borderline personality disorder associated with other psychopathology may explain the overall association between psychopathology and hypermentalizing. Clinical implications for mentalization-based treatment and concerns that the measurement used for hypermentalization may be too narrow and not representative of variations in functioning across cultures and race-ethnicity also are discussed.

Affective and cognitive theory of mind in posttraumatic stress, major depressive, and somatic symptom disorders: Association with childhood trauma.

Childhood trauma constitutes a major risk factor for adult psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and somatic symptom disorder (SSD). One potential mechanism linking childhood trauma to adult psychopathology may be alterations in theory of mind (ToM). Given the lack of transdiagnostic studies on the association between childhood trauma and ToM, further research is needed to elucidate whether and how childhood trauma relates to ToM impairments across and within diagnostic boundaries. A cross-sectional study design was applied. A total of 137 individuals with varying levels of childhood trauma took part in this study, encompassing individuals with PTSD (n = 33), MDD (n = 33), SSD (n = 36), and healthy volunteers (HVs; n = 35). To assess ToM performance and childhood trauma, the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition was administered along with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Only individuals with PTSD, but not individuals with MDD or SSD, showed a worse ToM performance compared to HVs. In the whole sample, childhood trauma correlated negatively with ToM performance. Exploratory group-specific analyses revealed higher levels of childhood trauma to be associated with more excessive ToM errors in individuals with SSD, and notably with an enhanced ToM performance in individuals with MDD. Our results indicate associations between childhood trauma and ToM impairments in a large, transdiagnostic sample. Provided replication in future studies, our findings suggest ToM capacities as a promising treatment target for individuals exposed to severe childhood trauma, at least or particularly with a diagnosis of PTSD. Our results suggest that individuals with a history of severe childhood trauma, at least or particularly with a clinical diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder, may benefit from therapeutic approaches targeting theory of mind capacities. Our findings indicate that higher levels of childhood trauma may be linked to a specific 'hypermentalizing' bias in somatic symptom disorder. Our findings further point towards an association between higher levels of childhood trauma and a heightened - rather than a diminished - sensitivity towards interpersonal cues in major depressive disorder. Provided further confirmatory evidence, our findings may support diagnosis-specific approaches in ameliorating theory of mind abilities in individuals with different mental disorders and a history of severe childhood trauma.

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Iowa Gambling Task and Interpersonal Reactivity Index: Normative Data in an Italian Population Sample.

Social cognition and executive deficits are frequent in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Yet, there is a paucity of standardized domain-specific psychometric tools for the assessment of complex decision-making, social cognition (i.e., Theory of Mind), and empathy. To this aim, this study intended at providing normative data in an Italian population sample for the Iowa Gambling Task, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The Iowa Gambling Task, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index were administered to 462 healthy Italian participants aged between 18 and 91years, considering demographic factors. A confirmatory factor analysis was run to test for unidimensionality. Normative values were derived by means of the Equivalent Scores method. Education predicted all tests' scores, age influenced scores at the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, gender predicted empathic abilities only. The three tests did not underpin a unidimensional structure. The present work provides demographically adjusted Italian normative data for a set of tests assessing real-life decision-making, emotion recognition and empathy, filling a gap within II-level, domain-specific, neuropsychological testing. For the first time, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index is proposed as an adjuvant neuropsychological tool, while the standardization of the Iowa Gambling Task offers a new scoring system for advantageous/disadvantageous choices.

Supplemental Material for Revisiting the Association Between Self-Reported Empathy and Behavioral Assessments of Social Cognition

Supplemental Material for Revisiting the Association Between Self-Reported Empathy and Behavioral Assessments of Social Cognition

Some considerations for social cognition assessment in children

AbstractSocial cognition is a very important group of neurocognitive processes involved especially in social functioning; currently, the amount of research on this topic is increasing and suggests some considerations about its assessment, particularly in the child population. This article presents some of these considerations focussed on the theoretical models, the type of instrument and some suggestions for the assessment processes. Specifically, four considerations are proposed: to be clear about the purpose of the assessment, to identify the domains of social cognition and the instruments to assess them, to consider the approach to the assessment and to analyse the role of the cultural and social context, all these keeping in mind the children's benefit.

COVID‐19 pandemic: Quantifying the effects of the first lockdown on behavioral and cognitive measures using TASIC

BackgroundFollowing the rapid spread of the COVID‐19 virus throughout Quebec, the TRIAD cohort, a longitudinal observational study, evaluated the effects of COVID‐19 on it’s aging and vulnerable population and their caregivers. This study aims at investigating the behavioural and psychological effects of COVID‐19 and social isolation on the aging population. The TRIAD Assessment of Social Isolation and Cognition (TASIC) was developed to assess these effects on participants of observational trials.MethodPre‐pandemic data including, demographical information, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and a Social Support Questionnaire, were collected during in‐person visits and take‐home questionnaires. Following the onset of COVID‐19, TASIC was created to include additional COVID‐19 specific scales developed by Dr. Rosa‐Neto and Dr. King that include Knowledge of COVID‐19 scale, the Montreal Assessment of Stress related to COVID‐19 (MASC), as well as the Impact of Events Scale (IESR), the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI), the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ) for COVID‐19. Assessments were conducted via telephone interviews with TRIAD participants (n=292) and their informants (n=243) by eight trained research assistants from April through June 2020. All participants enrolled in previous TRIAD studies, deemed eligible through detailed screening criteria were contacted.ResultAs a result of this study, and previous work done by the cohort, a culmination of information is available, with 90% of TRIAD participants having completed the COVID‐19 study also having plasma collected. 80% of participants from the COVID‐19 study have PET imaging using [18F]AZD4694 and [18F]MK6240 and MRI sequencing.ConclusionThe COVID‐19 study conducted by TRIAD provides a unique opportunity to understand the effects of a global pandemic on our aging population as well as caregiver burden. This data, in conjunction with other measures available in the cohort, can make important strides in finding ways to help, and better understand those most impacted by the crisis.

Theory of mind, empathy and eye gaze strategies during an artwork observation in neurodegenerative pathologies

Theory of mind (ToM) and empathy are severely impaired in the behavioral-variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and more mildly in Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's diseases (PD). Such impairments are associated with behavioral disorders (BD). Modification of visual scanning strategies of complex visual scenes is also found in these pathologies. We hypothesized that these patients applied atypical gaze strategies when observing social events, which would not allow to properly process social cues and would result in the production of erroneous inferences and lack of empathy towards others. Fifty-five participants were divided into four groups: five bvFTD, 19AD, 17PD and 14matched controls subjects. ToM and empathy were assessed by eye movements recording (eye-tracking) and by a questionnaire during a painting observation. Scores obtained were compared between each group and to social cognition reference tests, and correlated to the NeuroPsychiatric Inventory. Our paradigm was suitable for assessing cognitive ToM while it lacked sensitivity for empathy assessment. Severe ToM impairment was highlighted in bvFTD while milder difficulties were observed in AD and for PD. bvFTD and AD groups produced erroneous inferences from cognitive mental states. ToM performances were linked to visual exploration strategies of the painting. Atypical visual observation was highlighted in bvFTD and AD groups causing a time shift in perspective taking of the character. Finally, we have highlighted that social cognition performances, gaze strategies and BD were correlated. The observation of a painting in association with eye-tracking technology can be a good support for social cognition assessment. We highlighted a link between atypical visual scanning strategies, ToM impairment and BD in these pathologies. ToM skills could be improved by training in the search for visual social cues. Therefore, this kind of remediation could have positive effects on BD.

Exploring Influences on Theory of Mind Impairment in Opioid Dependent Patients.

Theory of mind (ToM) is an aspect of social cognition impaired in different addictive disorders, including opioid addiction. This study aimed at replicating ToM deficits in opioid dependent patients undergoing opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) and exploring the influence of substance use related variables, executive functions and childhood maltreatment on ToM in opioid dependent patients. 66 opioid dependent patients were tested using the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) and compared with the data of healthy controls. Furthermore, the opioid dependent patients underwent testing for executive functions and filled in the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Performance on the MASC was significantly poorer in the opioid dependence group than in the control group, even when recent additional drug use and psychiatric comorbidities were controlled for. No correlations were found between ToM and substance use related factors. Aspects of ToM performance in opioid dependent patients correlated significantly with different EF domains. ToM correlated significantly with the CTQ scales for physical maltreatment. The results confirm impaired ToM in opioid dependent patients and highlight executive functions and childhood maltreatment as influential factors. The lack of associations between ToM and substance use related variables and the association with childhood maltreatment suggest that ToM impairments might be a risk factor predating substance abuse.

Relationship between psychopathic traits and performance on the Mini Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment in incarcerated males.

Psychopathy is a constellation of personality traits such as callousness, manipulativeness, and impulsivity, and these traits often co-occur with antisocial behavior. Researchers and clinicians have posited that these traits may be associated with impairments in orbitofrontal cortex functioning, but researchers have rarely assessed this using clinical neuropsychological assessments. In a sample of 87 male inmates in a county jail, this study examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and performance on the Mini Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (Mini-SEA), an assessment of orbitofrontal cortex functioning. Psychopathy scores (total or factor) were not correlated with Mini-SEA performance. Potential reasons for our null findings and study limitations are discussed. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Psychopathic traits were not associated with performance on a neuropsychological measure assessing orbitofrontal cortex functioning. Deficits in OFC functioning observed in psychopathy may be different in nature, or less severe, than those observed in patients with frontotemporal dementia, who perform poorly on this measure.

The conceptualization and assessment of social cognition in personality and common mental disorders.

Social Cognition is a crucial transdiagnostic construct with clinical and functional relevance across a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. Most research has focused on schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders and has informed frameworks for assessing social cognition in schizophrenia. The current review focuses on the more recent developments pertaining to personality and common mental disorders (PCMDs). Two main questions are addressed: 1. What are the important domains and patterns of social cognition impairments among the personality and common mental disorders? 2. What are the trends in the assessment of social cognition among personality and common mental disorders? We synthesize research findings on the conceptualization of SC and the application of these frameworks for assessment with PCMDs. We have outlined a typology of criteria and guidelines for selecting and developing measures of SC in the PCMDs. We conclude that there is a need for a reconceptualization of social cognition or PCMDs with a focus on higher-order processes and suggest that mentalization could be a suitable framework to understand and examine social cognition in the PCMDs. Future efforts to develop, adapt and use more complex, nuanced, sensitive, and culturally valid measures of social cognition in interpersonal contexts can aid the detection of subtle, context-dependent, and dynamic impairments across these disorders. Social cognition is a promising transdiagnostic construct and warrants more conceptual clarity and research on the varied patterns of impairments across disorders.

Longitudinal assessment of social cognition in infants born preterm using eye‐tracking and parent–child play

AbstractPreterm birth is associated with reduced social attention in infancy. Are these early social attention differences linked to later interactive ability? This study draws on a well‐characterized preterm cohort in whom we have previously demonstrated a reduced attentional preference for social information in infancy, using eye‐tracking. States of engagement during parent–child play at 60 months were coded for 36 preterm‐ and 31 term‐born children. We also repeated the eye‐tracking assessment of social attention previously performed in infancy and evaluated neurodevelopment via the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Children born preterm or at term spent similar percentages of time in different engagement states. Infant and child social attentional profiles did not relate to the complexity of engagement. Preterm infants' language impairments correlated with time spent in conversational joint engagement. Children born preterm showed complex social interaction abilities unrelated to their profile of social attention in infancy.

Social Cognition and Behavioral Assessments Improve the Diagnosis of Behavioral Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia in Older Peruvians With Low Educational Levels.

Background: The behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), characterized by early behavioral abnormalities and late memory impairment, is a neurodegenerative disorder with a detrimental impact on patients and their caregivers. bvFTD is often difficult to distinguish from other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), using brief cognitive tests. Combining brief socio-cognitive and behavioral evaluations with standard cognitive testing could better discriminate bvFTD from AD patients. We sought to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of brief socio-cognitive tests that may differentiate bvFTD and AD patients with low educational levels.Methods: A prospective study was performed on 51 individuals over the age of 50 with low educational levels, with bvFTD or AD diagnosed using published criteria, and who were receiving neurological care at a multidisciplinary neurology clinic in Lima, Peru, between July 2017 and December 2020. All patients had a comprehensive neurological evaluation, including a full neurocognitive battery and brief tests of cognition (Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination version III, ACE-III), social cognition (Mini-social Cognition and Emotional Assessment, Mini-SEA), and behavioral assessments (Frontal Behavioral Inventory, FBI; Interpersonal Reactivity Index—Emphatic Concern, IRI-EC; IRI—Perspective Taking, IRI-PT; and Self-Monitoring Scale—revised version, r-SMS). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) was performed to compare the brief screening tests individually and combined to the gold standard of bvFTD and AD diagnoses.Results: The AD group was significantly older than the bvFTD group (p < 0.001). An analysis of the discriminatory ability of the ACE-III to distinguish between patients with AD and bvFTD (AUC = 0.85) and the INECO Frontal Screening (IFS; AUC = 0.78) shows that the former has greater discriminatory ability. Social and behavioral cognition tasks were able to appropriately discriminate bvFTD from AD. The Mini-SEA had high sensitivity and high moderate specificity (83%) for discriminating bvFTD from AD, which increased when combined with the brief screening tests ACE-III and IFS. The FBI was ideal with high sensitivity (83%), as well as the IRI-EC and IRI-PT that also were adequate for distinguishing bvFTD from AD.Conclusions: Our study supports the integration of socio-behavioral measures to the standard global cognitive and social cognition measures utilized for screening for bvFTD in a population with low levels of education.

Attachment, Mentalization, and Criterion B of the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD)

BackgroundThe mentalization theory posits that interpersonal difficulties and maladaptive personality traits develop from an insecure attachment pattern with one’s caregiver and corresponding deficits in mentalizing—the ability to understand others’ and one’s own mental states. Mentalizing deficits have been theorized as the basis for all psychopathology, with the paradigmatic case being Borderline Personality Disorder. Nevertheless, developments in the personality field indicate personality pathology is best represented dimensionally, and such a proposal was outlined by the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD). Despite evidence linking the mentalization theory to personality disorders, however, it has yet to be applied to Criterion B of the AMPD. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the moderating role of mentalizing in the relation between attachment and Criterion B maladaptive trait function in a sample of undergraduates. We hypothesized a model in which: (1) attachment insecurity would be positively associated with the Negative Affectivity, Antagonism, and Disinhibition personality domains; (2) mentalizing ability would be negatively associated with these domains; and, (3) there would be an interaction effect between attachment and mentalizing when predicting these same domains.MethodsPersonality domains were measured dimensionally via the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5-SF), while the dependence and avoidance domains of attachment were assessed via the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ). Mentalizing ability was tapped by the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). The AMPD personality domains and trait facets were examined as dependent variables; attachment dependence, attachment avoidance, and overall mentalizing ability were entered as independent variables; and interaction terms between mentalizing and each attachment dimension were used to test moderation via MANCOVAs.ResultsConsistent with expectations, results indicated overall mentalizing moderated the relation between attachment avoidance and Negative Affectivity. Posthoc analyses revealed similar effects on the relations between attachment avoidance and the Emotional Lability, Hostility, and Perseveration trait facets; however, there were no significant moderation findings related to attachment dependence.ConclusionsThese results support the mentalization theory’s application to Criterion B of the AMPD, particularly in relation to the links between Negative Affectivity and borderline-related traits, and encourage future research of dimensional maladaptive personality. They further bolster support for understanding maladaptive personality as a dimensional construct.

Childhood trauma, social cognition and schizophrenia: Specific association between physical neglect and cognitive theory of mind in homicide offenders

Schizophrenia is associated with a small, but increased risk of violent behavior, including homicide. Violent individuals with schizophrenia have elevated rates of childhood trauma and substantial social cognitive impairments. The aim of this study was to examine if childhood trauma is related to social cognition in homicide offenders with schizophrenia. We recruited 26 individuals with schizophrenia sentenced to compulsory mental care for homicide/attempted homicide and 28 non-violent schizophrenia controls. They filled out the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), providing scores for physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect and emotional neglect. Social cognition was assessed with two measures of emotion processing (Emotion in Biological Motion, Pictures of Facial Affect) and two theory of mind (ToM) tests (Hinting Task, Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition: MASC). Spearman's rho correlation coefficients were computed, and significant results followed up with partial correlation analyses controlling for IQ. Three associations were statistically significant, all in the homicide group; between CTQ physical neglect and cognitive ToM assessed with Hinting Task and with MASC, and between CTQ emotional neglect and Hinting Task. Only the first remained significant after controlling for IQ, indicating a specific association between physical neglect and cognitive ToM in homicide offenders with schizophrenia.

Speaking with virtual humans: Assessing social cognition in traumatic brain injury with a second-person perspective task.

This study is one of the first to investigate social cognition in participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI) using a task that actively engaged the participant in a real interaction with a partner. Previous results have reported altered social cognition in TBI patients, but social cognition was mostly assessed through traditional tasks involving conscious and deliberate reasoning about characters' mental states (i.e., a third-person perspective). Our goal was to present a new paradigm which allowed the assessment of social cognition in conditions closer to real life meaning that participants were actively engaged in an interaction (i.e., second-person perspective) in order to capture more implicit use of social cognition processes. This study used three tasks to evaluate social cognition. We designed a task, called EVICog, in which participants were engaged in real audio-visual conversations with two virtual humans who expressed emotions and produced speech content that required the participants to make inferences about the characters' mental states. The two other tasks are standard in the literature; they use photographs to test participants' recognition of emotions and short comic strips to test their attribution of intentions. Our results showed that TBI participants presented a significant deficit of social cognition compared to control participants. The ROC analysis showed that EVICog has a high discrimination power compared to the other tests. These results further confirm that social cognition is altered in TBI participants even in real interactions and further support the use of ecological settings to investigate social cognition.

Is Defensive Behavior a Subtype of Prosocial Behaviors?

Defensive behavior is defined as a behavioral response to threatening situations for survival and body safety of oneself and others (Pulkkinen, 1987; Wrangham, 2018). Defending is a prosocial behavior defined by the intent to help victimized individuals (Eisenberg and Spinrad, 2014; Lambe and Craig, 2020). Lambe and Craig (2020) proposed that defensive behavior can be conceptualized as a multidimensional behavior, suggesting that solution-focused and aggressive defending are ways in which individuals defend directly while reporting to authority and comforting are ways in which people defend indirectly supporting the victim. Together, these four behaviors reflect different ways in which individuals can defend others from victimization. Reflecting on the social value of defensive behavior, some questions come to mind and need to be answered. Generally, prosocial behaviors are defined as intervening actions that are preceded by the direct observation or inference of another's a negative state (Dunfield and Kuhlmeier, 2013; Warneken, 2013; Dunfield, 2014; Eisenberg and Spinrad, 2014; Tomasello, 2019). Prosocial behaviors rest on the ability (i) to recognize that another is having a negative experience, (ii) to understand what an appropriate response would entail, and (iii) to act with the motivation to intervene. Dunfield (2014) claimed that within the general domain of prosocial behaviors there are three distinct types (helping, sharing, and comforting), which are responses to three negative states: instrumental need when individuals cannot complete a goal-directed action; material desire, when individuals do not have access to resources; emotional distress when individuals experience a negative emotional state. Each of these negative states can be alleviated by a different prosocial behavior, such as helping, sharing, or comforting, respectively. These prosocial behaviors rely on different social-cognitive assessments, such as goals for the helping, desires for the sharing, and emotions for the comforting. These three types of behavior show unique ages of onset, dissociable developmental trajectories, and distinct associations with individual difference factors early in life. Recent research has emphasized the multidimensional nature of prosocial behavior and has fueled the current debate on the psychological mechanisms underlying prosocial actions in early childhood (Dunfield, 2014; Paulus, 2014, 2018). According to Dunfield's model (2014), we believe that defending action can be among prosocial behaviors as a subtype for the following reasons: (a) it is triggered by the recognition that an individual is in a state of emotional distress, and (b) it is aimed to alleviate this negative state. To alleviate the emotional distress, defending action involves a specific negative action against the aggressor to protect an individual victimized. Unlike the comforting action, defending behavior implies a direct action against the aggressor as a consequence of a negative evaluation of the aggressor's antisocial action. Furthermore, there is no doubt that defensive behavior, like other prosocial behaviors, contributes to social well-being, strengthening the positive peer group experiences across development (Dirks et al., 2018). What is the underlying motivation for defensive behaviors? What elicits this behavior? How are these behaviors triggered in the first years of life? The present article aims to answer these questions by reviewing recent evidence on defending behaviors in the second year of life.

Unimpaired social cognition in adult patients with ADHD: brain volumetric and behavioral results.

The present study aimed to investigate whether adult patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show deficits in social cognition and to identify the structural neural correlates of social cognitive skills in ADHD. Twenty-six adult patients with ADHD and 26 matched healthy control participants performed the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition and underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. We compared theory of mind (ToM) performance between ADHD patients and healthy controls. Using voxel-based morphometry, we further compared gray matter volumes in regions that are critical for social cognition between the two groups and examined whether ToM performance was correlated with brain morphometry measures. We did not observe any between-group differences in ToM abilities or regional gray matter volumes. Across both groups, performance on affective aspects of ToM correlated positively with gray matter volumes in the medial part of the superior frontal gyri, which is typically involved in social cognition. This study is the first to relate brain structure to social cognitive abilities in adult patients with ADHD. Although our sample was small and heterogeneous, with half of the patients showing mild-to-moderate psychiatric comorbidities, our results may encourage longitudinal studies that relate social cognitive development in childhood and adolescence to brain maturation of ADHD patients.

Validation of Remote Administration of Social Cognitive Assessments in Pregnant Women

Social cognition, and its relation to social behaviors during pregnancy and postpartum, merits further investigation. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the need to administer assessments remotely. We aimed to validate remote administration of social cognition tasks (the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) and the Reading of the Mind in the Eyes (RMET)) in pregnant women.