Motherhood and theory of mind: increased activation in affective theory of mind and emotion processing areas

There is growing evidence that parenthood changes how people face the specific needs and requests of infants and children, especially their own. However, little is known about the influence of parenthood on theory of mind, the capacity to infer mental and affective states of others and derive action predictions based on these states. It is also unclear whether the effects of parenthood generalise to inferring states of adults or are specific to children. In this study, we investigated neural activation in mothers and women without children during an affective theory of mind task that focuses on predicting action intentions from both child and adult faces. Region-of-interest analyses showed that both emotion and theory of mind areas were activated more strongly in mothers than women without children. These differences were not specific to child stimuli but occurred in response to both adult and child stimuli. Different neural recruitment of emotion and theory of mind related areas might indicate that mothers and non-mothers employ different strategies to infer action intentions from affective faces. Whether these general differences in affective theory of mind between mothers and non-mothers are due to biological or experience-related changes should be subject of further investigation.

A Pilot Study of Perspective Taking and Emotional Contagion in Mental Health Professionals: Glass Brain View of Empathy

Background: Empathy plays a fundamental role in the context of psychotherapy. Mental health professionals (MHP) are required to express empathy on a daily basis. “Perspective taking” (cognitive empathy) and “emotional contagion” (affective empathy) are elements of empathy that are both innate and acquired. This study aimed to explore the underlying neural correlates of empathy using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Method: A total of six healthy subjects from MHP and other professionals (OP) were recruited in a single-assessment study design. Subjects were screened using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the Standard Progressive Matrices. Behavioral measures such as cognitive and affective empathy, interpersonal reactivity, and emotional and social quotient were assessed. Perspective taking was examined with the fMRI face recognition task and the reading mind through eyes task. Emotional contagion was examined by the negative, positive, and pain emotions task. The fMRI was conducted in a 3T Siemens Magnetom Skyra scanner, using a block design paradigm. Results: Activation was noted in the following areas: cingulate and thalamus for positive and negative emotions, precuneus for negative emotion and pain, inferior parietal lobe for reading mind task and negative emotion, declive for reading mind and pain, and precuneus and frontal gyrus for reading mind task and facial recognition. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between MHP and OP groups on the behavioral measures. However, there were variations in cerebral and cerebellar activation in the functional imaging parameters.

Evaluation of social cognition in post stroke patients: a hemispheric analysis

Introduction: Social cognition is an increasingly explored field of research in the study of post-acquired brain injury psychiatric disorders, encompasses a number of domains including theory of mind (ToM). The ToM refers to the ability to understand, infer emotions, and predict the behavior of others. ToM deficits can impair information processing, and the laterality of the brain injury can influence the level of impairment. Objectives: To investigate whether laterality of the post-stroke hemispheric lesion influences performance on ToM tasks. Methods: Cross-sectional observational study, with chronic post-stroke subjects, aged ≥18 years, without cognitive deficits suggestive by Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). The volunteers were submitted to a single evaluation using the Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToM TB) in its version translated and adapted to Portuguese (Brazil). The participants were allocated into two groups: group with right hemisphere injury (RHI) and group with left hemisphere injury (LHI). Comparative statistics were performed based on the ToM TB scores between the two groups using Student’s t-test. Results: Thirty-eight participants (RHI=22 and LHI=16) were included. There was no difference between the RHI and LHI group regarding social cognition assessed by ToM TB (t=1.63; p=0.11). Conclusion: The laterality of brain injury appears to not influence the level of performance on ToM tasks in stroke survivors.

Vedenjske naloge teorije uma: priročnik in naloge

Slovenska različica Vedenjskih nalog teorije uma je prevedena in prirejena iz angleške različice – The Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToMTB), katere avtorici sta Hutchins in Prelock (2010, 2014) in se lahko uporablja vzporedno z Vprašalnikom teorije uma (The Theory of Mind Inventory-2), ki je prav tako preveden in prirejen na slovensko populacijo.

Developmental Trajectory of Theory-of-Mind Decline in Older Adults

Theory-of-Mind (ToM) is critical to individual social competence and mental health across the lifespan (Frith, 2008). Though it is often discussed as one broad construct, ToM abilities can be viewed as following a developmental trajectory: from early emotion recognition and gaze following to more advanced inferences about others’ beliefs, perspectives, and intentions (Hutchins et al., 2012). Despite current literature suggesting that ToM abilities may be impaired in late adulthood, there is no consensus regarding whether ToM abilities are differentially affected by age. In this study, we examined younger adults (N=18, aged 19-30) and older adults (N=13, aged 58-76) on their ToM competence across three levels of ToM abilities: Early-ToM (e.g., recognizing a happy face), Basic-ToM (e.g., perspective-taking and false-belief reasoning), and Advanced-ToM (e.g., inferring second-order emotion and false belief). All participants completed a Theory-of-Mind Task Battery consisting of three subscales that assessed the three levels of ToM, where participants viewed vignettes and answered questions about the protagonists’ feelings and beliefs. Overall, younger adults outperformed older adults on the battery, F(1,29)=7.34, p=.011. However, a significant interaction between age and ToM levels (p=.010) revealed that Early and Advanced ToM (ps>.25) were not as affected by age as Basic ToM (p=.007). Older adults have difficulty in inferring others’ perspectives/beliefs while their attributions of emotion and higher-order false beliefs are relatively preserved compared to the younger adults. These findings provide important insights into the impact of age on various levels of ToM and could help inform early detection of ToM decline in normal aging.

Are the Effects of Variation in Quantity of Daily Bilingual Exposure and Socioeconomic Status on Language and Cognitive Abilities Independent in Preschool Children?

Bilingual exposure (BE) and socioeconomic status (SES) are associated with children’s development, but their specific and unique effects are still unclear. This study analyzed the influence of these environmental factors on a set of cognitive and linguistic abilities in preschoolers to disentangle their effects. One hundred-eleven Italian-speaking preschool children (mean age = 61 months; SD = 6.8) growing in a monolingual or multilingual context completed an assessment of cognitive (theory of mind, inhibition, attention shifting and working memory) and linguistic abilities (vocabulary, grammar, narrative comprehension, lexical access). The results of hierarchical regressions with predictors variation in BE (both Length and Daily exposure) and SES on each ability, shown a specific contribution of variation in SES, after controlling for BE, in vocabulary, grammar, and working memory (WM), and a specific contribution of variation in BE, over and above effect of SES, in vocabulary, narrative comprehension and WM. In addition, we found an interaction between these factors in predicting the performance of the theory of mind task (ToM). To conclude, variations in BE and SES are related independently to individual differences in linguistic and cognitive skills of children in preschool.