The longitudinal relations between mental state talk and theory of mind.

BACKGROUND: Previous investigations of associations between children's Theory of Mind (ToM) and parents' use of words relating to mental states (or mental state talk; MST) have predominantly been performed using cross-sectional designs and false belief tasks as indicators of ToM. METHODS: We here report a longitudinal study of 3-5 year-olds (n = 80) investigating ToM development using the ToM scale and three different parental MST types: the absolute frequency of words, the proportions of words, and the vocabulary size. RESULTS: Our results revealed significant relations between all parental MST types and later child ToM. Proportions of parental MST were most often related to the children's ToM at 4 years of age. However, the rate at which the children developed ToM from 3 to 5 years of age was associated with the other two parental MST type measures, namely, absolute frequency and vocabulary size. Additionally, our analyses revealed that parents' use of cognitive MST words (e.g., think, or know) were most frequently associated with children's ToM at 4 years of age compared to emotion and desire-related MST words. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the parental ability to capture the thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge present in different scenarios is associated with children's ability to understand other minds. Moreover, parents' way of talking about the mental states of others is associated with their children's ability to understand and further develop ToM.

Childrens' attachment story-completions and their theory of mind in three Turkish contexts: Seasonal migrant agricultural worker communities, residential group homes, and rural villages.

This study examines the association between attachment story-completions, as evaluated by a representational attachment measure, and theory of mind (ToM) among 204 socioeconomically disadvantaged children aged four to six years living in three distinct Turkish contexts: Seasonal migrant agricultural worker (SMAW) communities, residential group homes (RGHs), and rural villages. Attachment story-completions and ToM were found to be related to the distinct contexts children were living in. In the SMAW communities, higher number of children showed insecure dominant attachment, with only one in four having secure dominant attachment. About half of the children in the RGHs had insecure dominant attachment. However, the majority of village children exhibited secure dominant attachment. Furthermore, irrespective of the context, secure dominant attachment was found to have a substantial positive influence on children's ToM. Findings suggest that early intervention programs tailored to address emotional needs and support cognitive skills may be the most effective in helping children in these contexts.

An assessment of dynamic facial emotion recognition and theory of mind in children with ADHD: An eye-tracking study.

Deficits in social cognition in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with difficulties in functioning. Since recognizing emotional facial expressions is essential for developing the perceptual components of the theory of mind (ToM), it is important to assess this relationship in children with ADHD. This study therefore compared the recognition of emotional stimuli and gaze patterns between children with ADHD and healthy children using eye-tracking with dynamic facial images. It also examined the relationship between facial emotion recognition accuracy, gaze patterns, ToM scores, and ADHD symptoms. Children with ADHD aged 8-13 (n = 47) and a control group (n = 38) completed a facial emotion recognition test, ToM tests, and the Conners' Parent Rating Scale. Participants' gaze patterns in response to dynamic facial emotion expressions were recorded using eye-tracking technology. Children with ADHD exhibited significantly lower accuracy in the recognition of the facial expressions of disgust and anger. The percentage fixation in the eye region was also significantly lower for happy, angry, sad, disgusted, and neutral emotions in the children with ADHD compared to the control group. No relationship was determined between the percentage of fixations on facial areas of interests and ADHD symptoms or ToM tests. This study provides evidence that children with ADHD experience deficits in visual attention to emotional cues. In addition, it suggests that facial emotion recognition deficits in children with ADHD represent a separate domain of social cognition that develops independently of ToM skills and core symptoms. Understanding and treating the social difficulties of individuals with ADHD may help improve their social functioning.

Social cognition in women with borderline personality disorder based on an exhaustive analysis of the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) categories.

A significant number of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are manifested in the interpersonal context. This can be explained by the difficulties in attributing the mental states of oneself and others, which constitutes social cognition. Errors in social cognition are interrelated with the affective, cognitive, impulsive, and interpersonal areas of the person with BPD. The aims of this study was to analyze social cognition in women with BPD compared with a control group and to analyze social cognition in BPD based on BPD symptoms and its severity. To assess social cognition, we used a full range of social cognition categories provided by the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC): correct theory of mind (ToM); attribution of mental states (thoughts, emotions, or intentions); errors of mentalization; types of ToM; and attribution of mental states through perceptive or cognitive cues and through hot or cold emotions. The MASC has high ecological validity and has been validated in Spanish. The sample comprised 79 women, including 47 women with BPD and 32 healthy women. Worse social cognition performance was observed in women with BPD. More severe borderline symptoms were related to worse functioning in the correct ToM and to errors of no mentalization. Involvement of the cognitive area in borderline symptoms was associated with worse functioning in correct ToM and worse social cognition in cognitive areas as well as with hypermentalization. This is the first study that uses all the MASC categories and considers BPD heterogeneity and its severity to study social cognition.

Beyond Mentalizing: Epistemic Trust and the Transmission of Culture.

We explore the interpersonal origins of human culture, arguing that culture emerges as a necessary consequence of our helplessness in infancy, which in turn requires a greater degree of collaboration and social organization than is necessary for other mammals. We propose a model of cultural transmission that depends on a dyadic interpersonal process whose vicissitudes can have a lifelong impact. We explore the role played by imagining subjectively experienced psychological states and processes in others, which we have defined as mentalizing, in the process of cultural transmission, and propose that mentalizing is key to the establishment of epistemic trust-that is to say, an experience of trust that enables the individual to absorb and use the knowledge they are being offered. We suggest that psychoanalysis can be viewed as a paradigmatic example of a process of transferring knowledge from one human being (the teacher, the caregiver, the analyst) to another (the learner, the young person, the patient) and argue that the mechanisms of psychic change in analysis cannot be fully understood without appreciating this aspect of the biological/evolutionary origins of our essential humanity. Finally, we discuss the clinical implications of the model we are proposing for the psychoanalytic process.

Differentiating mental models of self and others: A hierarchical framework for knowledge assessment.

Developing an accurate model of another agent's knowledge is central to communication and cooperation between agents. In this article, we propose a hierarchical framework of knowledge assessment that explains how people construct mental models of their own knowledge and the knowledge of others. Our framework posits that people integrate information about their own and others' knowledge via Bayesian inference. To evaluate this claim, we conduct an experiment in which participants repeatedly assess their own performance (a metacognitive task) and the performance of another person (a type of theory of mind task) on the same image classification tasks. We contrast the hierarchical framework with simpler alternatives that assume different degrees of differentiation between mental models of self and others. Our model accurately captures participants' assessment of their own performance and the performance of others in the task: Initially, people rely on their own self-assessment process to reason about the other person's performance, leading to similar self- and other-performance predictions. As more information about the other person's ability becomes available, the mental model for the other person becomes increasingly distinct from the mental model of self. Simulation studies also confirm that our framework explains a wide range of findings about human knowledge assessment of themselves and others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Mentalizing in an economic games context is associated with enhanced activation and connectivity in the left temporoparietal junction.

Prior studies in Social Neuroeconomics have consistently reported activation in social cognition regions during interactive economic games, suggesting mentalizing during economic choice. Such mentalizing occurs during active participation in the game, as well as during passive observation of others' interactions. We designed a novel version of the classic false-belief task (FBT) in which participants read vignettes about interactions between agents in the ultimatum and trust games and were subsequently asked to infer the agents' beliefs. We compared activation patterns during the economic games FBT to those during the classic FBT using conjunction analyses. We find significant overlap in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, as well as the temporal pole (TP) during two task phases: belief formation and belief inference. Moreover, generalized Psychophysiological Interaction (gPPI) analyses show that during belief formation, the right TPJ is a target of both the left TPJ and the right TP seed regions, whereas during belief inferences all seed regions show interconnectivity with each other. These results indicate that across different task types and phases, mentalizing is associated with activation and connectivity across central nodes of the social cognition network. Importantly, this is the case for both the novel economic games and the classic FBTs.

Mentalizing ability, mentalizing impairments, and anorexia nervosa: Validation of the Hebrew version of the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC).

The goal of this study was to validate the Hebrew version of the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC)-an ecological measure for assessing mentalizing ability-among patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy individuals. We examined the validity of the MASC's general mentalizing ability scale and of its mentalizing impairments subscales using validated measures of mentalizing ability (Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery, and Reflective Function questionnaire) among female patients with AN (N = 35) and control participants (N = 42). ED symptoms were assessed via self-report questionnaires. The MASCHeb correlated with measures of mentalizing ability and was found to significantly differentiate patients with AN from controls. In addition to differing on general mental ability, the groups differed on hypomentalizing (but not hypermentalizing). Based on our findings, the MASCHeb proved to be an ecologically valid tool for assessing mentalizing ability and impairments among patients with AN. Moreover, our findings demonstrated the role played by general mentalizing ability in EDs and specifically pointed to the importance of hypomentalization in EDs. These findings have therapeutic implications, as outlined in the Discussion section.

The animated assessment of theory of mind for people with schizophrenia (AToMS): development and psychometric evaluation.

Theory of mind (ToM) deficits in people with schizophrenia have been reported and associated with impaired social interactions. Thus, ToM deficits may negatively impact social functioning and warrant consideration in treatment development. However, extant ToM measures may place excessive cognitive demands on people with schizophrenia. Therefore, the study aimed to develop a comprehensible Assessment of ToM for people with Schizophrenia (AToMS) and evaluate its psychometric properties. The AToMs was developed in 5 stages, including item formation, expert review, content validity evaluation, animation production, and cognitive interviews of 25 people with schizophrenia. The psychometric properties of the 16-item AToMS (including reliability and validity) were then tested on 59 people with schizophrenia. The newly developed animated AToMS assesses 8 ToM concepts in the cognitive and affective dimensions while placing minimal neurocognitive demands on people with schizophrenia. The AToMS presented satisfactory psychometric properties, with adequate content validity (content validity index = 0.91); mostly moderate item difficulty (item difficulty index = 0.339-0.966); good discrimination (coefficients = 0.379-0.786), internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.850), and reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.901 for test-retest, 0.997 for inter-rater); and satisfactory convergent and divergent validity. The AToMS is reliable and valid for evaluating ToM characteristics in people with schizophrenia. Future studies are warranted to examine the AToMS in other populations (e.g., people with affective disorders) to cross-validate and extend its utility and psychometric evidence.

The Role of Socioeconomic Adversity and Armed Conflict in Executive Function, Theory of Mind and Empathy in Children.

This study investigates the role of socioeconomic adversity and armed conflict in executive function (EF), theory of mind (ToM) and empathy in a rarely studied group, children living in eastern Turkey. The data were collected from 115 children (60 girls) aged 39 to 95 months (M = 68.22, SD = 14.62). Results revealed that children's performance was low in the EF and ToM tasks, and high in the empathy task. In path analysis, controlling for age, armed conflict experience predicted lower EF (ß = - 0.15) and higher empathy (ß = 0.21), and socioeconomic adversity predicted lower ToM (ß = 0.20). These findings contribute to our knowledge on cognitive and emotional development of children who live in such disadvantaged contexts.

The role of mentalizing capacity and ecological language diversity on irony comprehension in bilingual adults.

Diverse bilingual experiences have implications for language comprehension, including pragmatic elements such as verbal irony. Irony comprehension is shaped by an interplay of linguistic, cognitive, and social factors, including individual differences in bilingual experience. We examined the relationship between individual differences related to bilingualism, specifically, the capacity to understand others' mental states and ambient exposure to language diversity, on irony comprehension. We tested 54 healthy bilingual adults, living in a linguistically diverse region-Montréal, Canada-on an irony comprehension task. This task involved reading positive and negative short stories that concluded with an ironic or literal statement, which were rated on appropriateness and perceived irony. While both irony forms were rated as less appropriate and more ironic than literal statements, ironic criticisms (following a negative context) were rated as more appropriate and higher in perceived irony than ironic compliments (following a positive context). As expected, these ratings varied as a function of individual differences in mentalizing and neighborhood language diversity. Greater mentalizing patterned with more appropriate ratings to ironic statements in high language diversity neighborhoods and with less appropriate ratings to ironic statements in low language diversity neighborhoods. Perceived irony ratings to ironic compliments increased with mentalizing as neighborhood language diversity increased. These results indicate that pragmatic language comprehension and its social cognitive underpinnings may be environmentally contextualized processes.

Notas para decolonizar os estudos transpessoais no brasil: contribuições do pluriperspectivismo participativo / Notes for decolonizing transpersonal studies in brazil: contributions of participatory pluriperspectivism / Apuntes para la decolonización de los estudios transpersonales en brasil: aportes del pluriperspectivismo participativo

O campo dos estudos transpessoais tem avançado em diversas áreas no Brasil. Comemorou seus 40 anos com uma inserção ativa nas Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) e uma ampliação de núcleos formativos e apoiadores de ensino, pesquisa e ações sociais, além de diálogos com o Sistema de Conselhos de Psicologia. Desafios são apresentados a partir do levantamento de uma série de questões importantes e ignoradas dentro da Psicologia Transpessoal no Brasil. Apresentamos o pluriperspectivismo participativo como possibilidade de decolonizar as matrizes eurocêntricas e estadunidenses, que dão suporte ao pensamento transpessoal brasileiro, buscando honrar nossas raízes históricas e incluir outras epistemologias e ontologias, que dão continuidade à crítica à lógica cartesiana moderna. Indicamos uma breve agenda de notas temáticas que carecem de um processo decolonizador no campo transpessoal: a) crítica às perspectivas de um pensamento hegemônico, em termos globais por meio da dominação Norte-Sul ou no campo das relações sociais; b) revisão das formas de "centrocentrismo"; c) questionamento da noção de universalismo das ciências e da ética; d) aprofundamento da análise crítica da supremacia restritiva da racionalidade formal técnico-científica em relação às formas de subjetividade, de vivências holísticas e integradoras e de valorização do corpo; e) revisão da noção de sujeito moderno desprovida da cocriação do humano com a comunidade, a história, a natureza e o cosmos.(AU)

The field of transpersonal studies has advanced in several areas in Brazil. It celebrated its 40th anniversary with an active insertion in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and an expansion of training centers and supporters of teaching, research, and social actions, in addition to dialogues with the System of Councils of Psychology. Challenges are presented based on a survey of a series of important and ignored issues within Transpersonal Psychology in Brazil. We present participatory pluriperspectivism as a possibility to decolonize the Eurocentric and North American matrices that support Brazilian transpersonal thought, seeking to honor our historical roots and include other epistemologies and ontologies, which continue the critique of modern Cartesian logic. We indicate a brief agenda of thematic notes that lack a decolonizing process in the transpersonal field: a) criticism of the perspectives of a hegemonic thought, whether in global terms via North-South domination or in the field of social relations; b) review of the forms of "centrocentrism"; c) questioning of the notion of universalism of science and ethics; d) deepening of the critical analysis of the restrictive supremacy of the technical-scientific formal rationality in relation to the forms of subjectivity, of holistic and integrative experiences, and of valuing the body; e) review of the notion of the modern subject devoid of the co-creation of the human with the community, the history, the nature, and the cosmos.(AU)

El campo de los estudios transpersonales ha avanzado en varias áreas de Brasil. Se celebró su 40.º aniversario con una inserción activa en Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) y una ampliación de los centros de formación y promotores de la docencia, la investigación y la acción social, además de diálogos con el Sistema de Consejos de Psicología. Los desafíos se presentan a partir de una encuesta de una serie de temas importantes e ignorados dentro de la Psicología Transpersonal en Brasil. Presentamos el pluriperspectivismo participativo como una posibilidad para decolonizar las matrices eurocéntrica y americana, que sustentan el pensamiento transpersonal brasileño, buscando honrar nuestras raíces históricas e incluir otras epistemologías y ontologías que continúan la crítica de la lógica cartesiana moderna. Indicamos una breve agenda de apuntes temáticos que carecen de un proceso decolonizador en el campo transpersonal: a) crítica de las perspectivas de un pensamiento hegemónico, ya sea en términos globales a través del dominio Norte-Sur o en el campo de las relaciones sociales; b) revisión de las formas de "centrocentrismo"; c) cuestionamiento de la noción de universalismo de la ciencia y la ética; d) profundización del análisis crítico de la supremacía restrictiva de la racionalidad formal técnico-científica en relación a las formas de subjetividad, de experiencias holísticas e integradoras y de valoración del cuerpo; e) revisión de la noción de sujeto moderno desprovisto de la cocreación de lo humano con la comunidad, la historia, la naturaleza y el cosmos.(AU)

Sociocognição e saúde mental: a 'leitura do outro' no cuidado em saúde / Cognición social y salud mental: la 'lectura de la mente' en la assistencia a salud / Social cognition and mental health: the mindreading in the healthcare work

RESUMO. Teoria da mente é a habilidade sociocognitiva de inferir pensamentos, sentimentos e intenções. É uma habilidade que sustenta as relações sociais e parece particularmente relevante para o exercício de certas atividades que estão ligadas à 'leitura do outro', como a prática de profissionais que exercem o cuidado em equipamentos de saúde, como ocorre nos Centros de Atenção Psicossocial. Este estudo teórico teve o objetivo de analisar a importância das habilidades sociocognitivas para o trabalho em saúde, especialmente na saúde mental, a fim de identificar e discutir possíveis fatores que podem ter impacto na inferência que os profissionais fazem a respeito do que os usuários do serviço estão pensando, sentindo ou querendo. A análise permitiu observar as formas pelas quais a teoria da mente pode se tornar importante ferramenta para o profissional no processo terapêutico. Além disso, foi possível identificar que, no formato em que tem funcionado atualmente, o trabalho em Centros de Atenção Psicossocial tem exposto o profissional a diversos estressores que parecem produzir efeitos em suas habilidades sociocognitivas, podendo prejudicar não apenas sua saúde como também o exercício do cuidado.

RESUMEN. Teoría de la mente es la capacidad sociocognitiva de inferir pensamientos, sentimientos e intenciones. Es una habilidad que apoya las relaciones sociales y parece particularmente relevante para el ejercicio de determinadas actividades que están vinculadas a 'leer al otro', como la práctica de los profesionales que brindan atención en equipos de salud, como ocurre en los Centros de Atención Psicosocial. Este estudio teórico tuvo como objetivo analizar la importancia de las habilidades socio-cognitivas para el trabajo en salud, especialmente en salud mental, buscando identificar y discutir posibles factores que pueden incidir en la inferencia que hacen los profesionales sobre lo que piensan, sienten o sienten los usuarios del servicio. El análisis permitió observar las formas en que la teoría de la mente puede convertirse en una herramienta importante para los profesionales en el proceso terapéutico. Además, se pudo identificar que, en el formato en el que se ha operado actualmente, el trabajo en Centros de Atención Psicosocial ha expuesto a los profesionales a diversos estresores que parecen afectar sus habilidades sociocognitivas, los cuales pueden perjudicar no solo su salud sino también el ejercicio del cuidado.

ABSTRACT. Theory of mind is a social cognition ability to infer thoughts, feelings and intentions. It is a skill that underpins social relationships and seems particularly relevant to the exercise of certain activities linked to mindreading, such as healthcare practice, for example, in Psychosocial Care Centers. This theoretical study aims to analyze the importance of social cognition skills for mental health practitioners, seeking to identify and discuss possible factors that impact how these professionals infer what service users are thinking, feeling or wanting. The analysis allowed us to observe how the theory of mind can become an important tool for professionals in the therapeutic process. In particular, the study concludes that work in Psychosocial Care Centers has exposed professionals to various stressors that seem to have an effect on their social cognition skills, which can harm not only their health but also their ability to attend to the needs of service users.

Altered Theory of Mind in Parkinson's Disease and Impact on Caregivers: A Pilot Study.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson's disease (PD) includes deficits in theory of mind (ToM). However, associations between ToM and caregiver burden and distress are still unclear. The objective of this pilot study was to preliminarily explore the relation between ToM and caregiver burden and distress in a sample of PD-MCI patients. Twelve PD-MCI patients were evaluated on a ToM task (Faux Pas), whereas their caregivers were assessed on caregiver burden (Zarit Burden Interview-12 items) and distress (Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Distress). Cognitive ToM was significantly associated with caregiver distress, but caregiver burden was associated with the severity of patient psychiatric symptoms.

A Visual Task-Based Assessment of Theory of Mind and Social Perception Within Bipolar Disorder.

ABSTRACT: Evidence suggests that theory of mind (TOM) and social perception (SP) may be impaired within bipolar disorder (BD). However, it remains unclear whether these deficits are facet specific and predictive of functioning. This study assessed the manifestation of TOM and SP in a BD sample. Twenty-six individuals diagnosed with BD and 25 controls were recruited and assessed for TOM, SP, and functioning. Whereas differences were observed regarding functional outcome, differences were not observed regarding social cognitive performance, regardless of facet. Correlations between social cognitive and functional outcome domains were nonsignificant, whereas significant associations were observed between the social cognitive measures. Results suggest that despite functional differences, TOM and SP, independent of facet assessed, seem preserved within the BD sample. Although evidence was not provided supporting the utility of TOM and SP in the prediction of functional outcome, evidence supports the possible dependence of these social cognitive domains on shared underlying processes.

A revised instrument for the assessment of empathy and Theory of Mind in adolescents: Introducing the EmpaToM-Y.

Empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are two core components of social understanding. The EmpaToM is a validated social video task that allows for independent manipulation and assessment of the two capacities. First applications revealed that empathy and ToM are dissociable constructs on a neuronal as well as on a behavioral level. As the EmpaToM has been designed for the assessment of social understanding in adults, it has a high degree of complexity and comprises topics that are inadequate for minors. For this reason, we designed a new version of the EmpaToM that is especially suited to measure empathy and ToM in youths. In experiment 1, we successfully validated the EmpaToM-Y on the original EmpaToM in an adult sample (N = 61), revealing a similar pattern of results across tasks and strong correlations of all constructs. As intended, the performance measure for ToM and the control condition of the EmpaToM-Y showed reduced difficulty. In experiment 2, we tested the feasibility of the EmpaToM-Y in a group of teenagers (N = 36). Results indicate a reliable empathy induction and higher demands of ToM questions for adolescents. We provide a promising task for future research targeting inter-individual variability of socio-cognitive and socio-affective capacities as well as their precursors and outcomes in healthy minors and clinical populations.

Too Many Cooks: Bayesian Inference for Coordinating Multi-Agent Collaboration.

Collaboration requires agents to coordinate their behavior on the fly, sometimes cooperating to solve a single task together and other times dividing it up into sub-tasks to work on in parallel. Underlying the human ability to collaborate is theory-of-mind (ToM), the ability to infer the hidden mental states that drive others to act. Here, we develop Bayesian Delegation, a decentralized multi-agent learning mechanism with these abilities. Bayesian Delegation enables agents to rapidly infer the hidden intentions of others by inverse planning. We test Bayesian Delegation in a suite of multi-agent Markov decision processes inspired by cooking problems. On these tasks, agents with Bayesian Delegation coordinate both their high-level plans (e.g., what sub-task they should work on) and their low-level actions (e.g., avoiding getting in each other's way). When matched with partners that act using the same algorithm, Bayesian Delegation outperforms alternatives. Bayesian Delegation is also a capable ad hoc collaborator and successfully coordinates with other agent types even in the absence of prior experience. Finally, in a behavioral experiment, we show that Bayesian Delegation makes inferences similar to human observers about the intent of others. Together, these results argue for the centrality of ToM for successful decentralized multi-agent collaboration.

A comprehensive assessment of poststroke social cognitive function.

OBJECTIVE: Stroke-related social cognitive impairment is now well established, but studies vary considerably in the nature and magnitude of the deficits reported, as well as whether there are potential areas of preservation. Because these discrepancies may reflect clinical heterogeneity between the contributing research participants, this study provides the first concurrent assessment of all four core social cognitive domains (theory of mind, emotion perception, social behavior, and affective empathy) in the same stroke cohort. A secondary goal was to test whether the degree of social cognitive impairment varied as a function of the tasks' ecological validity, on the basis that tasks with greater realism may provide a better indication of the implications of any stroke-related difficulties for everyday social interactions. METHOD: Participants included 35 people with first-time, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke (as confirmed via MRI or CT) aged between 29 and 87 years (M = 64.69; SD = 12.92), and 35 controls matched for age, sex, and years of education. All participants completed a comprehensive social cognitive test battery as well as measures to broadly characterize neurocognitive function and well-being. RESULTS: Relative to controls, affective empathy was selectively preserved (d = 0.02), but stroke-related deficits were identified for theory of mind (d = -0.42), emotion perception (d = -0.48), and social behavior (d = -0.59). The degree of social cognitive impairment did not vary as a function of the tasks' ecological validity. CONCLUSIONS: These data enhance understanding of stroke-related social cognitive impairment and inform the development of tailored, evidence-based rehabilitation efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

An assessment of age differences in theory of mind using the virtual assessment of mentalizing ability.

Prior research has shown that older adults perform more poorly than young on tasks that assess theory of mind (ToM). However, these studies have used tasks that are performed "offline" (i.e., requiring a second-person perspective) as opposed to "online" (i.e., requiring a first-person perspective). Therefore, the present study was designed to establish whether age-related ToM difficulties are also evident when an "online" measure of ToM is used. Forty younger and 40 older adults completed the Virtual Assessment of Mentalizing Ability (VAMA) along with two conventional ToM tasks. No age differences were evident on the conventional measures, but older adults had lower accuracy on the VAMA relative to their younger counterparts. The overall pattern of errors did not differ between the groups. These data provide no evidence that age effects are reduced when stimuli are used that are more likely to engage the mentalizing processes elicited in real life social interactions.

Socio-economic status, executive functions, and theory of mind ability in adolescents: Relationships with language ability and cortisol.

Socio-economic status (SES) is linked to the development of cognitive abilities, particularly language and executive processes. It is unclear whether these represent a single or independent correlates. We studied 110 Ecuadorian youths aged 12-17 with measures of SES, language, executive function, and theory of mind (ToM), a.k.a. mentalizing. A subsample gave hair samples to estimate recent cortisol levels. Restricting analyses to reliable measures, SES was highly associated with language skill, and to a lesser extent with executive function and ToM performance. However, those latter associations were attenuated and non-significant when language ability was controlled for statistically. Systemic cortisol levels were not associated with SES, but were significantly and negatively correlated with ToM, independent of variation in language skills. We conclude that language development underlies most of the impact of SES on executive function and ToM ability of adolescents, but that stress-related cortisol may have an independent, direct effect on mentalizing.