Theory Of Mind Tests Research Articles

Do Bilinguals Have an Advantage in Theory of Mind? A Meta-Analysis

Bilingualism might help children develop Theory of Mind, but the evidence is mixed. To address the disagreement in the literature, a meta-analysis was conducted on studies that compared bilingual and monolingual children on false belief and other Theory of Mind tests. The meta-analysis of 16 studies and 1,283 children revealed a small bilingual advantage (Cohen’s d=.22, p=.050). A secondary analysis was conducted on studies (k=8) that statistically adjusted the Theory of Mind scores to correct for a bilingual disadvantage in language proficiency. This secondary analysis indicated a medium-size bilingual advantage (Cohen’s d=.58, p<.001). There was no evidence for publication bias in either analysis. Taken together, the results provide support for a beneficial effect of acquiring two languages on mental state reasoning. Explanations for this bilingual advantage, which include bilingual-monolingual differences in executive functioning, metalinguistic awareness, and socio-pragmatic abilities, are discussed.

Individual Differences in Children's Understanding of Guilt: Links with Theory of Mind

ABSTRACTThe author examined the relation between individual differences in children's understanding of guilt and theory of mind (ToM) ability. Two hundred and eighteen 8- to 10-year-old children were asked to define what guilt is and report a personal experience in which they felt this emotion. ToM was assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Children's version; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) and with the Strange Stories test (Happè, 1994). There were marked differences in children's understanding of guilt even after controlling for age. Moreover, high levels of understanding of guilt were associated with high levels of performance on both ToM tests. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Does Affective Theory of Mind Contribute to Proactive Aggression in Boys with Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Tendencies?

Adolescent psychopathic tendencies are associated with phenotypic increases in proactive aggression. However, the extent to which an understanding of others’ affective mental states, or affective theory of mind (ToM), contributes to proactive aggression remains unknown. We examined how performance on a well-known test of affective ToM, based on cropped images of the eye region, contributes to reactive and proactive types of aggression in a mixed ethnicity sample of 80 incarcerated adolescent boys. A hierarchical regression model showed that affective ToM predicted proactive aggression over and above the influence of clinically rated psychopathic tendencies. Importantly, affective ToM was unrelated to reactive aggression. Our results suggest that being able to recognize others’ affective mental states may be an important factor in aggressing against others for personal gain. These findings have implications for interventions designed to enhance ToM in youth with conduct problems.

Seeing More Than Human: Autism and Anthropomorphic Theory of Mind.

Theory of mind (ToM) is defined as the process of taking another’s perspective. Anthropomorphism can be seen as the extension of ToM to non-human entities. This review examines the literature concerning ToM and anthropomorphism in relation to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), specifically addressing the questions of how and why those on the spectrum both show an increased interest for anthropomorphism and may even show improved ToM abilities when judging the mental states of anthropomorphic characters. This review highlights that while individuals with ASD traditionally show deficits on a wide range of ToM tests, such as recognizing facial emotions, such ToM deficits may be ameliorated if the stimuli presented is cartoon or animal-like rather than in human form. Individuals with ASD show a greater interest in anthropomorphic characters and process the features of these characters using methods typically reserved for human stimuli. Personal accounts of individuals with ASD also suggest they may identify more closely with animals than other humans. It is shown how the social motivations hypothesized to underlie the anthropomorphizing of non-human targets may lead those on the spectrum to seek social connections and therefore gain ToM experience and expertise amongst unlikely sources.

Exploring the link between a theory of mind and executive functions in preschool children

Acquisition of the theory of mind (TOM) is a very important milestone in the development of preschool children. TOM is especially important for the development of children’s social skills. The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of age, gender and executive functions (EF) on the acquisition of TOM. The sample in this study consisted of 116 preschool children aged 36-72 months (mean age 58.8 months, SD= 9.5 months). In relation to the child’s gender, there were 56 girls (48.3%) and 60 boys (51.7%). The Sally Anne test- a task purporting to measure TOM, was used as a dependant variable and age, gender, and EF measures were used as the predictors. Logistic regression was used as a method to determine the effects of predictors on TOM. The results of this study indicated that success on the TOM test can best be predicted by the inhibitory control, followed by verbal fluency and child’s age. The gender of the child was not associated with TOM acquisition. The overall model explained between 27% and 38% of the variance in the TOM scores. Inhibitory control is the executive function that had the greatest predictive power for the results on the theory of the mind task. The findings of this study can help early interventionists in the modification of existing preschool curricula, so that they include more activities that would foster the development of the theory of mind in preschool children. Future studies should aim to find a better model of theory of mind predictors by examining the effects of other executive function constructs, such as working memory.

Are you flirting with me? Autistic traits, theory of mind, and inappropriate courtship

Despite a strong potential for healthy sexual relationships, high functioning individuals with an autism spectrum disorder often struggle with the appropriateness of their courtship behaviours. Using Leslie's (1992) theory of mind (ToM) theory of autism, we investigated two mediators of the association between autistic traits and inappropriate courtship in a non-clinical sample: (1) ToM, and (2) a bias to perceive ambiguous social cues as flirting. University students (N = 195) completed an online battery containing the Autism Quotient (AQ), a measure of inappropriate courtship, a popular test of ToM (Eyes Test-Revised), a measure of flirt perception bias, and a question about singles' venues attendance. AQ was indirectly associated with inappropriate courtship through two pathways: (1) a single-mediator model based on ToM; and (2) a two-mediator serial model with ToM leading to a flirtation perception bias, leading to more frequent inappropriate courtship. Adding flirtation perception and singles' venues attendance to the ToM-mediation model increased the percent of variance accounted for from 17% to 25%, while each mediator remained statistically significant. Sex did not significantly moderate the models. To our knowledge, this is the first model accounting for courtship difficulties in persons with autistic traits. Limitations and applications are considered.

The relationship between theory of mind and insight in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Background: It is known that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients with poor insight display more severe neuropsychological impairments than other patients with OCD. There are limited studies of OCD and theory of mind (ToM).Aim: To investigate ToM skills in patients with OCD and the relationship between insight and ToM skills by comparing OCD patients with good and poor insight.Methods: Eighty patients with OCD and 80 healthy controls completed the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders, the Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Beck Anxiety and Beck Depression Inventories, and the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale. To assess ToM skills, first- and second-order false-belief tests, a hinting test, a faux pas test, a reading the mind in the eyes test, and a double-bluff test were administered.Results: Patients with OCD had poorer ToM abilities than healthy controls. All ToM scores were significantly lower in the poor insight group than in the good insight group (p < .001). A significant negative correlation was found between the BABS-total scores and all the ToM test mean scores (p < .05).Conclusions: The finding of significantly lower ToM skills in OCD with poor insight than in OCD with good insight may contribute to the idea of OCD with poor insight being a subtype with different clinical and neuropsychological characteristics.

Reducing the language content in ToM tests: A developmental scale.

The goal of the current study was to statistically evaluate the reliable scalability of a set of tasks designed to assess Theory of Mind (ToM) without language as a confounding variable. This tool might be useful to study ToM in populations where language is impaired or to study links between language and ToM. Low verbal versions of the ToM tasks proposed by Wellman and Liu (2004) for their scale were tested in 234 children (2.5 years to 11.9 years). Results showed that 5 of the tasks formed a scale according to both Guttman and Rasch models whereas all 6 tasks could form a scale according to the Rasch model only. The main difference from the original scale was that the Explicit False Belief task could be included whereas the Knowledge Access (KA) task could not. The authors argue that the more verbal version of the KA task administered in previous studies could have measured language understanding rather than ToM. (PsycINFO Database Record

Impaired theory of mind in Chinese children and adolescents with idiopathic generalized epilepsy: Association with behavioral manifestations of executive dysfunction

BackgroundEpilepsy is a common neurological disorder with a core feature of cognitive impairments. Previous studies showed that patients with focal epilepsy have deficits in both theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF). However, there are few studies of ToM in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), especially in populations with pediatric epilepsy. The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of ToM and EF, including some of their subcomponents, and explore the relationship between them in Chinese children with IGE. Materials and methodsWe recruited 54 children and adolescents with IGE as the experimental subjects and 37 typically developing children and adolescents as control subjects. Both groups completed ToM tests, namely, second-order false belief tasks (FBTs) and faux pas tasks (FPTs). Their caregivers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) at the same time. ResultsChildren and adolescents with IGE displayed worse performance on some of the FBTs and FPTs than healthy controls (p<0.01). They also exhibited widespread EF deficits, comprising eight subcomponents (p<0.05). Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that several subcomponents of EF (inhibition, emotional control, initiation, working memory, and monitoring) were unequally correlated with FBT and FPT. Regression analysis showed that ToM had associations with inhibition, working memory, and duration of seizures. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that children with newly diagnosed epilepsy displayed significant deficits in FBT, FPT, and distinct subscales of EF. ConclusionsOur results revealed significant impairments in ToM and EF in children and adolescents with IGE compared with healthy controls. We found significant correlations between ToM and two subcomponents of EF (inhibition and working memory) in children with IGE. Additionally, the duration of seizures affected ToM in patients but was a less powerful predictor than the two subcomponents of EF. Even for children with new-onset seizures and without medication, the deficits in ToM and some distinct subscales of EF were apparent. This result has clinical implications for both nonpharmaceutical therapies and cognitive rehabilitation.

Relationship between selective attention, cognitive flexibility, response inhibition and theory of mind functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between executive functions such as selective atten-tion, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility and social-cognitive and social-perceptual theory of mind (ToM) functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. Methods: The Demographic Information Form, Beck Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Scale, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Test, Eyes Test, Hinting Test were applied to 48 patients with OCD diagnosis and 39 healthy subjects. The Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale was administered to the OCD group. Results: While there was no difference in selective attention and re-sponse inhibition between the groups, it was found that the OCD group performed poorly in terms of cognitive flexi-bility. Compared to groups ToM tests, The OCD group was found to score significantly lower than the control group in the Eyes Test. In the OCD group, there was no significant correlation between ToM tests and other continuous numerical variables. In the control group, there was a moderate negative correlation between the Hinting Test score and Stroop 5 duration. Conclusion: To our knowledge, our study is the second study in the literature to show that impairment in social-perceptual ToM functions that may be specific to OCD and that this condition is independent of impairment in cognitive functions. Further studies with greater samples are needed.

Theory of Mind and Executive Functions are Dissociated in Multiple Sclerosis.

To investigate the relationship of executive functions (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) in multiple sclerosis (MS), clarifing whether ToM impairment in MS is related to EF dysfunction or whether they represent dissociable processes which can be independently impaired in MS. We enrolled 60 consecutive MS patients and 60 healthy controls (HC) matched on age, gender, and education level. All participants underwent ToM testing using the Eyes Test and the Videos Test and neuropsychological testing tapping different EF subdomains. A correlation analysis and a hierarchical cluster analysis were used to determine the similarity between explained variance between EF measures and ToM tests. MS patients had lower scores on both tasks of ToM compared to HC, i.e., Eyes Test (21.1 ± 5.0 vs. 29.5 ± 3.8, p < .001; Cohen's d: 1.9) and Videos Test (19.6 ± 2.4 vs. 22.9 ± 1.8, p < .001; Cohen's d: 1.6). They also performed significantly worse on different measures of EF. ToM performance was not significantly correlated with EF tests. The hierarchical cluster analysis showed that ToM measures in MS were clustered separately from the EF measures, revealing three executive clusters (Attention/working memory cluster; Inhibitory control/shifting ability cluster; Verbal Initiative/Abstract reasoning cluster) and one ToM cluster. This study suggests a dissociation of EF and ToM in MS, meaning that the MS-related neurobehavioral symptoms may be associated with a significant impairment in ToM independent of the level of EF performance. Ultimately, this discrimination of ToM deficits in MS may help to identify the appropriate cognitive and behavioral interventions.

Neuropsychological correlates of theory of mind deficits in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to understand and interpret another person's beliefs, intentions (cognitive ToM) and emotions (affective ToM). To explore affective and cognitive ToM and their neuropsychological correlates in patients affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). Forty MS patients and 40 matched control individuals underwent tasks assessing cognitive (the ToM Pictures Sequencing Task and the Advanced Test of ToM) and affective ToM (the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task and the Emotion Attribution Task), in both verbal and nonverbal modality, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, and questionnaires for behavioral disorders. MS patients performed significantly worse than controls on tasks assessing cognitive and affective ToM, in verbal and nonverbal modality. Moreover, MS patients achieved significantly lower scores on tests assessing visuospatial learning and speed of spatial information processing, and significantly higher scores on scales for alexithymia and depression with respect to controls. After covarying for cognitive and behavioral variables different in the 2 groups, the differences between patients and controls on ToM tasks remained significant. ToM abilities were significantly related to executive functions, but not to depressive, anxious and apathetic symptoms. Higher alexithymia scores were associated with poor recognition of others' mental states. The findings demonstrated that both affective and cognitive aspects of ToM are impaired in nondemented and mildly to moderately disabled MS and suggest that impaired social cognition can occur independently from behavioral disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record

Comparison of the Advanced Theory of Mind Skills in Turkish Children with Autism and Typically Developing Children

Theory of mind (ToM) has been applied in an attempt to explain the social impairments that characterize children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, an examination of several Turkish ToM studies revealed that ToM belief tests often have been used inappropriately to assess typically developing (TD) children and those adult versions of the Eyes Test and other ToM tests have been used inappropriately to assess adults with psychiatric disorders. Among the studies examined, none had used advanced ToM tests such as the Eyes Test and the Strange Stories Test to compare TD children and children with autism. The objective of this study was to examine the ToM levels attained by children with autism and TD children between the ages of 7 and 13 years, using the advanced ToM Strange Stories and Eyes tests. Compared with ASD children, TD children achieved higher scores on the Eyes and Strange Stories tests.

The relationship between executive functions and fluid intelligence in euthymic Bipolar Disorder patients

Distinct cognitive deficits have been described in Bipolar disorder (BD), including executive impairments, commonly attributed to frontal dysfunction. However, recent attention has been paid to the heterogeneity of cognitive functioning in this population, suggesting that the executive deficits observed in BD might be due to a loss in fluid intelligence (g). Following our previous line of investigation in multiple neurological and psychiatric conditions we aimed at determining the role of g in frontal deficits in BD. Euthymic BD patients (n = 51) and healthy controls (n = 37) were assessed with Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Verbal Fluency, Trail Making Test B (TMTB), a multitasking test, and a theory of mind test. A general cognitive battery was used to derive a measure of g. As in other neuropsychiatric conditions, significant patient-control differences in WCST, Verbal Fluency and TMTB were removed when g was introduced as a covariate. Deficits remained significant in the multitasking test. We suggest that neuropsychological assessment in BD should include tests of general intelligence, together with one or more specific tasks that allow for the assessment of residual frontal deficits, putatively associated with anterior frontal functioning.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THEORY OF MIND AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to infer and predict thoughts and emotions in others, and it can be divided in two domains: affective and cognitive. There is evidence that ToM is impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that executive functions (EF) are necessary for successful ToM processes, but this relationship has not been explored in AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study aimed to evaluate the association between affective ToM and EF in MCI and AD participants. 24 subjects were recruited at the National Institute of Neurology, Mexico, with a MMSE score higher than 17, in 3 groups: 8 AD (age 70±6.8), 8 MCI (age 68.6 ±5.5) and 8 healthy subjects (age 65.5 ± 4.5). The following test were assessed: a) for the evaluation of EF tests: Stroop, modified Wisconsin card sorting (M-WCST), trail making part b (TMTb) and verbal fluency (VF); and b) for the evaluation of ToM: Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME) and Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA) (Figure 1). We found statistical differences in some ToM and EF tests between AD, MCI and control groups that are presented in figure 2. The strongest association was between the performance of phonologic VF (Spearman's rho =0.84) and RME (0.72) in the control and MCI groups. The MCI group mainly had associations between the RME and phonologic VF, and WCST and the AD group had strong associations between POFA and TMT-B (-0.73), Stroop test (0.70), and WCST (categories, 0.80, and total mistakes, -0.74, modalities), as shown in figure 3. There is an association between EF tests related to mind flexibility and working memory with the ability of inferring affective states in others through facial expressions. EF scores of the MCI group are more related to RME and the AD's EF performance to the POFA test. Pictures of facial affect and reading the mind in the eyes tests. Estatistics differences between AD, DCL and healthy older adults. Associations between FE and ToM Tests (Only has been included significative associations with a Spearman's rho > 0.60).

A COMPARISON OF AFFECTIVE THEORY OF MIND ABILITIES BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS WITH AMNESTIC MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to make inferences on other's mental states such as beliefs, intentions, or emotions. There are two main components of ToM: affective and cognitive. Affective ToM has been shown to be impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, how ToM dysfunction is related to cognitive impairment is still under debate. This study aims to investigate ToM abilities and determine the relationship between cognitive functions and ToM among participants with amnestic MCI. In the present study, we are reporting preliminary results from a larger work-in-progress. We assessed affective ToM abilities and cognitive functioning in a sample of 29 MCI patients and 21 healthy aged controls. In order to evaluate ToM, participants were administered two different affective ToM tests: Reading mind in the eyes test was used to measure the ability to infer others’ complex emotions and mental states. Faux pas recognition test, on the other hand, was applied for assessing the ability to detect and interpret socially improper behavior or speech in real life based stories. Preliminary results showed that MCI patients performed worse on both of the ToM tasks. However, after adjusting for level of education, only faux pas story performance based group differences remained statistically significant (p<.05). Bivariate correlation analyses indicated that, while impairment in working memory (r= -.456) and executive functioning (r=-.434) was related to the deterioration in the mind reading abilities; the relationship between cognitive functioning measures and faux pas recognition performance was not statistically significant. In this ongoing study, we observed two separate affective ToM patterns in MCI patients. Compared to healthy controls, MCI patients performed poorly on faux pas recognition test, which reflects real life social context. However, patients were similar to controls on mind reading ability. This preliminary data suggest that impairment of recognition of faux pas situations might be an early feature of MCI and could be independent from intact emotion recognition and executive functioning in this very early disease stage.

Disconnection as a mechanism for social cognition impairment in multiple sclerosis.

To assess the contribution of microstructural normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) damage to social cognition impairment, specifically in the theory of mind (ToM), in multiple sclerosis (MS). We enrolled consecutively 60 patients with MS and 60 healthy controls (HC) matched on age, sex, and education level. All participants underwent ToM testing (Eyes Test, Videos Test) and 3T brain MRI including conventional and diffusion tensor imaging sequences. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) were applied for whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) on NAWM. Patients with MS performed worse on both tasks of ToM compared to HC (Eyes Test 58.7 ± 13.8 vs 81.9 ± 10.4, p < 0.001, Hedges g -1.886; Videos Test 75.3 ± 9.3 vs 88.1 ± 7.1, p < 0.001, Hedges g -1.537). Performance on ToM tests was correlated with higher values of FA and lower values of MD across widespread white matter tracts. The largest effects (≥90% of voxels with statistical significance) for the Eyes Test were body and genu of corpus callosum, fornix, tapetum, uncinate fasciculus, and left inferior cerebellar peduncle, and for the Videos Test genu and splenium of corpus callosum, fornix, uncinate fasciculus, left tapetum, and right superior fronto-occipital fasciculus. These results indicate that a diffuse pattern of NAWM damage in MS contributes to social cognition impairment in the ToM domain, probably due to a mechanism of disconnection within the social brain network. Gray matter pathology is also expected to have an important role; thus further research is required to clarify the neural basis of social cognition impairment in MS.

Theory of mind, affective empathy, and persuasive strategies in school‐aged children

AbstractUnderstanding that other people hold different mental states and that they may be changed is the core of persuasion. Thus, theory of mind (ToM) abilities are fundamental to generate persuasive arguments. To date, only the relation between false belief and false belief‐emotion understanding and persuasion has been investigated, ignoring other advanced aspects of ToM. Moreover, the role of affective empathy in the engagement of persuasion strategies remains unknown. The aim of this study was to overcome such limitations. Elementary children (N = 142) were enrolled. An advanced ToM test, measures of affective empathy and verbal ability, and an assessment of persuasion, differentiated in self‐oriented and hetero‐oriented strategies, were administered to children. Results show that only ToM is a significant predictor of children's persuasive approach, after controlling for gender, age, and verbal ability. Affective empathy has a very marginal role in interaction with ToM only in the engagement of self‐oriented strategies. Limitations of the study and educational implications in school contexts are discussed.Highlights The present study investigates the link between persuasive behaviour, affective empathy and theory of mind. Through a cross-sectionial study, we find that mind reading abilities and affective empathy are linked to persuasive tactics as the result of a negation process. The adoption of more advanced persuasive strategies may promote positive social relationships and help to resolve conflicting interactions.

Cognición social en demencia asociada a la enfermedad de Parkinson y en demencia frontotemporal variante conductual

To study the presence of alterations in social cognition in Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), to compare the levels of involvement, and to analyze their relevance as a tool to distinguish between both demential profile. For this purpose, 34 patients diagnosed with PDD, 21 men and 13 women, with an average age of 70 years and 8 years of education, and 26 patients diagnosed with bvFTD, 9 men and 17 women, with an average age of 68 years and 6 years of education, were assessed. The control group consisted of 30 healthy subjects, with a mean of 66 years of age and 8 of schooling. Reading the Mind in the Eyes was use as an emotional Theory of Mind (ToM) test; First-Order False Belief as a cognitive ToM test; Faux Pas as mixed test, considering their emotional (FPec) and cognitive (FPcc) components; and Iowa Gambling Task for social decision-making. Both groups of patients showed alterations in all tests compared to the control group. A significant difference between PDD and bvFTD was also observed for Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, Faux Pas total score, FPec and FPcc, with lower means and medians for PDD patients on all scores except for FPcc. This findings suggests that emotional ToM would be most affected PDD patients, while the use of cognitive ToM and social decision-making tests would be restrain tools to differentiate between a type of dementia or another.

Dynamic Assessment of Figurative Language of Children in the Autistic Spectrum: The Relation to Some Cognitive and Language Aspects

The objectives of this study were to examine (a) differences in figurative language, analogical reasoning, executive functions (EF), theory of mind (ToM), and local/central coherence (LCC) of children with high-functioning autism (HFA; n = 32) and typically developing (TD; n = 32) children; (b) improvement of figurative language using dynamic assessment; and (c) prediction of proverbial understanding by the cognitive variables. A sample of 5- to 11-year-old children with HFA was pair matched with a group of TD children on age, gender, vocabulary, and socioeconomic status (SES). Participants were administered tests of proverbial understanding, metaphorical construction, analogies, language ability, EF, LCC, and ToM. TD children scored higher than children with HFA on all tests. In the HFA group, proverbial understanding was predicted by LCC and verbal ability and in the TD group by metaphorical construction and EF. These findings refute the argument that figurative language among HFA is a function of only verbal ability.