Are anxiously attached women better mindreaders?

Analysis of the mediating effect of mentalization on the relationship between attachment styles and emotion dysregulation

The current study aims to explore the relationship between attachment styles, mentalization and emotion dysregulation. Moreover, the mediation effect of mentalization in the relationship between attachment and emotion dysregulation is analyzed. A sample composed of 607 participants taken from the Spanish general population completed the measures in a cross-sectional designed study. The results show that secure attachment is negatively related to emotion dysregulation dimensions, whereas insecure attachment styles show a positive correlation. Furthermore, the mentalization variables are in general significantly related to emotion dysregulation. The mediation model shows a large mediational effect size (f²  = 2.64). The results suggest that mentalization significantly mediates the relationship between emotion dysregulation and preoccupation, self-sufficiency, and childhood trauma. These results have important implications, as they indicate that clinical interventions on mentalization should reduce emotion dysregulation even in those people with a predominant insecure attachment style.

Cognitive Empathy as Imagination: Evidence From Reading the Mind in the Eyes in Autism and Schizotypy

How is cognitive empathy related to sociality, imagination, and other psychological constructs? How is it altered in disorders of human social cognition? We leveraged a large data set (1,168 students, 62% female) on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET), the Autism Quotient (AQ), and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ-BR) to test the hypotheses that the RMET, as a metric of cognitive empathy, reflects mainly social abilities, imagination, or both. RMET showed the expected female bias in performance, though only for eyes that expressed emotions and not for neutral expressions. RMET performance was significantly, and more strongly, associated with the AQ and SPQ subscales that reflect aspects of imagination (AQ-Imagination and SPQ-Magical Ideation) than aspects of social abilities (AQ-Social, AQ-Communication, and SPQ-Interpersonal subscales). These results were confirmed with multiple regression analysis, which also implicated increased attention (AQ-Attention Switching and, marginally non-significantly, AQ-Attention to Detail) in RMET performance. The two imagination-related correlates of RMET performance also show the strongest sex biases for the AQ and SPQ: male biased in AQ-Imagination, and female biased in SPQ-Magical Ideation, with small to medium effect sizes. Taken together, these findings suggest that cognitive empathy, as quantified by the RMET, centrally involves imagination, which is underdeveloped (with a male bias) on the autism spectrum and overdeveloped (with a female bias) on the schizotypy spectrum, with optimal emotion-recognition performance intermediate between the two. The results, in conjunction with previous studies, implicate a combination of optimal imagination and focused attention in enhanced RMET performance.

Attachment and medically unexplained somatic symptoms: The role of mentalization

Previous research has found an association between insecure attachment and increased somatization in adults. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are unknown. In the present study, we examined whether the association between attachment insecurity and somatization in psychiatric patients diagnosed with medically unexplained somatic symptoms (MUSS) is mediated by mentalization deficits. Attachment security of 58 outpatients diagnosed with MUSS was measured with the Experiences in Social Relationships Questionnaire (ECR). Difficulty with understanding own emotions was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. In addition, others' mental state comprehension was measured with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). Somatic symptom severity experienced by MUSS patients was related to attachment anxiety and alexithymia. These associations remained significant after controlling for sex, age, medication use, and depressive symptoms. Moreover, alexithymia mediated the association between anxious attachment and severity of somatic symptoms. Somatic symptom severity was also related to better RMET performance, although this association was not significant after controlling for sex, age, medication use, and depressive symptoms. Our findings may indicate that individuals with an anxious attachment style have difficulties in clarifying own emotions. This may in turn result in somatic experience of emotional distress and risk for development of MUSS.

Adult Attachment Affects Neural Response to Preference-Inferring in Ambiguous Scenarios: Evidence From an fMRI Study

Humans are highly social animals, and the ability to cater to the preferences of other individuals is encouraged by society. Preference-inferring is an important aspect of the theory of mind (TOM). Many previous studies have shown that attachment style is closely related to TOM ability. However, little is known about the effects of adult attachment style on preferences inferring under different levels of certainty. Here, we investigated how adult attachment style affects neural activity underlying preferences inferred under different levels of certainty by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The fMRI results demonstrated that adult attachment influenced the activation of anterior insula (AI) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in response to ambiguous preference-inferring. More specifically, in the ambiguous preference condition, the avoidant attached groups exhibited a significantly enhanced activation than secure and anxious attached groups in left IPL; the anxious attached groups exhibited a significantly reduced activation secure attached group in left IPL. In addition, the anxious attached groups exhibited a significantly reduced activation than secure and avoidant attached groups in left AI. These results were also further confirmed by the subsequent PPI analysis. The results from current study suggest that, under ambiguous situations, the avoidant attached individuals show lower sensitivity to the preference of other individuals and need to invest more cognitive resources for preference-reasoning; while compared with avoidant attached group, the anxious attached individuals express high tolerance for uncertainty and a higher ToM proficiency. Results from the current study imply that differences in preference-inferring under ambiguous conditions associated with different levels of individual attachment may explain the differences in interpersonal interaction.

Are adolescents with anorexia nervosa better at reading minds?

INTRODUCTION

The present study aimed to investigate mindreading abilities in female adolescent patients with AN compared to healthy controls (HCs), analysing differences for emotional valence of facial stimuli.

METHODS

The Eating Disorder Inventory) for evaluating psychological traits associated with eating disorders and the Children's version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test for evaluating mindreading abilities were administered to 40 Italian female patients (mean age = 14.93; SD = 1.48) with restrictive diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) and 40 healthy females (mean age = 14.88; SD = 0.56).

RESULTS

No significant differences between the AN group and HCs for the Eyes Total score were found. Even when analysing emotional valence of the items, the two groups were equally successful in the facial recognition of positive, negative and neutral emotions. A significant difference was revealed for the percentage of correct responses of item 10 and item 15, where the AN group was less able to correctly identify the target descriptor (Not believing) over the foils than HCs. A significant difference was revealed in discriminating for affective emotions versus cognitive states; only for affective but not for cognitive states, patients with AN were found to perform better than controls on the mindreading task.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study highlighted the importance of analysing and discriminating for different valences of facial stimuli when assessing mindreading abilities in adolescents with AN, so that more precise and specific treatment approaches could be developed for female adolescents with AN.

An exploratory assessment of theory of mind and psychological impairment in patients with bulimia nervosa

This study aimed to investigate psychosocial functioning and different dimensions of theory of mind (ToM) in people with bulimia nervosa (BN) and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified-BN type (EDNOS-BN). Psychosocial functioning and ToM were assessed in a sample of young adult females, 16 BN and 16 EDNOS-BN outpatients and 16 healthy controls (HCs). They were assessed using the Eating Disorder Inventory-Symptom Checklist-2 (EDI-2 SC) for evaluating psychological traits associated with eating disorders; the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) for evaluating psychopathological status; and the Theory of Mind Assessment Scale (Th.o.m.a.s.), a semi-structured interview aimed at assessing a person's different dimensions of ToM. The BN and EDNOS-BN groups exhibited worse performance than the control group on all dimensions of the SCL-90-R, and on all dimensions of the EDI-2 SC. The only difference for perfectionism was that BN obtained higher scores than EDNOS-BN group. Our results also revealed an impairment of third-person and second-order ToM in patients with bulimia (BN and EDNOS-BN) with respect to control subjects. These preliminary data have important implications for future empirical work, in that they provide valuable information regarding the importance of investigating the various facets of ToM ability separately, in order to provide a more detailed profile of ToM functioning in the clinical samples.

The relationship between 'theory of mind' and attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in Italian adolescents

This study examined the relationship between 'theory of mind' and attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in adolescence. The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test and the "Experiences in Close Relationships - Relationship Structures" questionnaires were administered to 402 14-19 year-old adolescents. Contrary to expectations, anxiety but not avoidance with mother was associated with less accurate mindreading, and this effect was stronger in younger than in older adolescents. Results might be explained in terms of the inconsistency of caregiver behavior that is supposed to cause anxious strategies, and thus illustrate the need to consider not only the effects, but also the causes of different types of insecure strategies.