Theory of Mind and narrative abilities are closely related in a bidirectional way. On the one hand, Theory of Mind is reflected in the quality of discourse production and comprehension, and on the other hand narrative input influences the development of Theory of Mind in children. The present contribution is theoretical in nature, defining the Theory of Mind, its development, and describing in more detail its relationship to narrative abilities in children. It also provides information on the possibilities of assessing Theory of Mind within a narrative context in the child population.
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is characterized by profound and early deficits in social cognition (SC) and executive functions (EF). To date it remains unclear whether deficits of the respective cognitive domains are based on the degeneration of distinct brain regions. In 103 patients with a diagnosis of bvFTD (possible/probable/definite: N = 40/58/5) from the frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) consortium Germany cohort (age 62.5±9.4 years, gender 38 female/65 male) we applied multimodal structural imaging, i.e. voxel-based morphometry, cortical thickness (CTH) and networks of structural covariance via source based morphometry. We cross-sectionally investigated associations with performance in a modified Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; reflective of theory of mind - ToM) and five different tests reflective of EF (i.e. Hamasch-Five-Point Test, semantic and phonemic Fluency, Trail Making Test, Stroop interference). Finally, we investigated the conjunction of RMET correlates with functional networks commonly associated with SC respectively ToM and EF as extracted meta-analytically within the Neurosynth database. RMET performance was mainly associated with gray matter volume (GMV) and CTH within temporal and insular cortical regions and less within the prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas EF performance was mainly associated with prefrontal regions (GMV and CTH). Overlap of RMET and EF associations was primarily located within the insula, adjacent subcortical structures (i.e. putamen) and the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC). These patterns were more pronounced after adjustment for the respective other cognitive domain. Corroborative results were obtained in analyses of structural covariance networks. Overlap of RMET with meta-analytically extracted functional networks commonly associated with SC, ToM and EF was again primarily located within the temporal and insular region and the dlPFC. In addition, on a meta-analytical level, strong associations were found for temporal cortical RMET correlates with SC and ToM in particular. These data indicate a temporo-frontal dissociation of bvFTD related disturbances of ToM and EF, with atrophy of the anterior temporal lobe being critically involved in ToM deficits. The consistent overlap within the insular cortex may be attributable to the multimodal and integrative role of this region in socioemotional and cognitive processing.
- MeSH
- Executive Function * physiology MeSH
- Frontotemporal Dementia * pathology diagnostic imaging physiopathology psychology MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging * MeSH
- Brain diagnostic imaging pathology MeSH
- Neuropsychological Tests * MeSH
- Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Social Cognition MeSH
- Theory of Mind * physiology MeSH
- Check Tag
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
INTRODUCTION: The Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) causes serious interpersonal problems from childhood to adulthood, one of them being problematic social functioning. This phenomenon in ADHD should be associated with impairments in the Theory of Mind (ToM). Therefore, understanding the neural correlates of the ToM could be crucial for helping individuals with ADHD with their social functioning. Thus, we aimed to review published literature concerning neuroanatomical and functional correlates of ToM deficits in children and adolescents with ADHD. METHODS: We reviewed studies published between 1970 and 2023. In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, after data from three databases were collected, two authors (LN and PM) independently screened all relevant records (n=638) and consequently, both authors did the data extraction. The quality of the included studies (n=5) was measured by a modified version of The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and by measures specific for our study. This systematic review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020139847). RESULTS: Results indicated that impairments in performing of the ToM tasks were negatively associated with the grey matter volume in the bilateral amygdala and hippocampus in both, ADHD and control group. In EEG studies, a significantly greater electrophysiological activity during ToM tasks was observed in the, frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes in participants with ADHD as compared to healthy subjects. CONCLUSION: More research is needed to explore the ToM deficits in children with ADHD. Future research might focus on the neural circuits associated with attention and inhibition, which deficits seems to contribute to the ToM deficits in children and adolescents with ADHD.
- MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Electroencephalography methods MeSH
- Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity * physiopathology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Brain physiopathology MeSH
- Theory of Mind * physiology MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Review MeSH
- Systematic Review MeSH
- MeSH
- Mental Processes MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Memory MeSH
- Psychological Theory MeSH
- Theory of Mind MeSH
- Consciousness * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
Visuospatial perspective-taking (VPT) is a process of imagining what can be seen and how a scene looks from a location and orientation in space that differs from one's own. It comprises two levels that are underpinned by distinct neurocognitive processes. Level-2 VPT is often studied in relation to two other cognitive phenomena, object mental rotation (oMR) and theory of mind (ToM). With the aim to describe the broad picture of neurocognitive processes underlying level-2 VPT, here we give an overview of the recent behavioral and neuroscientific findings of level-2 VPT. We discuss its relation to level-1 VPT, which is also referred to as perspective-tracking, and the neighboring topics, oMR and ToM. Neuroscientific research shows that level-2 VPT is a diverse cognitive process, encompassing functionally distinct neural circuits. It shares brain substrates with oMR, especially those parietal brain areas that are specialized in spatial reasoning. However, compared to oMR, level-2 VPT involves additional activations in brain structures that are typically involved in ToM tasks and deal with self/other distinctions. In addition, level-2 VPT has been suggested to engage brain areas coding for internal representations of the body. Thus, the neurocognitive model underpinning level-2 VPT can be understood as a combination of visuospatial processing with social cognition and body schema representations.
Problémy s porozumením duševných stavov (tzv. teória mysle) sú súčasťou klinického obrazu porúch z okruhu schizofrenického spektra. Cieľom práce je empiricky overiť model hyper/hypomentalizácie, ktorý predpokladá, že u pacientov so schizofréniou je prítomný deficit v schopnosti používať teóriu mysle a taktiež, že pacienti s paranoidnou symptomatikou majú zvýraznenú tendenciu k nadmernému, ale nepresnému pripisovaniu intencií. Súbor pozostával z troch skupín, pacienti s paranoidno-perzekučnými bludmi (36), psychiatrickí pacienti bez bludov (19) a zdravé kontroly (28). Participantom bola administrovaná úloha Animation Task, v ktorej mali interpretovať pohyby objektov. Výsledky preukázali, že pacienti s perzekučnými bludmi mali problémy so správnou interpretáciou sociálnych situácií, v komplexných situáciách pripisovali menej intencií, ktoré boli ale často nepresné. V prípade videí zameraných na teóriu mysle atribuovali signifikantne menej intencií ako kontrolná skupina. Primeranosť opisu týchto videí bola nižšia v porovnaní s kontrolným súborom aj pacientami s inými psychickými poruchami. Závažnosť paranoidnej symptomatiky predikovala mieru pripísaných intencií. Výsledky tak čiastočne podporili teoretický model hyper/hypomentalizácie duševných stavov u pacientov so schizofréniou
Problems with understanding of mental states of other people (e.g. Theory of Mind) is part of the clinical presentation of schizophre-nia spectrum disorders. The aim of the current study is to empirically test model of hyper/hypomentalisation, which propose existence of Theory of Mind deficit in patients with schizophrenia. Based on this model, patients with prominent persecutory delusions should hyper attribute mental states. The sample consisted of patients with persecutory delusions (36), psychiatric controls (19), and healthy controls (28). Animation Task was administered. The purpose of the task is to interpret movements of moving elements. Patients with persecutory delusions showed impairment in theory of mind in the complex social situations. They attributed less intentions which were often inaccurate. In videos with theory of mind, patients with persecutory delusions attributed less intentions than healthy controls. Appropriateness of descriptions of video content was lower than in healthy and psychiatric controls. Severity of paranoia was associated with tendency to attribute intentions. The results partially supported hyper/hypo attribution model in patients with schizophrenia.
Theory of Mind, or the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others, forms the foundation of social cognitive processes or social cognition. Since its conception in 1978, the construct has been enjoying increasing attention from researchers and it has been widely studied in the context of autism spectrum disorder. This paper tries to review the issues surrounding the assessment of the construct. Theory of Mind (ToM) assessment goes almost synonymously with false belief tests. And assessing ToM with false belief tasks did not pose a problem because the construct had traditionally been studied mostly, if not exclusively on children. This paper discusses the danger of testing theory of mind with false belief tasks only and the serious necessity to study the construct in the adult population. The paper also discusses why the construct needs to be assessed in a culture-specific manner, the problems with the existing recent tools that have been developed to measure the construct, the complexity of simulating real social stimuli, and the subtleties around the construct that is to be taken care of while developing assessment measures.
- Keywords
- False Belief Tasks,
- MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Psychological Tests * MeSH
- Cross-Cultural Comparison MeSH
- Theory of Mind * MeSH
- Age Factors MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
Patients with schizophrenia (SCH) often demonstrate impairment in social-cognitive functions as well as disturbances in large-scale network connectivity. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a core region of the default mode network, with projections to limbic structures. It plays an important role in social and emotional decision-making. We investigated whether resting-state functional connectivity (FC) relates to the cognitive and affective domains of theory of mind (ToM). Twenty-three SCH patients and 19 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. vmPFC seed connectivity was correlated with behavioral measures assessing ToM domains. SCH performed less well than HCs in both ToM task domains. An analysis of the resting-state FC revealed that SCH had reduced connectivity from the vmPFC to the subcallosal cortex, right amygdala, and right hippocampus as a function of behavioral scores in both ToM domains. Within-group analyses indicated that in HCs, the performance in ToM was positively associated with frontoamygdalar resting-state connectivity, whereas in SCH, the performance in ToM was negatively associated with the frontosubcallosal connectivity. Differences in the pattern of the resting-state frontolimbic connectivity and its associations with performance in ToM tasks between the two study groups might represent a different setup for processing social information in patients with SCH.
- MeSH
- Frontal Lobe diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Emotions MeSH
- Cognition Disorders etiology MeSH
- Oxygen blood MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Limbic System diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging MeSH
- Brain Mapping * MeSH
- Neural Pathways diagnostic imaging physiopathology MeSH
- Neuropsychological Tests MeSH
- Rest MeSH
- Image Processing, Computer-Assisted MeSH
- Recognition, Psychology MeSH
- Schizophrenia complications diagnostic imaging MeSH
- Social Behavior MeSH
- Theory of Mind physiology MeSH
- Self Report MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
OBJECTIVES: Patients with schizophrenia have difficulties processing the emotional and cognitive states of others. Neuroimaging studies show inconsistent findings. METHODS: We used a Seed-based d Mapping meta-analytic method to explore brain activation during facial emotion recognition and theory of mind tasks in schizophrenia patients. RESULTS: The patients showed lesser recruitment of the facial emotion processing network; behavioural performance was associated with the activation of the precentral gyrus. We found abnormal activation of the mentalising network in schizophrenia patients during reasoning about other people's mental states; patients with worse performances showed lesser activation in the right insula and superior temporal gyrus. Multimodal meta-analysis showed overlaps of brain-related abnormalities for both modalities in schizophrenia, with reduced recruitment of the right insula, anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex and increased activation in the bilateral parietal cortex. Meta-regression results indicate that illness duration, medication and symptomatology might influence social-cognitive network disruptions in schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the complex impairment of social cognition, as demonstrated by neural-related circuit disruptions during facial emotion processing and theory of mind tasks in schizophrenia.
- MeSH
- Emotions * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging MeSH
- Brain Mapping MeSH
- Neuroimaging MeSH
- Schizophrenic Psychology MeSH
- Schizophrenia physiopathology MeSH
- Social Behavior * MeSH
- Theory of Mind * MeSH
- Facial Expression MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Meta-Analysis MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Review MeSH
