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Le B, Huang Y, Wang L, Hu H, Wang X, Wang Y, Wang Y, Huang J, Lui SSY, Chan RCK. Individuals with high levels of autistic traits exhibit impaired cognitive but not affective theory of mind and empathy. Psych J 2024; 13:486-493. [PMID: 38298152 PMCID: PMC11169754 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) and empathy are considered key components of social cognition that are often impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether individuals with high levels of autistic traits exhibit similar impairments in these two functions. This study examined the affective and cognitive domains of ToM and empathy in individuals with high levels of autistic traits. We recruited 84 participants with high levels and 78 participants with low levels of autistic traits to complete a set of self-reported checklists and performance-based tasks capturing affective and cognitive components of ToM and empathy. The results showed that participants with high levels of autistic traits exhibited significant impairments in cognitive but not in affective ToM and empathy compared with their counterparts with low levels of autistic traits. We also found that empathy impairments in people with high levels of autistic traits were confounded by alexithymia and depressive traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bei‐lin Le
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Yi‐hang Huang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Ling‐ling Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Hui‐xin Hu
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Xuan Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Yi Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Ya Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Jia Huang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Simon S. Y. Lui
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical MedicineThe University of Hong KongHong Kong Special Administrative RegionChina
| | - Raymond C. K. Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of PsychologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
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Fu IN, Chen CT, Chen KL, Liu MR, Hsieh CL. Development and validation of the newly developed Preschool Theory of Mind Assessment (ToMA-P). Front Psychol 2024; 15:1274204. [PMID: 38650906 PMCID: PMC11033484 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1274204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to understand and attribute mental states to oneself and others. A ToM measure is warranted for preschool children to assess their ToM development from a multidimensional perspective (i.e., cognitive and affective dimensions). This study aimed to develop the Preschool Theory of Mind Assessment (ToMA-P) and to evaluate its construct validity and applicability. Methods The ToMA-P was developed based on comprehensive literature review and revised with expert panel feedback. Its psychometric properties were evaluated in 205 typically developing preschoolers with Rasch analysis for its dimensionality, item difficulties, and convergent validity. Results The results indicated that all ToMA-P items, except for one, fit the hypothesized two-dimensional construct. The item difficulties in the cognitive and affective dimensions followed developmental sequences. The ToMA-P scores exhibited good convergent validity, as evidenced by its significant correlations with age, verbal comprehension, adaptive functions, and daily ToM performance (p < 0.05). Children's responses and behaviors also showed that the ToMA-P has good applicability. Discussion This study provides empirical evidence that the ToMA-P measures cognitive and affective ToM following developmental sequences, and that it has potential as a clinical tool for assessing ToM in preschool children.
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Affiliation(s)
- I-Ning Fu
- Child Developmental Assessment and Intervention Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Cheng-Te Chen
- Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Kuan-Lin Chen
- Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Meng-Ru Liu
- Child Developmental Assessment and Intervention Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ching-Lin Hsieh
- School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
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Mazza M, Donne IL, Vagnetti R, Attanasio M, Paola Greco M, Chiara Pino M, Valenti M. Normative values and diagnostic optimisation of three social cognition measures for autism and schizophrenia diagnosis in a healthy adolescent and adult sample. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:511-529. [PMID: 37129426 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231175613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Awareness of the importance of assessing social cognition skills under conditions showing atypical social behaviours has increased over the years. However, the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the measures and the availability of normative values for the clinical context are still limited. This study aims to revise, provide normative values, and evaluate the clinical validity of the Italian version of three social cognition measures: Advanced Theory of Mind (A-ToM) task, the Emotion Attribution Task (EAT), and the Social Situation Task (SST). Measures were administered to 580 adolescents and adult healthy controls (age range 14-50). We performed differential item functioning and Rasch analysis to revise each task, so normative data of the revised measures were calculated. Moreover, the revised measures were administered to 38 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 35 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD): ASD and SSD were matched by age, gender, and IQ with a control sample to evaluate clinical validity. ROC analysis showed that the SST is the best measure differentiating between healthy and clinical groups, compared to the A-ToM (AUCASD = 0.70; AUCSSD = 0.65) and EAT (AUCASD = 0.67; AUCSSD = 0.50), which showed poorer performance. For SSD diagnosis, two SST subscales (Violation and Gravity score) indicated the best accuracy (AUCs of 0.88 and 0.84, respectively); for the ASD diagnosis, we propose a combined score between the SST subscale and A-ToM (AUC = 0.86). The results suggest that the proposed measures can be used to support the diagnostic process and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Mazza
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Ilenia Le Donne
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Roberto Vagnetti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Margherita Attanasio
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Maria Paola Greco
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Maria Chiara Pino
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Marco Valenti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- Abruzzo Region Health System, Reference Regional Centre for Autism, L'Aquila, Italy
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Salhi IS, Lancelot C, Marzouki Y, Souissi W, Besbes AN, Le Gall D, Bellaj T. Assessing the construct validity of a theory of mind battery adapted to Tunisian school-aged children. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:974174. [PMID: 36970273 PMCID: PMC10035413 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.974174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to understand others' states of mind, desires, emotions, beliefs, and intentions to predict the content of their mental representations. Two major dimensions within ToM have been studied. The first is the type of inferred mental state, which can be cognitive or affective. The second comprises the types of processes involved according to their degree of complexity (first- and second-order false belief and advanced ToM). ToM acquisition is fundamental-a key component in the development of everyday human social interactions. ToM deficits have been reported in various neurodevelopmental disorders through various tools assessing disparate facets of social cognition. Nevertheless, Tunisian practitioners and researchers lack a linguistically and culturally appropriate psychometric tool for ToM assessment among school-aged children. Objective To assess the construct validity of a translated and adapted French ToM Battery for Arabic-speaking Tunisian school-aged children. Methods The focal ToM Battery was designed with neuropsychological and neurodevelopmental theory and composed of 10 subtests distributed evenly in three parts: Pre-conceptual, cognitive, and affective ToM. Translated and adapted to the Tunisian sociocultural context, this ToM battery was individually administered to 179 neurotypical Tunisian children (90 girls and 89 boys) aged 7-12 years. Results After controlling for the age effect, construct validity was empirically confirmed on two dimensions (cognitive and affective) via structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, demonstrating that this solution has a good fit. The results confirmed that the age affected differentially the performance obtained on ToM tasks based on the two components of the battery. Conclusion Our findings confirm that the Tunisian version of the ToM Battery has robust construct validity for the assessment of cognitive and affective ToM in Tunisian school-aged children; hence, it could be adopted in clinical and research settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Imène Soumaya Salhi
- Tunis University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities at Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Céline Lancelot
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (LPPL), Université d’Angers, Angers, France
| | - Yousri Marzouki
- Psychology Program, Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Wided Souissi
- Tunis University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities at Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Aya Nejiba Besbes
- Tunis University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities at Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Didier Le Gall
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (LPPL), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) d’Angers, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
| | - Tarek Bellaj
- Psychology Program, Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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Jelili S, Halayem S, Rajhi O, Abbes Z, Mansour HB, Ouanes S, Taamallah A, Ennaifer S, Ben Yahia H, Ghazzei M, Nabli A, Hajri M, Fakhfakh R, Mrabet A, Bouden A. Assessment of theory of mind in Tunisian verbal children with autism spectrum disorder. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:922873. [PMID: 36465310 PMCID: PMC9713837 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.922873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study examined performance in Theory of Mind (ToM) in a group of 31 Arabic-speaking verbal children (7-12 years-old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in comparison with neurotypical controls (NT) matched for age and for cognitive abilities. An innovative task in a digital format named "The Tunisian Social Situations Instrument" (TSSI) was used and allowed us to study four different subdomains of ToM: attribution of intention and epistemic ToM (cognitive ToM), affective ToM, and detection of faux pas (advanced ToM). Our study showed impairments in ToM in children with ASD, similar to those reported in the literature. Our findings additionally suggested that affective and advanced ToM, specifically the detection of faux pas, might be more challenging for ASD children than other components of ToM. Future studies with larger number of children may lead us to specify which subdomains are the most impaired in order to develop specific tools targeting these specific impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selima Jelili
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Soumeyya Halayem
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Olfa Rajhi
- Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Versaille Hospital Center, Le Chesnay, France
| | - Zeineb Abbes
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Hajer Ben Mansour
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Sami Ouanes
- Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia.,Department of Psychiatry - Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Amal Taamallah
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Selima Ennaifer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Houda Ben Yahia
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Melek Ghazzei
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Ahmed Nabli
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia
| | - Malek Hajri
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Radhouane Fakhfakh
- Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia.,Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, Abderrahmen Mami Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Ali Mrabet
- Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia.,Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Asma Bouden
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.,Faculty of Medicine, Tunis El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia
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