Social Cognitive Skills Research Articles

The non-human animal reading the mind in the eyes test (NARMET): A new measure for the assessment of social cognition.

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET) is a widely applied test of social cognition, based on mental state judgments in response to photographs of human eyes, which can elicit impairment in patients with numerous psychiatric and neurological disorders. However, interpretation of task performance is limited without the use of appropriate control tasks. In addition to a matched task requiring age judgments of the RMET stimuli, it was recently shown that a mental state judgment task of comparable difficulty, could be developed using photographs of domestic cat eyes. The current study aimed to further develop a Non-human Animal RMET (NARMET) by testing additional stimuli in the form of photographs of domestic dog eyes. A variety of additional tasks were used alongside the eyes test stimuli in a large sample of healthy young adults, to explore how alexithymia, schizotypal features, and autistic tendencies may differentially influence mental state attribution in response to cat, dog, and human eyes test stimuli. The resulting NARMET features both cat and dog trials, depicting a similar range of complex mental states to the human RMET. It shows favorable psychometric properties as well as being well matched to the RMET in terms of linguistic variables, length and difficulty. However, reading measures predicted performance on the RMET, but not on the NARMET. Although further testing is required in samples with a higher proportion of males, future application of the NARMET in neuropsychiatric populations exhibiting cognitive and behavioral difficulties could offer enhanced assessment of social cognitive skills.

The Impact of Early Intervention on Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders' Readiness to Learn in The Classroom

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder are often associated with learning difficulties. These difficulties can be reduced with early intervention. However, the impact of early intervention for readiness to learn is still uncertain. The objectives of these study are to a) find out the level of readiness to learn from adaptive skills and socio-emotional regulation aspect b) find out the level of readiness to learn from cognitive and language aspects and c) find out the level of readiness to learn towards teaching and learning process in the classroom. This is quantitative research. The research instrument uses a questionnaire and is administered to 96 special education teachers. Descriptive analysis was used in this research to investigate the effect of early intervention towards the learning readiness for ASD students. Universal Design Learning Model (UDL) was used to learn ASD student readiness towards teaching and learning process. Research findings show a moderate level for adaptive, social emotional regulation, language and cognitive skills while readiness towards teaching and learning process shows high level. This finding can be further improved if early intervention is received at an earlier age. Overall, the effect of early intervention persists in learning readiness for students with autism.

Does a brief exposure to literary fiction improve social ability? Assessing the evidential value of published studies with a p-curve.

Humans have long suspected that stories can help us better understand others, and, indeed, lifelong exposure to narrative fiction does predict better social cognition. Several experiments have attempted to investigate the causal direction of this relationship to see if random assignment to a brief narrative directly improves social cognition. Although these experiments have yielded mixed results, a recent meta-analysis did find a small causal effect of narrative fiction on social cognition. What remains unanswered is whether the published findings reflect questionable research practices or trustworthy evidence. In order to rule out the possibility that this body of work has been meaningfully impacted by selective reporting, we conducted a p-curve on the experimental literature on narrative fiction and social cognition. The results of the p-curve indicated that this work does indeed have evidential value but that this conclusion is not very robust. Thus, further experimental work on the causal effect of narrative fiction on social cognitive skills is required before substantial conclusions can be drawn. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Non-linguistic comprehension, social inference and empathizing skills in autistic young adults, young adults with autistic traits and control young adults: Group differences and interrelatedness of skills.

Despite increasing knowledge of social communication skills of autistic peole, the interrelatedness of different skills such as non-linguistic comprehension, social inference and empathizing skills is not much known about. A better understanding of the complex interplay between different domains of social communication helps us to develop assessment protocols for individuals with social communication difficulties. To compare the performances of autistic young adults, young adults with autistic traits identified in childhood and control young adults in social communication tasks measuring non-linguistic comprehension, social inference and empathizing skills. In addition, to examine associations between the different social communication measures. Autistic young adults (n = 34), young adults with autistic traits (n = 19) and control young adults (n = 36) completed the extra- and paralinguistic scales of the Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo), the Faux Pas Recognition Test, Social-Pragmatic Questions (SoPra) and the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Group differences were found in the performance in the ABaCo, SoPra and EQ scores. Compared with the control young adults, autistic young adults scored lower. The performance of the young adults in the autistic traits group fell in between the other two groups. There were no group differences in the Faux Pas Recognition Test. The variability within the groups was large in all measurements. In the control group, there was a significant correlation between EQ and SoPra scores and between the Faux Pas and SoPra scores. In the autistic group, a significant correlation was found between Faux Pas and SoPra scores. Also, other patterns were observed but these were not statistically significant. The young adults with autistic traits fell in between the control and autistic young adults, highlighting the presence of the continuum in the terms of features of social communication. The results support other current research that suggests that theory of mind and other social communication skills may not be universally or widely impaired in all autistic individuals without cognitive deficits. Although all tasks examined social communication skills, only a small number of significant correlations were found between test scores. This highlights that clinical conclusions about a person's social communication should be based on the outcomes of different types of methods measuring different aspects of social communication. It is clear that the interrelatedness of different social communication skills needs further research. What is already known on this subject For successful communication, the ability to infer others' emotions, intentions and mental states is crucial. Autistic people have difficulty with many aspects of social communication. However, the associations between different aspects of social communication need to be better understood. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The unique contribution of this study is to compare the performance of autistic people not only with that of a control group but also with people with childhood autistic traits. This provides an understanding of the interrelatedness of different social communication skills in people with varying degrees of autistic traits. This study used four assessment methods focusing on three different social communication elements (non-linguistic comprehension, social inference and empathizing skills). These elements have complex relationships to one another, some being closely overlapping, some more distally related and some reflect more complex multifactorial elements. This study shows that although groups differ from each other in most of the assessments, the performance of different groups overlapped showing that many autistic young adults can perform well in non-linguistic and social inference tasks in structured assessment contexts. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Our findings suggest that in the assessment of social communication, self-reports and clinical assessments can be used effectively together. They can complement each other, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of a person, leading to more personalized therapeutic interventions.

Social Cognitive Skills and Delinquent Behavior Modification among Students in Secondary Schools in Kenya

The study investigated the relationship between social cognitive skills and delinquent behavior modification among students in secondary schools in Kenya. The Correlational Research design within the Positivist paradigm was adopted. The accessible population comprised of 3,740 students who had undergone counselling in 26 secondary schools in Rongo sub-county of Kenya. A sample size of 374 counselled students was obtained using both stratified and simple random sampling techniques. The Brief Self-Control Scale, Behavioral Inhibition Scale, Vicarious Experience Scale, Challenging Behaviour Attributions Scale and Behavior Modification Scale were used to collect data. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to investigate the internal consistency of the questionnaires all the sub-scales had internal consistency of 0.701 and 0.759. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and regression analysis were used to analyze data. The model was statistically significant [F (4, 339) =16.928, Adjusted R2=.157, sig. <.05], implying it was adequate enough to predict the dependent variable. However, this finding indicates that only 15.7% of the variability in behaviour modification among the secondary school students is explained by social cognitive skills. The school counsellors should use person centered counselling techniques to enhance social cognitive skills among students.

Social Cognitive Skills and Delinquent Behavior Modification among Students in Secondary Schools in Kenya

Social Cognitive Skills and Delinquent Behavior Modification among Students in Secondary Schools in Kenya

The Relationship of the Impulsivity and Decision-Making Behavior with Social Cognitive Skills in Borderline Personality Disorder.

In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship between decision-making processes and other cognitive characteristics associated with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in comparison with healthy controls by using the neurocognitive tests. The sample of the study consists of the patient group diagnosed with BPD (n=27) and the voluntary participants without any psychiatric diagnosis (n=28). Borderline Personality Inventory (BPI) was used for psychiatric evaluation, and Iowa Gambling Test (IGT), Stroop Test, Benton Face Recognition Test, Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Dokuz Eylül Theory of Mind Scale (DEToM), WMS-R Digit Span and Logical Memory Subscales were administered for neuropsychological examination. A significant difference was found between the BPD and the control group in BPI scores (p=0.02). There were no significant differences on the duration of interference and the number of errors in the Stroop Test, but it was observed that the number of spontaneous correction responses differed significantly (p=0.02) between the groups. A significant difference was revealed (p<0.01) in the immediate recall scores of the WMS-R Logical Memory (subtest story A) between the groups. There were also differences in the Iowa Gambling Test between the groups in the response tendency to choose from deck A (p=0.028) in the first half and from deck B (p=0.03) in the second half of the test. Finally, among the total scores of DEToM there was significant difference between the two groups (p<0.01), and this difference was prominent in the second-degree false belief (p=0.024) and empathy (p=0.027) tasks. As a result of our study, it was concluded that individuals with BPD have minimal difficulty in inhibiting inappropriate response, and this difficulty is related to making disadvantageous choices in decision-making behavior. While BPD group was successful in predicting mental states from external cues in terms of social cognition, however, it was observed that they had difficulty integrating cues within a social pattern and making coherent narratives.

Mood and Emotional Changes After PEERS® Program in Parents of Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This study examined the changes in anxiety and depressive symptoms in the parents of Korean adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after participating in the Korean version of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills for Young Adults (PEERS®-YA-K). Forty-six parents were enrolled (mean age 54.7 years; 22 fathers and 24 mothers), of whom 27 participated in the PEERS®- YA-K as social coaches. Participants completed self-report scales, including the Test of Young Adult Social Skills Knowledge (TYASSK), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Symptom Check-List-90-R (SCL-90-R). The scales were administered three times: before and after the 16-week program and 4 months after the program ended. Differences between participant variables at pretreatment, post-treatment, and follow-up were analyzed using paired-sample t-tests. Participants showed a significant improvement in their social skills knowledge (TYASSK) (p<0.01). There was a significant improvement in the BAI and BDI scores of parents with severe depressive and anxiety symptoms at the baseline (p<0.05). Paternal paranoia and maternal hostility results also significantly improved on the SCL-90-R. This study suggests that PEERS®-YA-K can reduce parental anxiety and depressive symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first to compare the degree of depression and anxiety after PEERS®-YA-K in parents of adults with ASD.

Correlation Filters in Machine Learning Algorithms to Select Demographic and Individual Features for Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis

Autism spectrum disorder is currently considered one of the main neurodevelopmental disorders with predominant characteristics of difficulty in social communication and cognitive skills, and limited and repetitive patterns. This disorder has no cure and has different levels of severity that vary according to the appearance of symptoms in each patient. Generally, the waiting time for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is slow, having as one of the reasons for this situation the lack of development of simple screening procedures to be implemented and which have efficient results. The objective of this work is to analyze a public database in order to find patterns of the autism spectrum, that is, to isolate the attributes that together with behavioral characteristics can bring greater reliability to the precursor model. The preliminary results showed that the probabilistic neural network algorithm performed well in this classification. In addition, the application of correlation filters demonstrated greater efficiency in accuracy. By applying eight data mining algorithms and aggregating the demographic, individual, and behavioral attributes, and excluding some attributes, we obtained an accuracy of 100% through the support vector machine. Finally, the results with machine learning have shown that the patient's ethnicity, continent, and the presence of jaundice tend to reveal more likely that the patient will be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

The social cognition of hope

ABSTRACT Hope is a social cognition that involves personal agency and creative thinking about how to achieve an individual goal through interpersonal communication. Regression results show that social cognition skills differ in their effect on a person’s hope. Social sensitivity and situational understanding both predict hope. Interestingly, perceived skill in social expression does not. These results suggest that communication training designed to facilitate hope is more likely to be effective when focused on active listening and social situational understanding than on articulate personal self-expression designed to influence or persuade.

An epistemic logic for formalizing group dynamics of agents

Abstract In the multi-agent setting, it is relevant to model group dynamics of agents, and logic has proved a good tool to do so. We propose an epistemic logic, L-DINF-E, that allows one to formalize what are the beliefs formed by a group of agents, where several groups exist and agents can pass from a group to another one. We introduce a new modality which allows an agent to reason about the beliefs of other agents. This allows us to model aspects of the “Theory of Mind”, understood as the set of social-cognitive skills involving the ability to attribute and reason about mental states, desires, beliefs, and knowledge of agents. In this paper, we present the logic L-DINF-E and illustrate how it can be used to solve “false-belief tasks”, i.e., tests in which an agent should understand that some other agent may develop, under some circumstances, false beliefs.

Predictive Effect of Social Cognitive Skills on Social Anxiety

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between social anxiety and social cognition skills (emotion identification/discrimination, theory of mind, attribution bias, social functioning) and to investigate the predictive power of social cognition skills on social anxiety. In the study, it was also investigated whether social anxiety, social cognition skills and depression scores differed according to gender, age, reported diagnosis status and anxiety level. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 385 participants between the ages of 18-60. The research data were collected from the participants online using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Facial Emotion Identification and Facial Emotion Discrimination Tests, Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, the Internal, Personal and Situational Attributes Scale, the Social Functioning Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Sociodemographic Information Form. It was determined that there was a negative relationship between social anxiety and emotion recognition, emotion discrimination and mind reading, and a positive relationship with externalization bias and depression. It was found that depression, emotion recognition and discrimination, mind reading, and antecedent social activities scale scores significantly predicted social anxiety. These variables explain 52% of the total variance related to social anxiety. In addition, when the depression effect was controlled, it was seen that social cognition skills explained 32% of the variance related to social anxiety. It was determined that the deterioration in social cognition skills and depression scores were associated with an increase in social anxiety. According to the results obtained from the research, suggestions were made to prevent social anxiety. It is suggested that it would be beneficial to include activities to develop social cognition skills, which are important for individuals' interpersonal communication, within intervention programs.

Average treatment effect of maternal prenatal tobacco smoking on offspring developmental vulnerability in early childhood

BackgroundEarly childhood developmental vulnerability has been closely related to the predictors of relatively good health, social and educational outcomes later in adulthood. However, the impacts of prenatal tobacco exposure on childhood developmental vulnerability have been rarely examined. Further, a few of the studies that have investigated maternal prenatal tobacco smoking and child developmental vulnerability have reported mixed results and there are currently no published estimates derived from causal epidemiological methods. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study on the association between maternal prenatal tobacco smoking and developmental vulnerability in children born in Western Australia (WA). De-identified individual-level maternal, infant and birth records were obtained from the Midwives Notification System (MNS), a statutory record of all births in WA. WA register for Developmental Anomalies (WARDA) were also obtained from the WA Data Linkage. Records on early childhood developmental vulnerability at the median age of 5 years were obtained from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). We used a doubly robust estimator to estimate the causal effects. ResultsComplete data were available for 64,558 mothers-children's pairs. Approximately 16% of children were exposed to maternal prenatal tobacco smoking. Children exposed to maternal prenatal tobacco smoking were more likely to be classified as developmentally vulnerable/at-risk on the physical health and wellbeing (RR = 1.40, 95%CI:1.36–1.45), social competence (RR = 1.42, 95%CI: 1.38–1.47), emotional maturity (RR = 1.34, 95%CI:1.30–1.39), language and cognitive skills (RR = 1.50, 95%CI:1.45–1.54), and communication skills and general knowledge (RR = 1.37, 95%CI:1.33–1.42) domains. ConclusionMaternal prenatal exposure to tobacco may influence early childhood developmental vulnerability. Early intervention to quit tobacco smoking before becoming pregnant could potentially reduce later childhood developmental vulnerability on multiple domains.

SOCIAL COGNITIVE DEFICITS RELATE TO KEY ASPECTS OF OLDER ADULTS' SOCIAL NETWORKS

Abstract Social connectedness confers benefits to older adults’ cognition, including slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Social connectedness is facilitated by social cognitive function – how people understand, store, and apply information about others – which declines over the lifespan. We examined whether two core social cognitive skills – face memory and theory of mind (the ability to infer others’ mental states) – predicted older adults’ social network structure and composition. Cognitively normal older adults (OA; N=119) and OA with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD (N=96) completed a social network interview, a face memory task, and a theory of mind measure. Social cognitive deficits were highest among OA with MCI and AD. Face memory predicted network size, whereas theory of mind predicted network composition. Neuroimaging results describing OA’s social cognitive deficits are also discussed. Social cognitive function may be an important intervention target for preserving older adults’ social connectedness.

Does reading a single short story of literary fiction improve social-cognitive skills? Testing the priming hypothesis.

Does reading a single short story of literary fiction improve social-cognitive skills? Testing the priming hypothesis.

The impact of breast cancer on social cognition in female Colombian patients

BackgroundThe high prevalence of female breast cancer is a global health concern. Breast cancer and its treatments have been associated with impairments in general cognition, as well as structural and functional brain changes. Considering the social challenges that some of these patients face, it is important to understand the socio-emotional effects of breast cancer as well. Nevertheless, the impact of breast cancer on social cognition has remained underexplored. The objective of this study was to assess social cognition domains and other relevant cognitive and emotional variables (executive functions, anxiety, or depression) in females with breast cancer.MethodsThe participants were 29 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 29 female healthy controls. We assessed emotion recognition, theory of mind, empathy, and moral emotions. We also included measures of general cognitive functioning, quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Linear multiple regressions were performed to assess whether the group (patients or controls), GAD-7 scores, emotional and social subscales of EORTC QLQ-C30, and IFS scores predicted the social cognition variables (EET, RMET, MSAT).ResultsPatients with breast cancer showed impairments in emotion recognition and in affective theory of mind. In addition, patients had lower scores in some executive functions. Only theory of mind between group differences remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Emotion recognition was associated with executive functioning, but anxiety levels were not a significant predictor of the changes in social cognition.ConclusionsSocial cognition impairments, especially in theory of mind, may be present in breast cancer, which can be relevant to understanding the social challenges that these patients encounter. This could indicate the need for therapeutic interventions to preserve social cognition skills in patients with breast cancer.

Turn-taking skills in mammals: A systematic review into development and acquisition

How human language evolved remains one of the most intriguing questions in science, and different approaches have been used to tackle this question. A recent hypothesis, the Interaction Engine Hypothesis, postulates that language was made possible through the special capacity for social interaction involving different social cognitive skills (e.g., joint attention, common ground) and specific characteristics such as face-to-face interaction, mutual gaze and turn-taking, the exchange of rapid communicative turns. Recently, it has been argued that this turn-taking infrastructure may be a foundational and ancient mechanism of the layered system of language because communicative turn-taking has been found in human infants and across several non-human primate species. Moreover, there is some evidence for turn-taking in different mammalian taxa, especially those capable of vocal learning. Surprisingly, however, the existing studies have mainly focused on turn-taking production of adult individuals, while little is known about its emergence and development in young individuals. Hence, the aim of the current paper was 2-fold: First, we carried out a systematic review of turn-taking development and acquisition in mammals to evaluate possible research bias and existing gaps. Second, we highlight research avenues to spur more research into this domain and investigate if distinct turn-taking elements can be found in other non-human animal species. Since mammals exhibit an extended development period, including learning and strong parental care, they represent an excellent model group in which to investigate the acquisition and development of turn-taking abilities. We performed a systematic review including a wide range of terms and found 21 studies presenting findings on turn-taking abilities in infants and juveniles. Most of these studies were from the last decade, showing an increased interest in this field over the years. Overall, we found a considerable variation in the terminologies and methodological approaches used. In addition, studies investigating turn-taking abilities across different development periods and in relation to different social partners were very rare, thereby hampering direct, systematic comparisons within and across species. Nonetheless, the results of some studies suggested that specific turn-taking elements are innate, while others are acquired during development (e.g., flexibility). Finally, we pinpoint fruitful research avenues and hypotheses to move the field of turn-taking development forward and improve our understanding of the impact of turn-taking on language evolution.

Artificial Social Intelligence: A Comparative and Holistic View

In addition to a physical comprehension of the world, humans possess a high social intelligence—the intelligence that senses social events, infers the goals and intents of others, and facilitates social interaction. Notably, humans are distinguished from their closest primate cousins by their social cognitive skills as opposed to their physical counterparts. We believe that artificial social intelligence (ASI) will play a crucial role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence (AI). This article begins with a review of ASI from a cognitive science standpoint, including social perception, theory of mind (ToM), and social interaction. Next, we examine the recently-emerged computational counterpart in the AI community. Finally, we provide an in-depth discussion on topics related to ASI.

A Closer Examination of the Integrity Scale’s Construct Validity

People’s commitment to moral principles affects how they self-regulate and directs people down different ethical paths. The Integrity Scale was designed to assess the strength of people’s commitment to moral principles. Here, we sought to contribute to evaluating the construct validity of the Integrity Scale. We related the scale to various theoretically relevant criteria including low antagonism features, social-cognitive foundations for morality, self-control, rationality, and self-presentation behavior. Suggestive of the scale’s construct validity, the present research showed that scores on the Integrity Scale related to (a) reduced antagonistic-personality features relevant to exploitation and dishonesty more so than immodesty, tough-heartedness, fearlessness, or cynicism; (b) enhanced social-cognitive skills (e.g., cognitive empathy processes); (c) enhanced self-control; (d) enhanced capacities for and reliance on rationality in decision making (e.g., intelligence and cognitive-reflection skill); and (e) enhanced reliance on self-presentation tactics that portray an identity based in high levels of integrity.

Emotion Recognition Skill in Specific Learning Disorder and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Social difficulties can affect both academic and relational-social functioning in common neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorder. It is known that social cognitive skills directly affect social functioning. The aim in this study is to examine the social cognitive skill of facial emotion recognition in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorder and to investigate whether literacy learning is related to emotion recognition. In the study, we compared the emotion recognition skill of 41 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, 50 with specific learning disorder, and 43 typically developed children using the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test. In addition, we evaluated the relationship between children's emotion recognition ability and literacy learning time. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorder groups did not show a statistically significant difference in terms of Reading Mind in the Eyes Test scores, but both groups had lower scores than their typically eveloped peers (P < .001). In addition, we found that low Reading Mind in the Eyes Test scores were associated with late learning in reading and writing (P < .001, r = -.033). This study found that the specific learning disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder groups showed similar but poorer impact recognition skills than their typically developed peers. In addition, we showed that literacy learning speed is related to emotion recognition.