Schizotypy and psychopathic tendencies interactively improve misattribution of affect in boys with conduct problems.

Psychopathic tendencies are associated with difficulties in affective theory of mind (ToM), that is, in recognizing others affective mental states. In clinical and non-clinical adult samples, it has been shown that where psychopathic tendencies co-occur with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, the impairing effects of psychopathic tendencies on ToM are attenuated. These effects are yet to be examined in adolescents. We examined if the impairing effect of psychopathic tendencies on affective ToM was attenuated with increasing severity of schizotypal personality disorder (PD) in a sample of 80 incarcerated adolescent boys. We showed that the impairing effect of psychopathic tendencies on the recognition of neutral mental states, but not positive or negative mental states, was evident when the relative severity of schizotypal PD was low. However, with higher scores on both measures, we observed better performance in judging neutral mental states. The preservation of affective ToM in adolescents who show elevations in psychopathic tendencies and schizotypal PD may enable them to manipulate and extort their victims for personal gain. Our results emphasize the need to consider comorbidity in clinical case formulation when working with adolescents with conduct problems and psychopathic tendencies. More broadly, our results also suggest that the pattern of social cognitive abilities associated with co-occurring psychopathology does not always conform to an often-theorized double-dose of deficit hypothesis.

Re-imaging the intentional stance.

The commonly used paradigm to investigate Dennet's 'intentional stance' compares neural activation when participants compete with a human versus a computer. This paradigm confounds whether the opponent is natural or artificial and whether it is intentional or an automaton. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study is, to our knowledge, the first to investigate the intentional stance by orthogonally varying perceptions of the opponents' intentionality (responding actively or passively according to a script) and embodiment (human or a computer). The mere perception of the opponent (whether human or computer) as intentional activated the mentalizing network: the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) bilaterally, right temporal pole, anterior paracingulate cortex (aPCC) and the precuneus. Interacting with humans versus computers induced activations in a more circumscribed right lateralized subnetwork within the mentalizing network, consisting of the TPJ and the aPCC, possibly reflective of the tendency to spontaneously attribute intentionality to humans. The interaction between intentionality (active versus passive) and opponent (human versus computer) recruited the left frontal pole, possibly in response to violations of the default intentional stance towards humans and computers. Employing an orthogonal design is important to adequately capture Dennett's conception of the intentional stance as a mentalizing strategy that can apply equally well to humans and other intentional agents.

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.

Perspective-taking abilities in the balance between autism tendencies and psychosis proneness.

Difficulties with the ability to appreciate the perspective of others (mentalizing) is central to both autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While the disorders are diagnostically independent, they can co-occur in the same individual. The effect of such co-morbidity is hypothesized to worsen mentalizing abilities. The recent influential 'diametric brain theory', however, suggests that the disorders are etiologically and phenotypically diametrical, predicting opposing effects on one's mentalizing abilities. To test these contrasting hypotheses, we evaluated the effect of psychosis and autism tendencies on the perspective-taking (PT) abilities of 201 neurotypical adults, on the assumption that autism tendencies and psychosis proneness are heritable dimensions of normal variation. We show that while both autism tendencies and psychosis proneness induce PT errors, their interaction reduced these errors. Our study is, to our knowledge, the first to observe that co-occurring autistic and psychotic traits can exert opposing influences on performance, producing a normalizing effect possibly by way of their diametrical effects on socio-cognitive abilities. This advances the notion that some individuals may, to some extent, be buffered against developing either illness or present fewer symptoms owing to a balanced expression of autistic and psychosis liability.

Constraints to liberty of movement and attachment styles significantly account for well-being in three Palestinian samples.

Background: Political violence and constraints on liberty of movement can have consequences for health and well-being but affect individuals differently. Objective: In three Palestinian samples, we sought to examine the relationship between key environmental and psychological factors and general and mental health, including the previously unexplored roles of constraints to liberty of movement and attachment orientation. Method: Participants (N = 519) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Jordan completed questionnaires on constraints to liberty of movement, attachment insecurity, resource loss, experience of political violence , demographics, general healthdepression, and anxiety. All measures were translated from English to Arabic and back-translated into English. Results: Findings from regression and mediation analyses indicated that (1) differences in general and mental health among Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the diaspora in Jordan can be explained by the assessed constructs; (2) constraints to liberty of movement, attachment avoidance, and resource loss significantly accounted for poor general health; (3) constraints to liberty of movement, attachment anxiety, and resource loss significantly explained general anxiety symptoms; and (4) attachment anxiety, resource loss, and experience of political violence significantly explained depression symptoms. Conclusion: The findings have theory-building implications for psychological models of human flourishing and suffering, suggesting that they are incomplete without consideration of liberty as a context, as well as implications for policymakers and champions of global health initiatives, as they highlight the psychological effects of constraints to liberty of movement on health.

Antecedentes: La violencia política y las restricciones a la libertad de movimiento pueden tener consecuencias para la salud y el bienestar, pero afectan a las personas de manera diferente.Objetivo: En tres muestras palestinas, buscamos examinar la relación entre factores ambientales y psicológicos clave y la salud general y mental, incluidos los roles previamente inexplorados de las restricciones a la libertad de movimiento y el estilo de apego.Método: Los participantes (N = 519) en los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados y Jordania completaron cuestionarios sobre restricciones a la libertad de movimiento (escala de 4 ítems ideada por los autores para el propósito del presente estudio), inseguridad en el apego (Escala de Experiencias en Relaciones Cercanas - Short Form), pérdida de recursos (escala de Evaluación de Conservación de Recursos), experiencia de violencia política (Experiencia y miedo a la violencia política), demografía, salud y salud mental (PHQ4 para la depresión evaluación de 2 ítems para la ansiedad). Todas las medidas se tradujeron del inglés al árabe y retrotraducidas al inglés.Resultados: Los resultados de los análisis de regresión y mediación indicaron que (i) las diferencias en la salud general y mental entre los palestinos en los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados y la diáspora en Jordania pueden explicarse por los constructos evaluados; (ii) las limitaciones a la libertad de movimiento, el apego evitativo y la pérdida de recursos explicaron significativamente la salud general deteriorada; (iii) las limitaciones a la libertad de movimiento, el apego ansioso y la pérdida de recursos explicaron significativamente los síntomas generales de ansiedad; y (iv) el apego ansioso, la pérdida de recursos y la experiencia de violencia política explicaron significativamente los síntomas de la depresión.Conclusión: Los hallazgos tienen implicaciones para la construcción de teorías para los modelos psicológicos del crecimiento y el sufrimiento humano, lo que sugiere que están incompletos sin la consideración de la libertad como contexto, así como implicaciones para los responsables de las políticas y los defensores de las iniciativas de salud global, ya que destacan los efectos psicológicos de las limitaciones a la libertad de circulación en la salud.

Autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences modulate the association of psychopathic tendencies with theory of mind in opposite directions.

Various clinical disorders, including psychopathy, and autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, have been linked with impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM). However, although these conditions can co-occur in the same individual, the effect of their inter-play on ToM abilities has not been investigated. Here we assessed ToM abilities in 55 healthy adults while performing a naturalistic ToM task, requiring participants to watch a short film and judge the actors' mental states. The results reveal for the first time that autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences interact with psychopathic tendencies in opposite directions to predict ToM performance-the interaction of psychopathic tendencies with autism traits was associated with a decrement in performance, whereas the interaction of psychopathic tendencies and positive psychotic experiences was associated with improved performance. These effects were specific to cognitive rather than affective ToM. These results underscore the importance of the simultaneous assessment of these dimensions within clinical settings. Future research in these clinical populations may benefit by taking into account such individual differences.

Autism and psychosis expressions diametrically modulate the right temporoparietal junction.

The mentalizing network is atypically activated in autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While these disorders are considered diagnostically independent, expressions of both can co-occur in the same individual. We examined the concurrent effect of autism traits and psychosis proneness on the activity of the mentalizing network in 24 neurotypical adults while performing a social competitive game. Activations were observed in the paracingulate cortex and the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ). Autism traits and psychosis proneness did not modulate activity within the paracingulate or the dorsal component of the rTPJ. However, diametric modulations of autism traits and psychosis proneness were observed in the posterior (rvpTPJ) and anterior (rvaTPJ) subdivisions of the ventral rTPJ, which respectively constitute core regions within the mentalizing and attention-reorienting networks. Within the rvpTPJ, increasing autism tendencies decreased activity, and increasing psychosis proneness increased activity. This effect was reversed within the rvaTPJ. We suggest that this results from an interaction between regions responsible for higher level social cognitive processing (rvpTPJ) and regions responsible for domain-general attentional processes (rvaTPJ). The observed diametric modulation of autism tendencies and psychosis proneness of neuronal activity within the mentalizing network highlights the importance of assessing both autism and psychosis expressions within the individual.