What are the Links Between Theory of Mind and Social Relations? Review, Reflections and New Directions for Studies of Typical and Atypical Development

Executive functions and theory of mind associations in middle childhood: Does social interaction act as a mediator?

This study explored the interplay of executive functions (EFs), social interactions, and theory of mind (ToM) in middle childhood. The first aim was to examine how specific EFs-shifting, inhibition, and working memory (WM)-predict social-perceptual and social-cognitive ToM. The second aim was to explore the potential mediating role of social interactions in the EF-ToM relationship. A total of 98 children aged 8 to 11 years completed three computerized EF tasks (task switching, flanker, and running span) and two ToM tasks (Strange Stories and Reading the Mind in the Eyes). The quality and quantity of social interactions were self-reported by using questionnaires. First, multiple regression analyses with age-adjusted scores examined how specific EFs predict ToM scores. The regression model was significant for social-cognitive ToM, but not for social-perceptual ToM. WM accuracy was the only significant, positive predictor for performance on the Strange Stories task. Second, mediation analyses assessed whether social interactions mediate this EF-ToM relationship. There were no significant mediation effects of the quality and quantity of social interactions on the relationship between WM and social-cognitive ToM. In conclusion, EFs play a significant role in explaining social-cognitive ToM variability in middle childhood. WM is relevant for understanding others' mental states, in contrast to shifting and inhibition that lacked predictive value. The results also suggest different cognitive processes associated with social-perceptual versus social-cognitive ToM in this developmental stage.

Infant-parent attachment and lie-telling in young children: The Generation R Study

Insecure-attached adults are more likely to lie. However, it is unknown whether infant-parent attachment quality relates to lie-telling in early childhood. As in adults, lie-telling in early childhood might be related to attachment insecurity. However, a competing hypothesis might be plausible; lie-telling might be related to attachment security given that lie-telling in early childhood is considered an advancement in social-cognitive development. The current study is the first to investigate the link between insecure/secure and disorganized/non-disorganized attachment and lie-telling behavior in early childhood. Because lie-telling is studied in the context of cheating behavior, the association between cheating and attachment is additionally explored. A total of 560 Dutch children (287 girls) from a longitudinal cohort study (Generation R) were included in the analyses. Attachment quality with primary caregiver (secure/insecure and disorganized/non-disorganized attachment) was assessed at 14 months of age in the Strange Situation Procedure, and cheating and lie-telling were observed in games administered at 4 years of age. The results demonstrated no relationship of attachment (in)security and (dis)organization with cheating and lie-telling. Results are interpreted in light of evidence that lie-telling in early childhood is part of normative development. Limitations are discussed, including the time lag between assessments, the fact that lie-telling was measured toward a researcher instead of a caregiver, and the conceptualization of attachment in infancy versus adulthood. Attachment quality does not affect early normative lie-telling, but how and when it may affect later lying in children remains to be explored.

How Does Understanding of Social Situations and Other's Intention Contribute to Idiom and Irony Comprehension in Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Background/Objectives: Figurative language is a central tool for enriching spoken and written languages, and it is important for building social relationships. Difficulties in figurative language understanding may impair social adjustment. Some studies have found more gaps in the understanding of irony and idioms among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to those of their peers with typical development (TD). To date, no studies have examined the relationship between the ability to understand social situations (as a separate ability) and the ability to understand irony and idioms. The present study examined the roles of theory of mind (ToM) and social situation understanding in the comprehension of idioms and ironic criticism. Methods: The current study included 58 participants aged 8-11, including 28 children with high-functioning ASD and 30 children with TD matched by age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence. All the participants completed a ToM questionnaire that assesses their understanding of others' intentions, as well as a questionnaire pertaining to their comprehension of social situations, ironic criticism, and idioms. Results: TD children outperformed the autistic children in idiom and irony understanding, as well as in ToM and social situation understanding. Understanding social situations and ToM contributed to idiom and irony understanding, with ToM ability uniquely contributing to irony (but not to idiom) understanding. Path analysis revealed that social cognitive abilities mediated the link between group affiliation and vocabulary, affecting figurative language comprehension. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that social cognition skills influence the ability to understand ironic criticism and idioms, mediating the association between vocabulary and figurative language comprehension.

Agent-Object Relationships in Level-2 Visual Perspective Taking: An Eye-Tracking Study

Visual perspective taking (VPT) generates a shared frame of reference for understanding how the world appears to others. Whilst greater cognitive and neurophysiological demands are associated with increasing angular distance between the self and other is well documented, accompanying attentional characteristics are not currently understood. Furthermore, although age and group status have been shown to impact task performance, other important cues, such as the relationship between agents and objects, have not been manipulated. Therefore, 35 university students participated in an eye-tracking experiment where they completed a VPT task with agents positioned at a low or high angular disparity (45° or 135° respectively). The congruence between the age of the agent (child vs adult) and the object they are attending to (e.g., teddy-bear vs kettle) was also manipulated. Participants were required to respond to the direction of the object from the agent's position. The findings reveal more fixations and increased dwell-times on agents compared to objects, but this was moderated by the age of the task agent. Results also showed more attentional transitions between agents and objects at higher angular disparities. These results converge with behavioural and neurophysiological descriptions of task performance in previous studies. Furthermore, the congruency of the relationship between agents and objects also impacted attention shifting and response times, highlighting the importance of understanding how social cues and contexts can modulate VPT processes in everyday contexts and social interaction.

Older adults' subjective aging perceptions, mentalization, and social relationships: a micro-longitudinal study

OBJECTIVES

Social relationships are associated with various positive physical, psychological, and emotional outcomes in older adults. In line with the growing understanding of the role of subjective views of aging (VoA) for older adults' quality of life, the current work examines how daily fluctuations in VoA affect social relationships. Moreover, as the ability to mentalize others' states of mind (i.e. Theory of Mind) considerably enhances such relationships, this study assesses whether mentalization abilities mediate the VoA-social relationships link.

METHOD

Eighty-two Israeli older adults (mean age = 73.44, SD = 8.64, range = 60-95) completed a baseline online questionnaire containing background information, and subsequently filled out daily online questionnaires assessing ageist attitudes, subjective age, mentalization abilities, and positive social relationships for 14 consecutive days.

RESULTS

Positive VoA (reduced ageist attitudes and/or a young subjective age) were associated with enhanced mentalization and positive relationships on a given day and in time-lagged analyses. Moreover, mentalization mediated the effect of previous-day VoA on next-day positive social relationships. VoA also mediated the effect of previous-day mentalization on next-day positive social relationships.

CONCLUSION

The study highlights the importance of mentalization capabilities for maintaining positive VoA/social relationships and expands the understanding of underlying factors associated with meaningful and close relationships in older adults.

Early relational origins of Theory of Mind: A two-study replication

BACKGROUND

Research implies early relational factors - parental appropriate mind-mindedness (MM) and mutually responsive orientation (MRO) - as antecedents of children's Theory of Mind (ToM), yet the longitudinal path is unclear. Furthermore, little is known about the process in father-child relationships. In two studies of community families in a Midwestern state in United States, we tested a path from parental appropriate MM in infancy to parent-child MRO in toddlerhood to children's ToM at preschool age in mother- and father-child relationships, using comparable observational measures at parallel ages.

METHODS

In Children and Parents Study (CAPS) of children born in 2017 and 2018, we collected data at 8 months (N = 200, 96 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 175, 86 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 177, 86 girls). In Family Study (FS) of children born mostly in 2001, we collected data at 7 months (N = 102, 51 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 100, 50 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 99, 49 girls). Parental MM (verbal comments aligned with the infant's psychological state) was observed in infancy, MRO (parent and child responsiveness to each other and shared positive affect) at age 3, and ToM (false belief tasks) at age 4.5.

RESULTS

The findings supported the proposed indirect effects of parents' MM on children's ToM, mediated by MRO, for fathers and children in both studies, and for mothers and children, in CAPS. In FS, mothers' MM predicted MRO and ToM, but there was no mediation.

CONCLUSIONS

This investigation, testing a path from MM to MRO to ToM in both mother- and father-child relationships in two longitudinal studies, adds to the literature that has described relations among those constructs but rarely integrated those in one model.

Understanding the link between theory of mind and loneliness among primary school students: A cross-lagged panel model analysis

This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between theory of mind (ToM) and loneliness as well as the potential moderating effects of parenting style on this association. A total of 689 Chinese third-grade students (341 girls and 348 boys; Mage = 9.23 years, SD = 0.66) were recruited from eight primary schools and were followed from Grade 3 to Grade 5. These students reported their primary caregivers' parenting style in third grade and completed the same ToM task and loneliness questionnaire at each time point from Grade 3 to Grade 5. The study's results indicated a bidirectional relationship between ToM and loneliness, implying that children with less developed ToM abilities tend to feel lonelier and, conversely, that higher levels of loneliness are associated with lower ToM skills. Moreover, the study demonstrated that parenting style influenced the association between ToM and loneliness. Specifically, the impact of ToM at Grade 3 on reducing loneliness at Grade 4 was greater among children who experienced high levels of rejection from their caregivers compared with those with low levels of rejection. In addition, this study found that loneliness at Grade 3 had a greater influence on ToM at Grade 5 for children experiencing low levels of emotional warmth from their caregivers than for those who experienced high levels of emotional warmth. These findings highlight the significance of ToM as both a precursor and consequence of children's loneliness and emphasize the variation in these longitudinal relationships based on the parenting styles of primary caregivers.

Associations Between Childhood Trauma Characteristics and Theory of Mind in Adults: Results From a Large, Diverse Sample

Theory of mind (ToM) is an essential social cognitive process encompassing abilities to represent and understand others' mental states. Although previous reports linked childhood trauma to social cognitive deficits, how characteristics of trauma exposure, such as subtype or timing, affect ToM remains unaddressed. Using data from a diverse adult sample (n = 2200), we tested whether exposure type and first exposure timing of common childhood trauma associated with ToM. Neither interpersonal loss (β = - 0.25, p = 0.170, [- 0.61, 0.10]) nor child maltreatment (β = - 0.21, p = 0.369, [- 0.66, 0.25]) was associated with lower ToM. There was no effect of timing of age at which trauma was experienced (F = 2.19, p = 0.087). While we did not identify age-dependent effects, future studies should examine links between timing or chronicity of prospectively reported childhood trauma and social cognition. Understanding of how childhood experiences shape ToM could reveal mechanisms underlying social cognition development and inform prevention efforts.

Neuropsychological mechanisms of social difficulties in disruptive mood dysregulation disorder versus oppositional defiant disorder

Children with Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) are characterized by irritability and social difficulties. However, the mechanisms underlying these disorders could be different. This study explores differences in social cognition and executive function (EF) across DMDD and ODD and the influence of these factors and their interaction on social problems in both groups. Children with DMDD (n = 53, Mage = 9.3) or ODD (n = 39, Mage = 9.6) completed neuropsychological tasks measuring social cognition (Theory of Mind and Face-Emotion Recognition) and EF (cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and working memory). Parents reported social problems. More than one-third of the children with DMDD and almost two-thirds of those with ODD showed clear difficulties with Theory of Mind. Most children with DMDD (51-64%) or ODD (67-83%) showed difficulties with EF. In children with DMDD, worse EF (β = -.36) was associated with more social problems, whereas in children with ODD, better EF (β = .44) was associated with more social problems. In those with ODD, but not in those with DMDD, the interaction between social cognition and EF contributed to the explained variance of social problems (β = -1.97). Based on the observed interaction pattern, enhanced EF may lead to increased social problems among children with ODD who also exhibit social cognition difficulties. This study suggests the existence of distinct neuropsychological mechanisms underlying the social issues observed in children with DMDD versus those with ODD.

Deictic Relational Responding and Perspective-Taking in Autistic Individuals: A Scoping Review

Perspective-taking skills are crucial for successful social interactions and some autistic individuals seem to demonstrate great difficulty in this area. The concept continues to generate clinical and research interest across mainstream psychology and within behavior analysis. Within behavior analysis, relational frame theorists have argued that deictic relational responding is critically involved in perspective-taking. We conducted a systematic search of the behavior analytic studies on deictic relational responding and perspective-taking in autistic individuals to highlight methods used to test perspective-taking and deictic relations, methods to train these if deficits were observed, and evidence for a relationship between deictic relational responding and perspective-taking. Seven studies met inclusion criteria and we conducted a descriptive analysis of these studies. We found some variation in the methods used to test and train perspective-taking through deictic relations. Only three of the studies attempted to demonstrate a link between deictic relational responding and perspective-taking. Overall, our review highlighted a need for more research into deictic relational responding and perspective-taking in autistic individuals, and we discussed specific areas for future research.

TANGO: A reliable, open-source, browser-based task to assess individual differences in gaze understanding in 3 to 5-year-old children and adults

Traditional measures of social cognition used in developmental research often lack satisfactory psychometric properties and are not designed to capture variation between individuals. Here, we present the TANGO (Task for Assessing iNdividual differences in Gaze understanding-Open); a brief (approx. 5-10min), reliable, open-source task to quantify individual differences in the understanding of gaze cues. Localizing the attentional focus of an agent is crucial in inferring their mental states, building common ground, and thus, supporting cooperation. Our interactive browser-based task works across devices and enables in-person and remote testing. The implemented spatial layout allows for discrete and continuous measures of participants' click imprecision and is easily adaptable to different study requirements. Our task measures inter-individual differences in a child (N = 387) and an adult (N = 236) sample. Our two study versions and data collection modes yield comparable results that show substantial developmental gains: the older children are, the more accurately they locate the target. High internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates underline that the captured variation is systematic. Associations with social-environmental factors and language skills speak to the validity of the task. This work shows a promising way forward in studying individual differences in social cognition and will help us explore the structure and development of our core social-cognitive processes in greater detail.

The Relationship between Giftedness and Sex and Children's Theory of Mind Skills and Social Behavior

BACKGROUND

Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to recognize the mental states and emotions of others, is central to effective social relationships. Measuring higher-order ToM skills in gifted children may be a useful way to identify the tendency to experience difficulties in social behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between intelligence and sex in children using ToM and social behavior measures.

METHODS

Children aged 10-12 years constituted both the gifted (n = 45) and non-gifted (n = 45) groups. The participants were assessed for prosocial behaviors and peer problems using the subscales of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire and in terms of ToM using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test-Child Version (RMET-C) and the Faux Pas Recognition Test-Child Version (FPRT-C).

RESULTS

ToM test results were higher in gifted children and girls. Peer problems were lower in gifted children. Prosocial behavior was higher in girls. No relationship was determined between ToM tests and peer problems or prosocial behavior in gifted children, but such a relationship was observed in the non-gifted group.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that gifted children with high cognitive skills also possess superior social cognition skills. Advanced ToM skills in gifted children may be important to supporting their social and cognitive development. The differences between boys and girls should be considered in educational interventions applied to children in the social sphere.

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.

Does Having a Sibling Affect Autistic People's Empathy?

This study examined whether autistic people with siblings score higher on measures of empathy than those without siblings. Cohorts of autistic children (n = 939; mean age = 7.35 years (SD = 2.15)) and autistic adults (n = 736; mean age = 37 years (SD = 12.39)) from the Cambridge Autism Research Database (CARD) were each divided into two groups: with or without siblings. Empathy was measured using the children version of the Empathy Quotient (EQ) (parent-report) for children. For adults, the EQ (self-report version) and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) were used. Contrary to the hypothesis, autistic children without siblings scored higher on EQ than those with siblings (t(283.70) = 4.20, p < .001; d = 0.50). In adults, there was no difference between autistic adults with and without siblings on both measures, but there was an interaction effect between sex and group on the RMET (f(1732) = 4.10, p = 0.04): whilst autistic males without siblings on average scored lower than females, autistic males with siblings on average performed similarly to females. Future research should investigate the possible effect of siblings on autistic males' empathy performance in a larger cohort of autistic individuals. Children's empathic abilities may be underestimated by their parents when they have siblings due to a contrast effect.

The moderating role of spirituality and gender in Canadian and Iranian emerging adolescents’ theory of mind and prosocial behavior

Introduction

While research has found a link between ToM and prosociality in terms of caring and helping others which may also vary across cultures, the moderating role of spirituality and culture of this association in emerging adolescence has received little attention.

Methods

The current study empirically “examined” the role of spirituality and gender in relation to ToM and prosocial behavior in Canadian and Iranian emerging adolescents. A total of 300 (153 girls) emerging adolescents (M = 11.502, SD = 2.228) were recruited from Montreal, Canada and Karaj, Iran. A series of double moderation analysis and ANOVA was conducted.

Results and discussion

Results indicated the difference between direct and indirect influences of ToM and its interactions with culture, gender, and spirituality on prosocial behavior. This implies an emerging complex framework which suggests the dynamic nonlinear interactions between these factors. Implications for youth’s social-emotional understanding will be discussed.

Sex and age variations in the impact of puberty on cortical thickness and associations with internalizing symptoms and suicidal ideation in early adolescence

PURPOSE

The childhood-to-adolescence transition is a notable period of change including pubertal development, neurodevelopment, and psychopathology onset, that occurs in divergent patterns between sexes. This study examined the effects of sex and puberty on cortical thickness (CT) in children and explored whether CT changes over time related to emergence of psychopathology in early adolescence.

METHODS

We used longitudinal data (baseline ages 9-10 and Year 2 [Y2] ages 11-12) from the ABCD Study (n = 9985). Linear and penalized function-on-function regressions modeled the impact of puberty, as it interacts with sex, on CT. Focusing on regions that showed sex differences, linear and logistic regressions modeled associations between change in CT and internalizing problems and suicide ideation.

RESULTS

We identified significant sex differences in the inverse relation between puberty and CT in fifteen primarily posterior brain regions. Nonlinear pubertal effects across age were identified in the fusiform, isthmus cingulate, paracentral, and precuneus. All effects were stronger for females relative to males during this developmental window. We did not identify associations between CT change and early adolescent clinical outcomes.

CONCLUSION

During this age range, puberty is most strongly associated with regional changes in CT in females, which may have implications for the later emergence of psychopathology.

Narcolepsy and emotions: Is there a place for a theory of mind approach?

Narcolepsy type 1 is a central disorder of hypersomnolence characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, rapid eye movement sleep-related manifestations, and cataplexy. In the current literature there is general agreement regarding neural correlates of Narcolepsy type 1 that appear to be related to anatomical and functional abnormalities in the hypothalamic region. In the last two decades, researchers shed light on the neurological bases of cataplexy by focusing on the neurobiological correlates of emotions. Although the results of these studies differ, they all point to an impairment in the amygdala and hypothalamus functions that are known to be involved in emotional processing, suggesting an impairment in this domain in narcoleptic patients. Indeed, despite heterogeneous results, several studies showed that narcoleptic patients differed from healthy controls in processing emotional stimuli. From a behavioral point of view, these findings suggest that alterations in emotional processing may be driven, at least in part, by compensatory strategies to avoid or reduce the frequency of cataplexy attacks. Surprisingly, the only study exploring in NT1 the behavioural performances in emotional facial recognition found no differences between NT1 adults and controls. We hypothesize that narcoleptic patients may present an alteration in a more complex socio-cognitive ability that is related to emotional processing, namely Theory of Mind. This review aims to investigate the literature supporting this hypothesis and to propose possible future developments on this topic.

Protocol for a prospective multicenter longitudinal randomized controlled trial (CALIN) of sensory-tonic stimulation to foster parent child interactions and social cognition in very premature infants

Introduction

Premature birth is associated with long-term somatic and neurological disorders, including cognitive, social and behavioral impairments. Moreover, the mothers of infants born preterm exhibit a higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms after birth. Early rehabilitation, developmental care, and parenting support have already been shown to have a positive impact on neurological outcome. However, no randomized controlled study has so far assessed the effects on parenting and long-term neurological outcomes of proprioceptive stimulation to trigger positive brain plasticity in very preterm babies. The CALIN project will therefore investigate the impact of sensory-tonic stimulation (STS) of extremely preterm infants by their parents on child parent interactions, infants' morphological and functional brain development and subsequent cognition (including social cognition), and parents' anxiety and depressive symptoms in the postpartum period.

Methods and analysis

Infants born between 25 and 32 weeks of gestation will be randomly assigned to the "STS + Kangaroo care" or "Kangaroo care" group. The primary endpoint, child and parent interactions, will be rated at 12 months corrected age using the Coding Interactive Behavior system. Secondary endpoints include: 1/functional and anatomical brain maturation sequentially assessed during neonatal hospitalization using electroencephalogram (EEG), amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG), cranial ultrasound and MRI performed at term-corrected age, 2/social and cognitive outcomes assessed at 15 months, 2, 4 and 6 years, and 3/parents' anxiety and depressive symptoms assessed at 7 ± 1 weeks after birth, using dedicated questionnaires.

Ethics and dissemination

This study was approved by the French Ethics Committee for the Protection of Persons on 18 October 2021. It is registered with the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM; no. 2020-A00382-37). The registry number on ClinicalTrials.gov is NCT04380051.

Standardization and normative data of the 48-item Yoni short version for the assessment of theory of mind in typical and atypical conditions

Introduction

The Yoni task is a computerized tool assessing first-and second-order affective and cognitive Theory of Mind (ToM), accounting for the multidimensional and multi-level mentalizing features. The Italian Yoni task has been validated and standardized in its 98-item version, and a 48-item short version has been proposed for a quick digital evaluation of ToM in clinical contexts.

Methods

The present study aimed to test the Yoni-48's convergent validity, correlating the tool score with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (ET) and Gender Test (GT), its items discrimination ability through the Classical Test Theory, and Rash model, its reliability by evaluating the internal consistency (McDonald's ω, Cronbach's α, Guttman's λ ², and Guttman's λ ⁶) and Spearman-Brown ϱ_SP split-half analysis, and to provide standardization and normative data in the Italian population.

Results

Results suggested a good convergent validity with a statistically significant association with ET (p < 0.001), while a null correlation was observed with GT (p = 0.947). The Classical Test Theory and Rash model confirmed a good discrimination ability of the Yoni-48's second-order affective and cognitive ToM items, while weaker discrimination capacity was registered for the first-order ToM items. The inter-item reliability was optimal for clinical purposes (ω, α, λ ², λ ⁶ ≥ 0.90). Also, the split-half reliability was high (Spearman-Brown ϱ_SP = 0.90). For standardization, age and education were revealed as significant predictors of Yoni accuracy scores, except for the first-order ToM score. Instead, age was the only predictor of Yoni's response speed score. The Italian normative data showed a high Yoni accuracy in healthy adults (mean accuracy = 0.85) and speed (mean response time = 0.92). Finally, both accuracy and response time level was balanced between the affective and cognitive components of ToM.

Discussion

This study supports the psychometric properties of the Yoni-48 and provides normative data for the Italian population. Further studies are needed to test the suitability of this short version for profiling the social cognition neurocognitive phenotype.

Interconnections between Emotion Recognition, Self-Processes and Psychological Well-Being in Adolescents

Background: Adolescence is a critical developmental period for mentalization and emotion regulation skills. Studies show that during this time, adolescents may experience greater vulnerability to challenges of mental and emotional well-being. Studies also show that self-skills, such as mentalization, self-compassion, and self-control are independently associated with feelings of global self-worth or psychological well-being. To date, no known studies have explored interconnected relations among these self-skills, despite significant overlaps in the social-biological development of these skills. Aims: To investigate interconnected relations among psychological well-being, mentalization, self-compassion and self-control. Gender differences in these relations are explored. Method: As part of a larger, longitudinal study of adolescent well-being, this cross-sectional study drew on a variety of self-report measures, investigating relations among adolescents’ self-reports of psychological well-being, emotion recognition, self-control, and self-compassion. Participants consisted of 88 girls and 57 boys, mean age 13.38. Results: Main results showed associations among emotion recognition, self-control and self-compassion and feelings of global self-worth. Specifically, results showed that understanding negative emotions in others relates to lower levels of self-compassion and feelings of self-worth. Further, adolescents who report low levels of self-control reported uncompassionate self-responding and lower levels of self-worth. Gender differences and implications for further research and adolescent social-emotional interventions are discussed.

Different mediators of applied theory-of-mind competence in children with autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND

Children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) with mild and moderate symptom levels have significant differences in applied theory of mind (ToM) competence. However, their mediators of applied ToM competence have not been documented.

AIMS

This study aimed to identify the mediators of applied ToM competence in these two clinically distinct groups.

METHODS

A total of 163 children with ASD aged 3-12 years old (88 and 75 children respectively in the mild and moderate groups) and their caregivers participated in this study. Data of children's verbal comprehension, explicit ToM knowledge and applied ToM competence were collected and then analyzed using mediation analysis.

RESULTS

The results of mediation analysis showed that verbal comprehension (95% confidence interval [CI] of indirect effect: 0.02 - 0.19) and explicit ToM knowledge (95% CI of indirect effect: 0.01 - 0.07) were the mediators of applied ToM competence in children with mild and those with moderate symptoms, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Our findings demonstrate that the mediators of applied ToM competence differ by symptom level in children with ASD. Applied ToM competence and the mediators should be assessed for designing tailored and effective intervention plans for these children according to their symptom level.

Trajectories of socially anxious behavior from age 5 to 13: Temperamental and sociocognitive pathways

The authors examined temperamental and sociocognitive predictors of socially anxious behavior from preschool to early adolescence. Children (N = 227; 59% male; 69% White) completed a speech task at ages 5, 7, 10, and 13 and socially anxious behaviors were coded. Behavioral inhibition (BI) was assessed at ages 2/3 and Theory of Mind (ToM) was assessed at age 4. Data collection occurred between 2003 and 2016. Three trajectories of socially anxious behavior were identified: high stable, average increasing, and low stable. Higher BI was related to the high stable trajectory, whereas lower ToM was related to the increasing trajectory of socially anxious behavior. There are heterogenous pathways of socially anxious behavior, which may be uniquely influenced by early temperamental and sociocognitive factors.

What is theory of mind? A psychometric study of theory of mind and intelligence

Theory of mind (ToM) is an essential ability for social competence and communication, and it is necessary for understanding behaviors that differ from our own (Premack & Woodruff, 1978). Recent research suggests that tasks designed to measure ToM do not adequately capture a single ToM ability (Warnell & Redcay, 2019; Quesque & Rossetti, 2020) and, instead, might be related to tasks of general cognitive ability (Coyle, Elpers, Gonzalez, Freeman, & Baggio, 2018). This hinders the interpretation of experimental findings and puts into question the validity of the ToM construct. The current study is the first psychometric assessment of the structure of ToM to date. Comparing ToM to crystallized intelligence (Gc) and fluid intelligence (Gf), the study aims to (a) understand whether ToM should be considered a monolithic ability and (b) explore whether tasks of ToM adequately assess ToM, above and beyond general cognitive ability. For this, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and exploratory network analysis (NMA) were conducted. The results of the models largely point to the same conclusion: while ToM tasks are not merely assessing cognitive ability, they are not purely assessing a single ToM construct either. Importantly, these findings align with recent theoretical accounts proposing that ToM should not be considered a monolithic construct (Quesque & Rossetti, 2020; Schaafsma, Pfaff, Spunt, & Adolphs, 2015, Devaine, Hollard, & Daunizeau, 2014), and should instead be explored and measured as multiple domains.

Measuring cognitive and affective Theory of Mind with the Italian Yoni task: normative data and short versions

Theory of Mind (ToM), a high-order human social cognition skill, is relevant for mental health and wellbeing and frequently impaired in many clinical conditions. To detect ToM difficulties, validated and standardized measures need to be adopted in clinical practice. The Yoni task provides a comprehensive evaluation of first-order, second-order, affective and cognitive mentalistic inferences. However, the Yoni task remains a time-demanding tool without normative data. To fill this gap, we explored the convergent and discriminant validity, the inter-item reliability and provided normative data of the Italian version of the Yoni task (98 items), and developed two short versions (48 and 36 items). For the validation, internal consistency and convergent/discriminant validity have been considered. Then, the effects of demographical variables on 98 item Yoni were explored, and normative data were provided. Our data demonstrated high reliability and a good convergent validity in all the Yoni versions. Then, two composite scores were proposed to obtain: 1) a global ToM level and 2) the balance between affective and cognitive ToM components, whose alteration represents a signature of several clinical conditions. The future standardization of the short versions of Yoni will allow a comprehensive and quick examination of ToM abilities, suitable for both research and clinical settings.

How ‘who someone is’ and ‘what they did’ influences gossiping about them

To understand, predict, and help correct each other’s actions we need to maintain accurate, up-to-date knowledge of people, and communication is a critical means by which we gather and disseminate this information. Yet the conditions under which we communication social information remain unclear. Testing hypotheses generated from our theoretical framework, we examined when and why social information is disseminated about an absent third party: i.e., gossiped. Gossip scenarios presented to participants (e.g., “Person-X cheated on their exam”) were based on three key factors: (1) target (ingroup, outgroup, or celebrity), (2) valence (positive or negative), and (3) content. We then asked them (a) whether they would spread the information, and (b) to rate it according to subjective valence, ordinariness, interest level, and emotion. For ratings, the scenarios participants chose to gossip were considered to have higher valence (whether positive or negative), to be rarer, more interesting, and more emotionally evocative; thus showing that the paradigm was meaningful to subjects. Indeed, for target, valence, and content, a repeated-measures ANOVA found significant effects for each factor independently, as well as their interactions. The results supported our hypotheses: e.g., for target, more gossiping about celebrities and ingroup members (over strangers); for valence, more about negative events overall, and yet for ingroup members, more positive gossiping; for content, more about moral topics, with yet all domains of social content communicated depending on the situation—context matters, influencing needs. The findings suggest that social knowledge sharing (i.e., gossip) involves sophisticated calculations that require our highest sociocognitive abilities, and provide specific hypotheses for future examination of neural mechanisms.

What Can Game Theory Tell Us about an AI ‘Theory of Mind’?

Game theory includes a rich source of methods for analysing strategic interactions where there are a small number of agents, each having only a few choices. In more complex settings though, where there are many choices over indefinite time horizons involving large social groups, these methods are unlikely to fully capture the causes of agent behaviour. If agents are able to simplify the task of understanding what others might do by modelling the constraints of others, particularly unobservable cognitive constraints, then the possible behavioural outcomes can be similarly restricted, thereby reducing the complexity of a social interaction. Having a cognitive representation of the unobserved causal states of others is an aspect of a ‘Theory of Mind’ and it plays a central role in the psychology of social interactions. In this article I examine a selection of results on the theory of mind and connect these with the ‘game theory of mind’ to draw conclusions regarding the complexity of one-on-one and large-scale social coordination. To make this explicit, I will illustrate the relationship between the two psychological terms ‘introspection’ and ‘theory of mind’ and the economic analysis of game theory, while retaining as much as possible of the richness of the psychological concepts. It will be shown that game theory plays an important role in modelling interpersonal relationships for both biological and artificial agents, but it is not yet the whole story, and some psychological refinements to game theory are discussed.

Psychodiagnostic Chart-Child (PDC-C): a valid and clinically sensitive diagnostic tool for patient-tailored intervention planning

The reliable clinical-diagnostic evaluation of child patients is crucial. The present research sought to examine the validity of the Psychodiagnostic Chart-Child (PDC-C) in assessing children's mental functioning and personality organization, according to the framework of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, Second Edition (PDM-2). A sample of 209 clinicians assessed 209 children (aged 4-11 years) who had been in their care between 2-12 months, using the PDC-C. Each clinician also completed a clinical questionnaire to provide demographic information, the Child Behavior Checklist to evaluate children's behavioral problems and social competences, and the Childhood Personality Assessment Q-Sort measure to assess children's emerging personality patterns. The findings suggest that the PDC-C is a valid diagnostic tool that considers children's full range of functioning. Moreover, the measure has good sensitivity and appears clinically useful in differentiating between certain clinical populations according to psychological characteristics. The PDC-C could promote more accurate assessment during childhood and inform the development of individualized therapies. One of the advantages of the tool is its ability to capture individual variations in child functioning (illuminating strengths and psychological vulnerabilities), even within children in the same diagnostic group. Of note, additional research is needed to establish the utility of PDC-C ratings in predicting clinically relevant constructs and to monitor the processes and outcomes of interventions.

Mentalizing Emotions and Social Cognition in Bullies and Victims

Mentalizing is the ability to represent mental states to navigate the social world. A reduced mentalizing ability is a risk factor for a variety of psychological issues. Several studies indicated deficits in social cognition in bullies and victims, specifically in mentalizing anger. However, only a few studies investigated mentalizing abilities related to both anger and happiness in pre-adolescence. Our study investigated possible differences in the ability to mentalize anger and happiness in preadolescent bullies and victims, compared to a control group. We interviewed 104 preadolescents (44% males; 56% females; M = 13.2 years; SD = 0.82) and administered the Olweus Questionnaire to identify bullies and victims. We applied a narrative approach to investigate the mental state language referred to anger and happiness. The results indicated a reduced ability to mentalize anger in bullies and victims compared to controls. Both bullies and victims tended to consider anger and happiness predominantly as behavioral conditions rather than a state of mind. These results highlight the need to promote effective intervention programs to prevent bullying by enhancing appropriate mentalization of emotions in pre-adolescents.

The Impact of Sex Chromosome Trisomies (XXX, XXY, XYY) on Early Social Cognition: Social Orienting, Joint Attention, and Theory of Mind

OBJECTIVE

About 1:650-1,000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (XXX; XXY; XYY), which results in a sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This study aims to cross-sectionally investigate the impact of SCT on early social cognitive skills. Basic orienting toward social cues, joint attention, and theory of mind (ToM) in young children with SCT were evaluated.

METHOD

About 105 children with SCT (range: 1-7 years old) were included in this study, as well as 96 age-matched nonclinical controls. Eyetracking paradigms were used to investigate the eye gaze patterns indicative of joint attention skills and orienting to social interactions. The ToM abilities were measured using the subtest ToM of the Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment, second edition, neuropsychological test battery. Recruitment and assessment took place in the Netherlands and in the United States.

RESULTS

Eyetracking results revealed difficulties in children with SCT in social orienting. These difficulties were more pronounced in children aged 3 years and older, and in boys with 47,XYY. Difficulties in joint attention were found over all age groups and karyotypes. Children with SCT showed impairments in ToM (26.3% in the [well] below expected level), increasing with age. These impairments did not differ between karyotypes.

CONCLUSIONS

An impact of SCT on social cognitive abilities was found already at an early age, indicating the need for early monitoring and support of early social cognition. Future research should explore the longitudinal trajectories of social development in order to evaluate the predictive relationships between social cognition and outcome later in life in terms of social functioning and the risk for psychopathology.

How perspective-taking underlies creative thinking and the socio-emotional competency in trainings of drama pedagogy

Abstract Policy-makers and scholars agree that creativity and socio-emotional competencies can be taught, learned, and enhanced through creative arts like theatre. Nevertheless, few authors have studied the processes underlying both constructs in artistic education, which would permit to understand how children develop them and re-create adapted methodologies. Thus, we proposed to observe a drama pedagogy training for elementary school children, evaluating their creative thinking and theory-of-mind. To understand perspective-thinking as a process underlying creative thinking and theory-of-mind in the context of drama pedagogy training. Quasi-experimental pre-post-test design. Standardized tests analysis, plus thematic analysis from observation of 240 minutes recording of drama pedagogy training. Higher increase in creative thinking with a strong effect of drama pedagogy training on divergent thinking. Thematic analyses showed that drama pedagogy training activities focus mainly on socio-emotional competency (linked to theory-of-mind). Perspective-taking appears as an underlying process that explains both creative thinking and the development of socio-emotional competencies by permitting the child to see from another person’s perspective, providing several ideas-solutions for a problem (creative thinking), as well as understanding other people’s emotions and motivations (theory-of-mind).

Novel Cognitive Functions Arise at the Convergence of Macroscale Gradients

Functions in higher-order brain regions are the source of extensive debate. Although past trends have been to describe the brain-especially posterior cortical areas-in terms of a set of functional modules, a new emerging paradigm focuses on the integration of proximal functions. In this review, we synthesize emerging evidence that a variety of novel functions in the higher-order brain regions are due to convergence: convergence of macroscale gradients brings feature-rich representations into close proximity, presenting an opportunity for novel functions to arise. Using the TPJ as an example, we demonstrate that convergence is enabled via three properties of the brain: (1) hierarchical organization, (2) abstraction, and (3) equidistance. As gradients travel from primary sensory cortices to higher-order brain regions, information becomes abstracted and hierarchical, and eventually, gradients meet at a point maximally and equally distant from their sensory origins. This convergence, which produces multifaceted combinations, such as mentalizing another person's thought or projecting into a future space, parallels evolutionary and developmental characteristics in such regions, resulting in new cognitive and affective faculties.

Theory of Mind and Peer Attachment in Adolescence

A growing body of research on theory of mind (ToM) highlights its significance for childhood social outcomes. Extending the developmental scope of this work, the current study investigated links between advanced ToM abilities and peer attachment in adolescence. Polish adolescents (16 to 18 years old; N = 302; 57.6% girls) completed two advanced ToM measures and reported on their peer attachment. With the effects of age and language controlled, girls scored higher than boys for both advanced ToM and peer attachment. However, the association between these measures was only significant in boys. These results are discussed in terms of theory and research on gender-specific approaches to social cognitive development in adolescence.

Can theory of mind of healthy older adults living in a nursing home be improved? A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Research in nursing homes mainly focused on interventions for residents affected by cognitive decline. Few studies have considered healthy older adults living in nursing homes, and this research targeted cognitive functioning.

AIMS

To evaluate whether socio-cognitive abilities can be improved by means of a theory of mind (ToM) training conducted by nursing home's operators.

METHODS

RESULTS: Results revealed that older adults benefitted from the ToM intervention in both practiced and non-practiced tasks, while the control group showed no change from pre- to post-test evaluation. Analyses on errors scores indicated that the ToM intervention led to a reduction of both excessive mentalizing and absence of mental states inference.

DISCUSSION

The conversation-based ToM intervention proved to be effective in improving socio-cognitive skills in cognitively healthy nursing home residents. Notably, older adults were able to transfer the skills acquired during the training to new material.

CONCLUSIONS

Promoting healthy resident's ToM ability could positively impact on their social cognition, consequently increasing their quality of life. Our findings showed that the intervention can be feasibly managed by health care assistants within the residential context.

Opportunities and Challenges in Developing Technology-Based Social Skills Interventions for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Analysis of Parent Perspectives

Interest continues to be high in technology-based interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Understanding the preferences and challenges of technology use among individuals with ASD can inform the design of such interventions. Through 18 interviews with parents, we used an iterative inductive-deductive approach to qualitative analysis and explored uses of technology for social skills development among adolescents with ASD. Our findings include parents’ observations about their adolescent’s preferences in types of technology devices and digital content, as well as both positive and negative effects of technology use on mood and behavior. Parents highlighted several avenues of technological preferences and risks that may inform intervention design, enhance user engagement, and capitalize on users’ strengths while buttressing areas for growth.

Metacognition Mediates the Effect of Social Communication and Internalizing Behaviors on Self-management of Daily Life Tasks for Diploma-Track Autistic Youth

Social communication and executive functioning challenges as well as co-occurring anxiety/depression may make acquiring the skills needed to manage daily life tasks difficult for diploma-track autistic youth, thus limiting their participation in adult roles. This study describes the associations between executive function, social communication skills, and internalizing behaviors on task management in academically capable autistic adolescents (n = 46) using multiple regression with mediator analysis. The three predictors and youth age explained a moderate amount of variance in task management. Metacognition mediated the effect of social communication skills and internalizing behaviors on task management. Relations between underlying factors that influence self-management of daily life tasks are complex, supporting the need for multifaceted assessment and intervention approaches for academically capable autistic youth.

How Wisdom Emerges from Intellectual Development: A Developmental/Historical Theory for Raising Mandelas

This paper invokes cognitive developmental theory as a means for preparing citizens to deal with and resolve conflicts within or across nations. We take the centuries-old Greek–Turkish dispute as an example. We first outline a theory of intellectual development postulating that mental changes emerge in response to changing developmental priorities in successive life periods, namely, interaction control in infancy, attention control and representational awareness in preschool, inferential control and cognitive management in primary school, and advanced forms of reasoning and self-evaluation in adolescence. Based on this model, we outline a control theory of wisdom postulating that different aspects of wisdom emerge during development as different levels of control of relations with others: trust and care for others in infancy, taking the other’s perspective, reflectivity, and empathy in preschool, rationality and understanding the rules underlying individual and group interactions in primary school, and understanding the general principles of societal operation explaining the differences in approach and interest between groups in adolescence and early adulthood. We also outline the educational implications of this theory for the education of citizens by capitalizing on intellectual strengths at successive developmental periods to comprehensively understand the world and to act prudently when dealing with interpersonal and social or national conflict. Finally, the paper discusses the political constraints and implications of this theory. This is the first attempt to derive wisdom from the development of cognitive and personality processes from infancy through early adulthood and to connect it to serious world problems.

Belief in Communism and Theory of Mind

A belief in communism refers to the unquestionable trust and belief in the justness of communism. Although former studies have discussed the political aim and social value of communism, the cognitive neural basis of a belief in communism remains largely unknown. In this study, we determined the behavioral and neural correlates between a belief in communism and a theory of mind (ToM). For study 1, questionnaire scores were measured and for study 2, regional homogeneity (ReHo) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) were used as an index for resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), as measured by the Belief in Communism Scale (BCS). The results showed that a belief in communism is associated with higher ReHo in the left thalamus and lower ReHo in the left medial frontal gyrus (MFG). Furthermore, the results of the rsFC analysis revealed that strength of functional connectivity between the left thalamus and the bilateral precuneus is negatively associated with a belief in communism. Hence, this study provides evidence that spontaneous brain activity in multiple regions, which is associated with ToM capacity, contributes to a belief in communism.

The process of Learn to Play Therapy with parent-child dyads with children who have autism spectrum disorder

INTRODUCTION

Learn to Play Therapy aims to build children's ability to spontaneously initiate pretend play. The purpose of this study was to explore evidence for this therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder by investigating the changes in a child's pretend play and key techniques used in the process of therapy.

METHODS

Six children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (mean age = 3.8 years; SD = 1.2 years) were engaged in therapy sessions with a parent. Four therapy session videos for each child were selected across four time points from 15 videos of each child, representing 6 months of therapy. Retrospective video analysis was used to investigate the changes in the child's ability by coding six play skills and enjoyment of play. Key techniques in the process of Learn to Play Therapy were analysed by frequency of occurrence during sessions.

RESULTS

There was a significant increase in the child's pretend play ability for play scripts (p = .042), sequences of play actions (p = .043), object substitution (p = .043), doll/teddy play (p = .028), social interaction (p = .043) and enjoyment (p = .026). There was a mirroring of the therapist, parent and child for all key techniques, with parents showing increased frequency rates after Time 1. Repetition with variation decreased by Time 4. Challenging the child showed higher rates in Times 2 and 4. Focussed attention remained stable, and the child's talk during play had the highest total frequency.

CONCLUSION

Learn to Play Therapy is an effective therapy in building pretend play ability in children with autism, with parents increasing their involvement in using the key techniques after Time 1. The results inform therapists on how the key techniques were used within the therapy sessions to increase the child's pretend play ability.

Bridging the Gap Between Prosody and Pragmatics: The Acquisition of Pragmatic Prosody in the Preschool Years and Its Relation With Theory of Mind

While it is well known that prosodic features are central in the conveyance of pragmatic meaning across languages, developmental research has assessed a narrow set of pragmatic functions of prosody. Research on prosodic development has focused on early infancy, with the subsequent preschool ages and beyond having received less attention. This study sets out to explore how young preschoolers develop the ability to use prosody to express pragmatic meanings while taking into account children's Theory of Mind (ToM) development. Though ToM has been suggested to be linked to the development of receptive prosody, little is known about its relationship with expressive prosodic skills. A total of 102 3- to 4-year-old Catalan-speaking children were assessed for their pragmatic prosody skills using 35 picture-supported prompts revolving around a variety of social scenarios, as well as for their ToM skills. The responses were analyzed for prosodic appropriateness. The analyses revealed that 3- to 4-year-olds successfully produced prosody to encode basic expressive acts and unbiased speech acts such as information-seeking questions. Yet they had more trouble with complex expressive acts and biased speech acts such as the ones that convey speakers' beliefs. Further analyses showed that ToM alone is not sufficient to explain children's prosodic score, but the prosodic performance in some pragmatic areas (unbiased pragmatic meanings) was predicted by the interaction between ToM and age. Overall, this evidence for the acquisition of pragmatic prosody by young preschoolers demonstrates the importance of bridging the gap between prosody and pragmatics when accounting for prosodic developmental profiles, as well as taking into account the potential influence of ToM and other socio-cognitive and language skills in this development.

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.

Parental reflective functioning and theory of mind acquisition: A developmental perspective

This study investigated theory of mind (ToM) development in 83 children aged 3-5 years and its associations with parental reflective functioning (PRF), using a multidimensional and developmental approach. Results showed that ToM dimensions (i.e., affective, belief-desire, and cognitive) gradually increased with age. All dimensions of PRF (i.e., prementalizing modes, certainty about mental states, and interest and curiosity in mental states) were associated with ToM dimensions, with different dimensions being differentially related to ToM, including age-related effects.

The multidimensionality of abstract concepts: A systematic review

The neuroscientific study of conceptual representation has largely focused on categories of concrete entities (biological entities, tools…), while abstract knowledge has been less extensively investigated. The possible presence of a categorical organization of abstract knowledge is a debated issue. An embodied cognition framework predicts an organization of the abstract domain into different dimensions, grounded in the brain regions engaged by the corresponding experience. Here we review the types of experience that have been proposed to characterize different categories of abstract concepts, and the evidence supporting a corresponding organization derived from behavioural, neuroimaging (i.e., fMRI, MRI, PET, SPECT), EEG, and neurostimulation (i.e., TMS) studies in healthy and clinical populations. The available data provide substantial converging evidence in favour of the presence of distinct neural representations of social and emotional knowledge, mental states and magnitude concepts, engaging brain systems involved in the corresponding experiences. This evidence is supporting an extension of embodied models of semantic memory organization to several types of abstract knowledge.

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.

Parent Training and Therapy in Children with Autism

With the introduction of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th ed. (DSM-5) autism spectrum disorders (ASD) fall into the category of neurodevelopmental disorders. ASD is characterized by the inhibitory mechanisms responsible for social adaptation and emotional expression being underdeveloped, causing a child's recognition and understanding of emotions to be impaired. Our study hypothesizes that early intervention using behavioral interventions such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and reflexive functions (RF) training on parents can improve the development of joint attention (JA), a cognitive precursor to the theory of mind (ToM) and mentalization processes. We considered a sample of 84 children aged between 20 and 30 months who had received a diagnosis of risk of autism spectrum disorder (level 1). The sample was divided into two groups of 42 subjects, in the first group we carried out a weekly behavioral parent training (PT) based only on ABA principles, while in the second group we carried out a weekly PT aimed at improving reflective functions and parental awareness according to a model inspired by the model based on emotional mirroring and mentalization of Fonagy. Our study shows that parents who are able to make sense of both their own mental state and that of their child can serve as a protective factor for the child's development even in atypical developmental situations such as in ASD.

Judging meaning: A domain-level difference between autistic and non-autistic adults

We tested whether autistic adults would show selective difficulties across several tests of inferencing and social understanding in the context of average-range core language ability. One-hundred and ninety-one participants completed an online battery, and data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis. Results showed that vocabulary knowledge was separate from other measures, which collectively formed a 'receptive communication' factor. Autistic people underperformed on the 'receptive communication' factor but showed more advanced vocabulary knowledge than non-autistic participants. Lower performance among autistic adults on the test battery predicted face-to-face communication difficulties measured by self-report and researcher ratings, with moderate effect sizes. Follow-up analysis indicated three further findings. We hypothesized that differences would arise from an isolated 'theory of mind' difficulty in autistic people, but instead the data suggested more general information-processing differences when making judgements about communicative stimuli. Second, substantial group differences on a test of implied meaning were only partly explained at the factor level, suggesting that multiple cognitive influences underpinned these differences. Finally, autistic women tended to perform better than autistic men. Our results support the idea of a subtle domain-level difference in pragmatics in autistic people, while questioning the basis of this difference and highlighting substantial variability in skills across groups.