scholarly journals The Neural Basis of Social Cognition in Typically Developing Children and Its Relationship to Social Functioning

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Hope Lincoln ◽  
Cora M. Mukerji ◽  
David Dodell-Feder ◽  
Arianna Riccio ◽  
Christine I. Hooker
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Typically Developing Children

Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to think about the perspectives, beliefs, and feelings of another, develops throughout childhood and adolescence and is an important skill for social interactions. This study examines neural activity in typically developing children during a novel ToM task – the Movie Mentalizing Task– and tests its relations to ToM behavioral performance and social functioning. In this fMRI task, children ages 8–13years (N=25) watched a brief movie clip and were asked to predict a character’s mental state after a social interaction. Engaging in the Movie Mentalizing Task activated the ToM neural network. Moreover, greater neural activity in the ToM network, including the superior temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, was associated with better behavioral performance on independent ToM tasks and was related to better social functioning, though these results do not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Results offer a new affective theory of mind task for children in the scanner that robustly recruits activity in theory of mind regions.

Functional changes during visuo-spatial working memory in autism spectrum disorder: 2-year longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa M Vogan ◽  
Benjamin R Morgan ◽  
Mary Lou Smith ◽  
Margot J Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Functional Changes

This study examined functional changes longitudinally over 2 years in neural correlates associated with working memory in youth with and without autism spectrum disorder, and the impact of increasing cognitive load. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a visuo-spatial 1-back task with four levels of difficulty. A total of 14 children with autism spectrum disorder and 15 typically developing children (ages 7–13) were included at baseline and followed up approximately 2 years later. Despite similar task performance between groups, differences were evident in the developmental trajectories of neural responses. Typically developing children showed greater load-dependent activation which intensified over time in the frontal, parietal and occipital lobes and the right fusiform gyrus, compared to those with autism spectrum disorder. Children with autism spectrum disorder showed minimal age-related changes in load-dependent activation, but greater longitudinal load-dependent deactivation in default mode network compared to typically developing children. Results suggest inadequate modulation of neural activity with increasing cognitive demands in children with autism spectrum disorder, which does not mature into adolescence, unlike their typically developing peers. Diminished ability for children with autism spectrum disorder to modulate neural activity during this period of maturation suggests that they may be more vulnerable to the increasing complexity of social and academic demands as they progress through adolescence than their peers.

scholarly journals Theory of Mind Abilities and Social Competence in Preschool Children

2019 ◽  
Vol 09 (01) ◽  
pp. 09-11
Author(s):  
Shrunga Manchanapura Shivalingaiah ◽  
Fathimath Ramseena ◽  
Nafeesath Shareen
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Life ◽  
True Belief ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Clinical Population ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Objective Theory ◽  
Mixed Responses

Abstract Background and Objective Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability that can be attributed to mental status beliefs, intents, emotions, proficiency, etc., to oneself and to others, and the understanding that others also have intentions, conceptions, desires, and perspectives that are different from one’s own. Daily social life depends on the ability to evaluate the behavior of other people on the basis of their mental state such as their beliefs, intentions, compassions, and goals. This study was conducted to explore the ToM abilities in preschoolers. Methods A total of 36 preschoolers participated in the study. Two stories were narrated to the children, the classic Sally-Anne Task and the Smarty’s Task. In both the tasks, the responses of the children were scored as either true belief or false belief. Results The results of the present study revealed mixed responses among the preschoolers. It was found that 3- to 4-year-old children had more false beliefs for both the tasks when compared with 4- to 5-year-old. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of ToM abilities in typically growing children and other clinical population. It can be concluded that the ToM abilities were improved in typically developing children. Future studies are required to explore the higher levels of embedding of ToM, and also to incorporate it in the clinical population.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Theory of Mind Are Preserved in Young Women With Anorexia Nervosa

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Leslie ◽  
Daniel Halls ◽  
Jenni Leppanen ◽  
Felicity Sedgewick ◽  
Katherine Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Neural Basis

People with anorexia nervosa (AN) commonly exhibit social difficulties, which may be related to problems with understanding the perspectives of others, commonly known as Theory of Mind (ToM) processing. However, there is a dearth of literature investigating the neural basis of these differences in ToM and at what age they emerge. This study aimed to test for differences in the neural correlates of ToM processes in young women with AN, and young women weight-restored (WR) from AN, as compared to healthy control participants (HC). Based on previous findings in AN, we hypothesized that young women with current or prior AN, as compared to HCs, would exhibit a reduced neural response in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the inferior frontal gyrus, and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) whilst completing a ToM task. We recruited 73 young women with AN, 45 WR young women, and 70 young women without a history of AN to take part in the current study. Whilst undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, participants completed the Frith-Happé task, which is a commonly used measure of ToM with demonstrated reliability and validity in adult populations. In this task, participants viewed the movements of triangles, which depicted either action movements, simple interactions, or complex social interactions. Viewing trials with more complex social interactions in the Frith-Happé task was associated with increased brain activation in regions including the right TPJ, the bilateral mPFC, the cerebellum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. There were no group differences in neural activation in response to the ToM contrast. Overall, these results suggest that the neural basis of spontaneous mentalizing is preserved in most young women with AN.

scholarly journals Importance of language for children’s theory of mind: Comparison of verbal and nonverbal theory of mind tasks

Psihologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 23-23
Author(s):  
Sanja Simlesa ◽  
Kaja Hacin ◽  
Maja Cepanec ◽  
Jasmina Ivsac-Pavlisa
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Mental States ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
The Past ◽  
Verbal Tasks

The ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, known as the theory of mind (ToM), has been widely researched over the past 40 years, along with its relation to language comprehension. However, a majority of the research on the relation between ToM and language used only verbal tasks assessing false belief understanding as a measure of ToM. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the relation between language and ToM, using a larger battery of ToM measures, with different language demands. A total of 203 typically developing children between 46 and 68 months of age, with average nonverbal cognitive skills, were assessed using language comprehension and ToM tasks. The language aspect was assessed using the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Language Comprehension scale A). To assess ToM, verbal and non-verbal tasks were taken from the ToM subtest of the NEPSY-II. Results indicated a significant correlation between language comprehension and verbal and non-verbal ToM measures. Hierarchical regression showed that language comprehension was a significant predictor for children's performance on both verbal and non-verbal ToM tasks. Specifically, language comprehension affected ToM, regardless of the language demands of the ToM tasks. However, language comprehension was a stronger predictor for verbal than non-verbal ToM tasks. The results of this study contribute to the view that the relation between language and ToM is fundamental and exceeds the features of specific tasks.

scholarly journals The neural basis of theory of mind and its relationship to social functioning and social anhedonia in individuals with schizophrenia

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 154-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Dodell-Feder ◽  
Laura M. Tully ◽  
Sarah Hope Lincoln ◽  
Christine I. Hooker
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Social Anhedonia ◽  
Neural Basis

scholarly journals Neural correlates of oral word reading, silent reading comprehension, and cognitive subcomponents

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao Xia ◽  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Fumiko Hoeft ◽  
Bin Gu ◽  
Gaolang Gong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Calcarine Fissure ◽  
Age Range

The ability to read is essential for cognitive development. To deepen our understanding of reading acquisition, we explored the neuroanatomical correlates (cortical thickness; CT) of word-reading fluency and sentence comprehension efficiency in Chinese with a group of typically developing children ( N = 21; 12 females and 9 males; age range 10.7–12.3 years). Then, we investigated the relationship between the CT of reading-defined regions and the cognitive subcomponents of reading to determine whether our study lends support to the multi-component model. The results demonstrated that children’s performance on oral word reading was positively correlated with CT in the left superior temporal gyrus (LSTG), left inferior temporal gyrus (LITG), left supramarginal gyrus (LSMG) and right superior temporal gyrus (RSTG). Moreover, CT in the LSTG, LSMG and LITG uniquely predicted children’s phonetic representation, phonological awareness, and orthography–phonology mapping skills, respectively. By contrast, children’s performance on sentence-reading comprehension was positively correlated with CT in the left parahippocampus (LPHP) and right calcarine fissure (RV1). As for the subcomponents of reading, CT in the LPHP was exclusively correlated with morphological awareness, whereas CT in the RV1 was correlated with orthography–semantic mapping. Taken together, these findings indicate that the reading network of typically developing children consists of multiple sub-divisions, thus providing neuroanatomical evidence in support of the multi-componential view of reading.

scholarly journals Comparison of the Advanced Theory of Mind Skills in Turkish Children with Autism and Typically Developing Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-316
Author(s):  
Alev Gİrli
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Turkish Children ◽  
Social Impairments ◽  
Advanced Theory Of Mind ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strange Stories Test

Theory of mind (ToM) has been applied in an attempt to explain the social impairments that characterize children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, an examination of several Turkish ToM studies revealed that ToM belief tests often have been used inappropriately to assess typically developing (TD) children and those adult versions of the Eyes Test and other ToM tests have been used inappropriately to assess adults with psychiatric disorders. Among the studies examined, none had used advanced ToM tests such as the Eyes Test and the Strange Stories Test to compare TD children and children with autism. The objective of this study was to examine the ToM levels attained by children with autism and TD children between the ages of 7 and 13 years, using the advanced ToM Strange Stories and Eyes tests. Compared with ASD children, TD children achieved higher scores on the Eyes and Strange Stories tests.

Theory of mind in naturalistic conversations between autistic and typically developing children and adolescents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Alkire ◽  
Kathryn A. McNaughton ◽  
Heather Yarger ◽  
Deena Shariq ◽  
Elizabeth Redcay
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
Mental State Language ◽  
Strengths And Difficulties ◽  
And Gender

Successful social interactions are assumed to depend on theory of mind (ToM)—the ability to represent others’ mental states—yet most studies of the relation between ToM and social-interactive success rely on non-interactive tasks that do not adequately capture the spontaneous engagement of ToM, a crucial component of everyday social interactions. We addressed this gap by establishing a novel observational rating scale to measure the spontaneous use of ToM (or lack thereof) within naturalistic conversations (conversational ToM, or cToM). In 50 age- and gender-matched dyads of autistic and typically developing children aged 8–16, we assessed cToM during 5-minute, unstructured conversations. We found that ratings on the cToM Negative scale, reflecting ToM-related violations of conversational norms, were negatively associated with two forms of non-interactive ToM: visual-affective and spontaneous. In contrast, the cToM Positive scale, reflecting explicit mental state language and perspective-taking, was not associated with these non-interactive ToM abilities. Furthermore, autistic participants were rated higher than typically developing participants on cToM Negative, but the two groups were rated similarly on cToM Positive. Together, these findings provide insight into multiple aspects of ToM in conversation and reveal a nuanced picture of the relative strengths and difficulties among autistic individuals.

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