Social cognition and sex: Are men and women really different?

Chemical cousins with contrasting behavioural profiles: MDMA users and methamphetamine users differ in social-cognitive functions and aggression

Methamphetamine (METH, "Crystal Meth") and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") share structural-chemical similarities but have distinct psychotropic profiles due to specific neurochemical actions. Previous research has suggested that their impact on social cognitive functions and social behaviour may differ significantly, however, direct comparisons of METH and MDMA users regarding social cognition and interaction are lacking. Performances in cognitive and emotional empathy (Multifaceted Empathy Test) and emotion sensitivity (Face Morphing Task), as well as aggressive social behaviour (Competitive Reaction Time Task) were assessed in samples of n = 40 chronic METH users, n = 39 chronic MDMA users and n = 86 stimulant-naïve controls (total N = 165). Self-reports and hair samples were used to obtain subjective and objective estimates of substance use patterns. METH users displayed diminished cognitive and emotional empathy towards positive stimuli, elevated punitive social behaviour regardless of provocation, and self-reported heightened trait anger relative to controls. MDMA users diverged from the control group only by exhibiting a distinct rise in punitive behaviour when faced with provocation. Correlation analyses indicated that both higher hair concentrations of MDMA and METH may be associated with reduced cognitive empathy. Moreover, greater lifetime MDMA use correlated with increased punitive behaviour among MDMA users. Our findings confirm elevated aggression and empathy deficits in chronic METH users, while chronic MDMA users only displayed more impulsive aggression. Dose-response correlations indicate that some of these deficits might be a consequence of use. Specifically, the dopaminergic mechanism of METH might be responsible for social-cognitive deficits.

Bridging the Gender Gap in Academic Engagement among Young Adults: The Role of Anticipated Future Sex Discrimination and Gender-role Orientation

Academic engagement is vital for college students, yet existing studies reveal inconsistencies in how gender influences academic engagement. Building upon the statistical discrimination theory and identity-based motivation theory, this study develops an integrated model to examine gender differences in college students' academic engagement. Further, the role that gender-role orientation in influencing academic engagement was investigated. Using a sample of 524 college students (Mage = 21.11, SD = 1.98; 47.7% women) from a large university collected in two time periods, the findings indicate that in the Chinese context, women anticipate higher future sex discrimination than men. However, gender-role orientation restores parity between men and women through a moderated mediation: egalitarian gender-role orientation has a stronger effect on women's anticipated future sex discrimination than on men's, resulting in increased academic engagement of women. The findings highlight the need to consider female students' egalitarian beliefs in gender-related academic research.

Supraphysiological testosterone levels from anabolic steroid use and reduced sensitivity to negative facial expressions in men

RATIONALE

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are used to improve physical performance and appearance, but have been associated with deficits in social cognitive functioning. Approximately 30% of people who use AAS develop a dependence, increasing the risk for undesired effects.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the relationship between AAS use (current/previous), AAS dependence, and the ability to recognize emotional facial expressions, and investigate the potential mediating role of hormone levels.

METHODS

In total 156 male weightlifters, including those with current (n = 45) or previous (n = 34) AAS use and never-using controls (n = 77), completed a facial Emotion Recognition Task (ERT). Participants were presented with faces expressing one out of six emotions (sadness, happiness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise) and were instructed to indicate which of the six emotions each face displayed. ERT accuracy and response time were recorded and evaluated for association with AAS use status, AAS dependence, and serum reproductive hormone levels. Mediation models were used to evaluate the mediating role of androgens in the relationship between AAS use and ERT performance.

RESULTS

Compared to never-using controls, men currently using AAS exhibited lower recognition accuracy for facial emotional expressions, particularly anger (Cohen's d = -0.57, pFDR = 0.03) and disgust (d = -0.51, pFDR = 0.05). Those with AAS dependence (n = 47) demonstrated worse recognition of fear relative to men without dependence (d = 0.58, p = 0.03). Recognition of disgust was negatively correlated with serum free testosterone index (FTI); however, FTI did not significantly mediate the association between AAS use and recognition of disgust.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate impaired facial emotion recognition among men currently using AAS compared to controls. While further studies are needed to investigate potential mechanisms, our analysis did not support a simple mediation effect of serum FTI.

Emotional competencies and psychological distress: Is loneliness a mediating factor?

Emotional competencies, such as emotion regulation and empathy, are essential for social interaction. Impairment of these skills has been associated with increased rates of anxiety/depressive symptoms and loneliness, which has been defined as the discrepancy between the desired and actual quality and quantity of social relationships a person maintains. The aim of the present study was to shed light on the associations between these constructs and to examine the possible mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between emotional competencies and anxiety/depressive symptoms in a sample of non-clinical individuals. A total of 298 participants were recruited for this study and were asked to complete a series of measures assessing difficulties in emotion regulation, empathy, loneliness, and anxiety/depressive symptoms. Regression and mediation models were tested to analyze the associations between these variables. Results showed that reduced emotional competencies in emotion regulation and empathy were both directly and indirectly associated with increased anxiety/depressive symptoms and emotional loneliness, which in turn was related to higher levels of psychological distress (with a partial mediation of loneliness). Overall, the present findings seem to indicate that emotional competencies play a key role in the experience of loneliness and psychological distress. Therefore, individuals reporting high levels of loneliness in combination with anxious/depressive symptoms should receive appropriate assessment and treatment of emotion regulation and empathic skills.

Normative values and diagnostic optimisation of three social cognition measures for autism and schizophrenia diagnosis in a healthy adolescent and adult sample

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.

Does the interplay of emotion-related personality traits and reproductive hormones predict individual variation in emotion recognition?

Person-related variation has been identified in many socio-cognitive domains, and there is evidence for links between certain personality traits and individual emotion recognition. Some studies, utilizing the menstrual cycle as a hormonal model, attempted to demonstrate that hormonal fluctuations could predict variations in emotion recognition, but with merely inconsistent findings. Remarkably, the interplay between hormone fluctuations and other person-related factors that could potentially influence emotion recognition remains understudied. In the current study, we examined if the interactions of emotion-related personality traits, namely openness, extraversion, and neuroticism, and the ovulatory cycle predict individual variation in facial emotion recognition in healthy naturally cycling women. We collected salivary ovarian hormones measures from N = 129 (n = 72 validated via LH test) women across their late follicular and mid-luteal phases of the ovulatory cycle. The results revealed a negative association between neuroticism scores and emotion recognition when progesterone levels (within-subject) were elevated. However, the results did not indicate a significant moderating influence of neuroticism, openness, and extraversion on emotion recognition across phases (late follicular vs. mid-luteal) of the menstrual cycle. Additionally, there was no significant interaction between openness or extraversion and ovarian hormone levels in predicting facial emotion recognition. The current study suggests future lines of research to compare these findings in a clinical setting, as both neuroticism and ovarian hormone dysregulation are associated with some psychiatric disorders such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Gender differences in empathy, compassion, and prosocial donations, but not theory of mind in a naturalistic social task

Despite broad interest, experimental evidence for gender differences in social abilities remains inconclusive. Two important factors may have limited previous results: (i) a lack of clear distinctions between empathy (sharing another's feelings), compassion (a feeling of concern toward others), and Theory of Mind (ToM; inferring others' mental states), and (ii) the absence of robust, naturalistic social tasks. Overcoming these limitations, in Study 1 (N = 295) we integrate three independent, previously published datasets, each using a dynamic and situated, video-based paradigm which disentangles ToM, empathy, and compassion, to examine gender differences in social abilities. We observed greater empathy and compassion in women compared to men, but found no evidence that either gender performed better in ToM. In Study 2 (n = 226) we extend this paradigm to allow participants to engage in prosocial donations. Along with replicating the findings of Study 1, we also observed greater prosocial donations in women compared to men. Additionally, we discuss an exploratory, novel finding, namely that ToM performance is positively associated with prosocial donations in women, but not men. Overall, these results emphasize the importance of establishing experimental designs that incorporate dynamic, complex stimuli to better capture the social realities that men and women experience in their daily lives.

Neural sensitivity to facial identity and facial expression discrimination in adults with autism

The fluent processing of faces can be challenging for autistic individuals. Here, we assessed the neural sensitivity to rapid changes in subtle facial cues in 23 autistic men and 23 age and IQ matched non-autistic (NA) controls using frequency-tagging electroencephalography (EEG). In oddball paradigms examining the automatic and implicit discrimination of facial identity and facial expression, base rate images were presented at 6 Hz, periodically interleaved every fifth image with an oddball image (i.e. 1.2 Hz oddball frequency). These distinctive frequency tags for base rate and oddball stimuli allowed direct and objective quantification of the neural discrimination responses. We found no large differences in the neural sensitivity of participants in both groups, not for facial identity discrimination, nor for facial expression discrimination. Both groups also showed a clear face-inversion effect, with reduced brain responses for inverted versus upright faces. Furthermore, sad faces generally elicited significantly lower neural amplitudes than angry, fearful and happy faces. The only minor group difference is the larger involvement of high-level right-hemisphere visual areas in NA men for facial expression processing. These findings are discussed from a developmental perspective, as they strikingly contrast with robust face processing deficits observed in autistic children using identical EEG paradigms.

Emotion recognition and mood along the menstrual cycle

Previous studies have demonstrated menstrual cycle dependent changes in the recognition of facial emotional expressions, specifically the expression of fear, anger, sadness or disgust. While some studies demonstrate an improvement of emotion recognition performance during the peri-ovulatory phase, when estradiol levels peak, other studies demonstrate a deterioration of emotion recognition performance during the mid-luteal phase, when progesterone levels peak. It has been hypothesized, that these changes in emotion recognition performance mirror mood changes along the menstrual cycle. In the present study, we investigate, whether changes in emotion recognition performance along the menstrual cycle are mediated by mood changes along the menstrual cycle. In a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal study design, two large samples of women completed an emotion recognition task, as well as several mood questionnaires during their menses, peri-ovulatory or mid-luteal cycle phase. 65 women completed the task thrice, once during each cycle phase, order counterbalanced. In order to control for potential learning effects, a sample of 153 women completed the task only once in one of the three cycle phases. In both samples, results demonstrated no significant changes in emotion recognition performance along the menstrual cycle, irrespective of the performance measure investigated (accuracy, reaction time, frequency of emotion classifications) and irrespective of the emotion displayed. Bayesian statistics provided very strong evidence for the null hypothesis, that emotion recognition does not change along the menstrual cycle. There was also no moderation of emotion recognition changes along the menstrual cycle by mood changes along the menstrual cycle. Mood changes along the menstrual cycle followed the expected pattern with highest positive affect and least premenstrual symptoms around ovulation and lowest positive affect, but strongest premenstrual symptoms during menses. Interestingly, premenstrual symptoms were negatively related to estradiol, suggesting a protective effect of estrogen during the luteal cycle phase against mood worsening during the premenstrual phase.

Socio-demographic and political predictors of Theory of Mind in adulthood

Individual differences in Theory of Mind (ToM)-the ability to understand the mental states of others-are theorised to be predicted by socio-demographic and political factors. However, inconsistent findings on the relationships between various socio-demographic predictors and ToM, as well as a paucity of research on political predictors of ToM, have left a gap in the literature. Using a recently validated self-report measure of ToM in a large sample (N = 4202) we investigated the unique contributions of age, sex, socio-economic status, and political beliefs to ToM in adults. Except for age, all variables were correlated with ToM, but when accounting for the variance of other predictors in statistical analyses, political beliefs was no longer associated with ToM. Dominance analysis revealed that participant sex was the most important predictor of ToM. These findings help to address theoretical discrepancies in the existing literature and inform future methods and directions in social cognition research.

A comparative study of social cognition in epilepsy, brain injury, and Parkinson's disease

The brain regions involved in social cognition and the regulation of social behavior form a widely distributed cortico-subcortical network. Therefore, many neurological disorders could affect social cognition and behavior. A persistent lack of valid tests and a rigid neuropsychological focus on language, attention, executive function, and memory have contributed to a long-standing neglect of social cognition in clinical diagnostics, although the DSM-5 recognizes it as one of the six core dimensions in neurocognitive disorders. To assess for the first time the diagnostic yield of a comprehensive social cognition battery (Networks of Emotion Processing [NEmo]), we administered several emotion recognition and theory of mind tests to three incidental clinical samples with different neurological conditions: temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 30), acquired brain injury (n = 24), Parkinson's disease (n = 19), and a healthy control group (n = 67). A multivariate analysis of covariance was performed to test the effect of group on subscales of the NEmo test battery, controlling for age and performance IQ. The results showed statistically significant differences between clinical groups and healthy controls. No differences were found for gender and lateralization of the predominant lesion side. In our incidental samples, 86% of individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy, 57% of individuals with acquired brain lesion, and 14% of individuals with Parkinson's disease underperformed on tests of social cognition compared with controls. These findings suggest a differential impact of neurological disorders on the risk of impaired social cognition and highlight the need to consider social cognition in diagnostics, counselling, therapy, and rehabilitation.

Relationship between Executive Functions, Social Cognition, and Attachment State of Mind in Adolescence: An Explorative Study

BACKGROUND

The passage from pre-adolescence to adolescence is presented as a turning point for the achievement of those abilities in social understanding as they commonly appear in adulthood. Developmental perspectives point to the possible role of neuro-cognitive maturation and social experiences to facilitate this growth. This paper has the goal to goalsto propose a valid and reliable measure of the new quantitative and qualitative advancements in social understanding occurring in the adolescent passage; relying on this, the research has two main objectives (a) to establish the associations between the advancements in social understanding and the executive functions held responsible for the neuro-cognitive rearrangements of adolescence; (c) to evidence the significant associations between attachment models and the development of social understanding in this phase of life.

METHODS

100 subjects (50 boys and 50 girls, aged 11-15) were administered with AICA, SCORS, CNT, Stroop Color-Word Test, and WISC-III.

RESULTS

Advancements in the complexity of self-other representations and mentalization of interpersonal exchanges significantly occurs in the passage from pre-adolescence to adolescence and seem to be promoted by increased performances in executive control and cognitive shifting. Dismissing state of mind with respect to attachment is associated with lower development of social understanding in adolescence. The neurocognitive reorganization that underlies the passage from pre-adolescence to adolescence seems to provide the scaffolding for more sophisticated interpretations of the social world. Past and current affective experience can boost or hinder the full deployment of such human maturational potential. Given the importance of social cognition for adjustment and psychopathology, clinical intervention should target the amelioration of individual and family abilities in social reasoning and mentalization.

The impact of breast cancer on social cognition in female Colombian patients

BACKGROUND

The high prevalence of female breast cancer is a global health concern. Breast cancer and its treatments have been associated with impairments in general cognition, as well as structural and functional brain changes. Considering the social challenges that some of these patients face, it is important to understand the socio-emotional effects of breast cancer as well. Nevertheless, the impact of breast cancer on social cognition has remained underexplored. The objective of this study was to assess social cognition domains and other relevant cognitive and emotional variables (executive functions, anxiety, or depression) in females with breast cancer.

METHODS

The participants were 29 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 29 female healthy controls. We assessed emotion recognition, theory of mind, empathy, and moral emotions. We also included measures of general cognitive functioning, quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Linear multiple regressions were performed to assess whether the group (patients or controls), GAD-7 scores, emotional and social subscales of EORTC QLQ-C30, and IFS scores predicted the social cognition variables (EET, RMET, MSAT).

RESULTS

Patients with breast cancer showed impairments in emotion recognition and in affective theory of mind. In addition, patients had lower scores in some executive functions. Only theory of mind between group differences remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Emotion recognition was associated with executive functioning, but anxiety levels were not a significant predictor of the changes in social cognition.

CONCLUSIONS

Social cognition impairments, especially in theory of mind, may be present in breast cancer, which can be relevant to understanding the social challenges that these patients encounter. This could indicate the need for therapeutic interventions to preserve social cognition skills in patients with breast cancer.

Age differences in social-cognitive abilities across the stages of adulthood and path model investigation of adult social cognition

Accumulating evidence points toward an association between older age and performance decrements in social cognition (SC). We explored age-related variations in four components of SC: emotion recognition, theory of mind, social judgment, and blame attributions. A total of 120 adults divided into three stages (18-34 years, 35-59 years, 60-85 years) completed a battery of SC. Between and within age-group differences in SC were investigated. Path analyses were used to identify relationships among the components. Emotion recognition and theory of mind showed differences beginning either in midlife, or after. Blame attributions and social judgment did not show a significant difference. However, social judgment varied significantly within groups. Path models revealed a relationship between emotion recognition and theory of mind. Findings highlight age-related differences in some components and a link between two components. Strategies promoting social functioning in aging might help to maintain or improve these abilities over time.

Cortisol awakening response and testosterone jointly affect adolescents' theory of mind

Adolescence is a critical period for the maturation of neurobiological processes and hormone secretion. Recent studies on the dual-hormone hypothesis have indicated that basal cortisol and testosterone jointly affect dominant and aggressive behavior among adolescents and adults. Whether this hypothesis applies to prosocial-related understanding of others' mental states remains unclear. The present study investigated associations between basal testosterone, basal cortisol (and cortisol awakening response [CAR]), and the cognitive/affective theory of mind (ToM) in 243 adolescents (67.9 % male, aged 14 to 17 years, M_age = 16.09, standard deviation = 0.62). Cognitive ToM (cToM) and affective ToM (aToM) were assessed with a cartoon story reasoning task: In the cToM condition, participants viewed a comic strip story and needed to predict what would happen based on a character's intentions, and in the aToM condition, they viewed a comic strip of two characters interacting and needed to think about what would make the protagonist feel better. The results showed that basal testosterone and basal cortisol did not interact with each other to affect the performance of ToM, either in terms of ToM accuracy or response speed. However, under the condition of low CAR, testosterone is associated with the fast performance of cToM, although the interaction of testosterone and CAR occurred only in female adolescents. Overall, our data provide new evidence for the dual-hormone hypothesis and further extend the hypothesis to social understanding.

The degree of mu rhythm suppression in women is associated with presence of children as well as empathy and anxiety level

In experiments on observing and performing social gestures, the level of mu rhythm suppression is associated with the activity of the mirror neuron system (MNS), which is responsible for the perception and understanding of nonverbal signals in social communication. In turn, while MNS activity may be associated primarily with empathy, it is also associated with other psychological and demographic factors affecting the effectiveness of cortical neural networks.In this study, we verified the influence of empathy, state and trait anxiety levels, presence and number of children, age, and menstrual cycle phase on the mu-suppression level in 40 women. We used 32-channel EEG recorded during observation, and synchronous execution of various hand movements. The ICA infomax method was used for decomposing and selecting the left hemisphere component of the mu-rhythm.Mu-suppression was higher in women with one child, with higher levels of empathy, and with lower anxiety levels. It is possible that MNS activity is stronger in women during parental care.

Rural Residents’ Perceptions of Ecosystem Services: A Study from Three Topographic Areas in Shandong Province, China

Rural residents’ perception is an important way of evaluating rural ecosystem services. Different topographies affect the level of ecosystem services, thus affecting residents’ perceived preferences. This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 1176 rural residents in mountainous, hilly, and plain areas of Shandong Province. It analyzed respondents’ satisfaction with ecosystem services and landscape preferences in different topographical areas. The results showed that the perception of ecosystem services was higher than average in all three topographic areas. The perceptions from high to low were cultural services, provisioning services, and regulating services. The perception of ecosystem services was significantly affected by topography, with significant differences between mountainous and plain areas in particular. Rural residents’ perceptions of cultural services varied widely and there were diverse preferences. This study believes that the important concerns in enhancing the perception of ecosystem services among rural residents are to raise villagers’ ecological awareness by meeting their growing spiritual needs and the high sensitivity of older people.

The association between empathy and the physiotherapy-patient therapeutic alliance: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The central component of person-centred care is in having a therapeutic realtionship. Furthermore, the empathy of the physiotherapist is one of the most important attributes in achieving a successful therapeutic alliance.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the research was to determine the association between the constructs of empathy and therapeutic alliance in Spanish physical therapists and the possible influence of socio-professional variables on them.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional research.

METHODS

An electronic survey including the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Form, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and sociodemographic data with 473 Spanish physiotherapists. A descriptive, bivariate and simple lineal regression analysis was carried out.

RESULTS

Work experience has a positive influence on bonding and the agreement on objectives and tasks (0.04 < B > 0.06; p < 0.01). The perspective taking dimensions and empathic concern positively influence the agreement on achievement (0.14 < B > 0.19; p < 0.001). Personal distress inversely influences bonding and the agreement on achievements and tasks (-0.13 < B > -0.09; p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The dimensions of perspective taking and empathic concern seem to facilitate successful shared decision making in terms of treating objectives. Furthermore, the physiotherapist's personal distress acts as an obstacle to the development of the three subcomponents of the therapeutic alliance analysed.

Activation of the default network during a theory of mind task predicts individual differences in agreeableness and social cognitive ability

Social cognitive processes, such as emotion perception and empathy, allow humans to navigate complex social landscapes and are associated with specific neural systems. In particular, theory of mind (ToM), which refers to our ability to decipher the mental states of others, is related to the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction, which include portions of the default network. Both social cognition and the default network have been linked to the personality trait Agreeableness. We hypothesized that default network activity during a ToM task would positively predict social cognitive abilities and Agreeableness. In a 3T fMRI scanner, participants (N = 1050) completed a ToM task in which they observed triangles displaying random or social (i.e., human-like) movement. Participants also completed self-report measures of Agreeableness and tests of intelligence and social cognitive ability. In each participant, average blood oxygen level dependent responses were calculated for default network regions associated with social cognition, and structural equation modeling was used to test associations of personality and task performance with activation in those brain regions. Default network activation in the dorsal medial subsystem was greater for social versus random animations. Default network activation in response to social animations predicted better performance on social cognition tasks and, to a lesser degree, higher Agreeableness. Neural response to social stimuli in the default network may be associated with effective social processing and could have downstream effects on social interactions. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications of this work for social and personality neuroscience.

Investigating the contribution of white matter hyperintensities and cortical thickness to empathy in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases

Change in empathy is an increasingly recognised symptom of neurodegenerative diseases and contributes to caregiver burden and patient distress. Empathy impairment has been associated with brain atrophy but its relationship to white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is unknown. We aimed to investigate the relationships amongst WMH, brain atrophy, and empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Five hundred thirteen participants with Alzheimer's disease/mild cognitive impairment, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Parkinson's disease, or cerebrovascular disease (CVD) were included. Empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. WMH were measured using a semi-automatic segmentation and FreeSurfer was used to measure cortical thickness. A heterogeneous pattern of cortical thinning was found between groups, with FTD showing thinning in frontotemporal regions and CVD in left superior parietal, left insula, and left postcentral. Results from both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that several variables were associated with empathy, particularly cortical thickness in the fronto-insulo-temporal and cingulate regions, sex (female), global cognition, and right parietal and occipital WMH. Our results suggest that cortical atrophy and WMH may be associated with empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Future work should consider investigating the longitudinal effects of WMH and atrophy on empathy deficits in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases.

The Heart in the Mind: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Theory of Mind and Cardiac Vagal Tone

Theory of mind (ToM) is the human ability to infer the mental states of others in order to understand their behaviors and plan own actions. In the past decades, accumulating evidence has shown that heart rate variability (HRV), an index of parasympathetic control of the heart, is linked to behavioral regulation, social competence, and social cognition abilities, all implicated-to some extent-in ToM. This study aims to systematically review and meta-analyze the available studies, investigating the relation between ToM and HRV in typically developing people. Six studies were eligible for the meta-analysis, yielding a significant association between HRV and ToM of a small-to-medium effect size (g = 0.44). This result was not influenced by publication bias. Due to the small number of studies eligible for the meta-analysis, it was not possible to test for the effect of categorical moderators. The moderating role of sex and quality of the studies was examined by meta-regression analysis. Moderation analysis did not yield any significant effect; however, at a descriptive level, studies yielding the largest effect size were characterized by the use of high frequency-HRV assessment at rest and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test to evaluate ToM abilities. The results preliminarily suggest that tonic HRV might be used as an indicator of the ability to understand the content of mind of others.

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Role of Empathy during COVID-19’s First Wave

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the world, and concerns about psychological, social, and economic consequences are growing rapidly. Individuals’ empathy-based reactions towards others may be an important resilience factor in the face of COVID-19. Self-report data from 15,375 participants across 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study examined different facets of empathy—Perspective-Taking, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress, and their association with cross-cultural ratings on Individualism, Power Distance, The Human Development Index, Social Support Ranking, and the Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index, as well as the currently confirmed number of cases of COVID-19 at the time of data collection. The highest ratings on Perspective-Taking were obtained for USA, Brazil, Italy, Croatia, and Armenia (from maximum to minimum); on Empathetic Concern, for the USA, Brazil, Hungary, Italy, and Indonesia; and on Personal Distress, from Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Armenia, Indonesia. Results also present associations between demographic factors and empathy across countries. Limitations and future directions are presented.

On the (lack of) association between theory of mind and executive functions: a study in a non-clinical adult sample

We investigated in a sample of non-clinical adults the association between Theory of Mind (ToM) and Executive Functions (EFs), that is the set of skills that allow people to control and modulate lower-level cognitive processes in order to produce appropriate behaviour. To this aim, we assessed both affective (i.e., understanding other people's emotions and feelings) and cognitive (i.e., understanding others' beliefs and intentions) ToM, as well four subcomponents of EFs, that is Updating, Shifting, Inhibition, and Access. The association between ToM and non-verbal fluid intelligence, verbal reasoning, and cognitive estimation abilities was also investigated. Eighty-one healthy participants were recruited, and a set of psychometrically validated tests was administered. Multiple regression analyses were run to assess significant predictors of ToM performance when potentially confounding predictors (sociodemographic variables) were controlled for. Results showed a lack of association between affective/cognitive ToM and EFs, whereas non-verbal fluid intelligence for cognitive ToM and verbal reasoning for affective ToM were found to be significant predictors of ToM performance. These results represent a contribution toward a deeper understanding of the ToM-EFs relationships and highlight the importance of broadening the analysis of these relationships to the role played by other domain-general functions in both affective and cognitive ToM.

Psychometric assessment of social cognitive tasks

Although there has been a marked increase in interest in social cognition (SC) in recent years, psychometric data relating to many tasks used to measure its components remain limited in healthy populations with only five articles published to date. It is accordingly premature to speak of a consensus concerning the specific components, or best tests of the components, and possible cultural differences. The present study sought to partially fill that gap, examining the psychometric properties of a battery of SC tasks in a sample of 100 healthy adults aged 18-85 years old. Initially, nine tasks assessing four SC components were selected: emotion recognition, theory of mind, attributional bias, and social judgment. Construct validity and criterion-related validity were assessed using factor and correlational analyses. Performance across age and sex groups was also investigated. Reliability was assessed through internal consistency, interrater and intercoder agreement. Results indicated satisfactory properties for the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire-blame score, the Social Judgment Task, the Facial Emotions Recognition Test, and a modified version of the Strange Stories Task. Statistically significant differences were found between the groups with regard to age and sex after accounting for demographic and cognitive factors. However, the correlations of these measures with relationship quality were mostly very low, raising questions about their concomitant validity. Other tasks showed sub-optimal properties, suggesting that some frequently used tests require further validation or modifications to ensure the quality of research findings. Based on the results, recommended measures for future studies and limitations are discussed.

The role of alexithymia in social cognition: Evidence from a non-clinical population

BACKGROUND

Alexithymia is a personality construct characterised by difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. We investigated whether people with alexithymia, who struggle with emotion-processing abilities, have diminished emotion-related social cognitive competencies, where social cognition encompasses the set of abilities that allows one to navigate one's social environment.

METHODS

We assessed alexithymia and four components of social cognition: recognition of others' emotions, representation of others' affective and cognitive mental states, empathy, and regulation of one's own feelings. We investigated whether alexithymia could significantly predict each of these components, beyond the effect of other individual difference variables (i.e., anxiety/depressive symptoms), which have been previously associated with both social cognition and alexithymia. Two hundred six participants were recruited. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed to assess the possible relationships between alexithymia and social cognition skills.

RESULTS

Alexithymia significantly predicted emotion recognition, empathy, and emotional regulation, even after controlling for the effect of potentially competing factors (i.e., anxiety/depressive symptoms). Alexithymia did not predict representation of others' affective and cognitive mental states.

LIMITATIONS

The present study adopted a cross-sectional design, which does not permit us to draw firm conclusions about the causality of the emergent relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

These data provide support for the argument that recognising others' emotions and feelings relies on the ability to identify correctly one's own feelings. Our results also indicate the importance of taking into consideration individual differences in levels of alexithymia when investigating social cognition in non-clinical populations, as alexithymia appears to be clearly related to social cognitive functioning.

Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, Alexithymia, and Social Phobia Are Associated With Disordered Eating in Male and Female Undergraduate Athletes

Investigations of disordered eating in the athlete population tend to focus on females and the influence of sport level. This leaves unanswered whether, and how, team interdependence (i.e., whether the competition is engaged with one person or as a team) may differentially impact male athletes. In the present study, we recruited a sample of non-athletes, individual athletes, and team athletes and examined the interaction of gender and teammate interdependence on established psychosocial risk factors for disordered eating, including social phobia, alexithymia, and emotion regulation. Although we identified a significant main effect of gender, there was no main effect of team type, nor was there a significant interaction of gender and team type. Using descriptive discriminant analysis, these variables significantly discriminated between genders. Women were defined by higher scores than men on drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and emotion recognition and men were defined by relatively higher scores on emotion dysregulation and binge eating. When we combined all athletes and compared them with non-athletes, a significant interaction of gender and athlete status emerged such that female athletes, compared to male athletes and women non-athletes, were defined by higher scores on drive for thinness, emotion dysregulation, and binge eating. Conversely, male athletes, compared to female athletes, were defined by greater difficulty identifying feelings and body dissatisfaction. Non-athletes were not well defined by the discriminant function. These results highlight that emotional processes convey risk of eating disorders in men and women, particularly in athletes, and these risk factors are not uniform.

Theory of Mind Performance Predicts tDCS-Mediated Effects on the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Sex and Age

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has become an increasingly promising tool for understanding the relationship between brain and behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of sex- and age-related tDCS effects previously found in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during a Theory of Mind (ToM) task correlates with social cognition performance; in particular, we explored whether different patterns of activity would be detected in high- and low-performing participants. For this, young and elderly, male and female participants were categorized as a low- or high-performer according to their score on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. Furthermore, we explored whether sex- and age-related effects associated with active tDCS on the mPFC were related to cognitive functioning. We observed the following results: (i) elderly participants experience a significant decline in ToM performance compared to young participants; (ii) low-performing elderly females report slowing of reaction time when anodal tDCS is applied over the mPFC during a ToM task; and (iii) low-performing elderly females are characterized by lower scores in executive control functions, verbal fluency and verbal short-term memory. The relationship between tDCS results and cognitive functioning is discussed in light of the neuroscientific literature on sex- and age-related differences.

Theory of mind in users of anabolic androgenic steroids

RATIONALE

Anabolic androgenic steroids are used to improve physical performance or increase lean muscle mass. About one-third of users develop a dependency syndrome, which is characterized by elevated rates of psychopathology, cognitive impairments, and aggressive and antisocial behaviors. The mechanisms behind these intra- and interpersonal problems are not known.

OBJECTIVE

To examine theory of mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to infer the mental state of others, in users of anabolic androgenic steroids. Reduced ToM may be one factor underlying the interpersonal problems that have been reported with prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids.

METHODS

The Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) was used to assess ToM. Study participants were male/female weightlifters who used anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS, n = 34/9), who were dependent on anabolic androgenic steroids (AASdep, n = 44/7), and a non-using weightlifting comparison group (WLC, n = 69/16).

RESULTS

Analyses of variance showed that the AASdep group performed significantly worse than the WLC group, for all MASC measures (total ToM, cognitive ToM, affective ToM, overmentalizing/undermentalizing errors). Sex and sex x group interaction effects were non-significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Male and female weightlifters who were dependent on anabolic androgenic steroids had impaired ToM. Their reduced social cognition may be one contributing factor to the elevated rates of antisocial behavior reported in this population.