Methodology Report: The Impaired Theory of Mind in Autism Spectrum Disorders and the Possible Remediative Role of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (original) (raw)
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Developmental science, 2014
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty understanding other minds (Theory of Mind; ToM), with atypical processing evident at both behavioural and neural levels. Individuals with conduct problems and high levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (CP/HCU) exhibit reduced responsiveness to others' emotions and difficulties interacting with others, but nonetheless perform normally in experimental tests of ToM. The present study aimed to examine the neural underpinnings of ToM in children (aged 10–16) with ASD (N = 16), CP/HCU (N = 16) and typically developing (TD) controls (N = 16) using a non-verbal cartoon vignette task. Whilst individuals with ASD were predicted to show reduced fMRI responses across regions involved in ToM processing, CP/HCU individuals were predicted to show no differences compared with TD controls. The analyses indicated that neural responses did not differ between TD and CP/HCU groups during ToM. TD and CP/HCU children exhibited significantly greater medial prefrontal cortex responses during ToM than did the ASD group. Within the ASD group, responses in medial prefrontal cortex and right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) correlated with symptom severity as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Findings suggest that although both ASD and CP/HCU are characterized by social difficulties, only children with ASD display atypical neural processing associated with ToM.
Does Theory of Mind Training Enhance Empathy in Autism?
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2018
Youth with ASD often show limited or atypical empathic responsiveness. The direct effects of social skills interventions on enhancing empathic responsiveness is unknown. Data from a randomized controlled trial were used to investigate whether a Theory of Mind training improves the empathic responsiveness, measured through structured observations. The current study included a large sample (n = 135) of 8-13-year-old children with ASD. When comparing the change scores of empathic responsiveness from baseline to post-test, the intervention group performed significantly better than the waitlist group. Thus, the current findings support the use of Theory of Mind training as intervention of ASD by showing its efficacy also in improving one's empathic responsiveness, in addition to previous knowledge regarding the improvements in empathic understanding.
psychiatria polska, 2020
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by the presence of deficits in social skills and communication as well as repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Among the theories explaining the mechanisms of the formation of the above cited symptoms, an important role is attributed to the theory of mind, or the ability to draw conclusions about the state of mind of other people, assigning mental states to others and interpreting their behaviors. According to guidelines of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the therapeutic procedures in autism spectrum disorders, the proceedings include various methods, adjusted to the level of functioning and presented difficulties. In the most widely used behavioral social skills trainings, the goal is to practice behaviors using modeling and role-playing techniques. Less attention is devoted to the issue of social understanding, theory of mind or the cognitive aspects of therapeutic interventions. There are studies demonstrating the possibility of developing competence in the theory of mind in people with ASD, as well as generalizing the acquired skills. The article reviews the literature on the use of therapeutic programs aimed at developing the theory of mind in patients with ASD and their effectiveness. As it seems, these are promising interventions, although they require further assessment.
Theory of Mind Training in Children with Autism: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2011
Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) participate in social skills or Theory of Mind (ToM) treatments. However, few studies have shown evidence for their effectiveness. The current study used a randomized controlled design to test the effectiveness of a 16-week ToM treatment in 8-13 year old children with ASD and normal IQs (n = 40). The results showed that, compared to controls, the treated children with ASD improved in their conceptual ToM skills, but their elementary understanding, self reported empathic skills or parent reported social behaviour did not improve. Despite the effects on conceptual understanding, the current study does not indicate strong evidence for the effectiveness of a ToM treatment on the daily life mindreading skills.
• We examined the neural correlates of cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) in children and adolescents with ASD. • Cognitive ToM was related to greater activation of the medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex in ASD group. • Affective ToM was related to greater activation in the insula and other subcortical regions in both ASD and TDC group. • Greater activation of m PFC/ACC regions was associated with a lesser symptom severity in ASD participants. a b s t r a c t Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by an impaired Theory of Mind (ToM). Recent evidence suggested that two aspects of ToM (cognitive ToM versus affective ToM) are differentially impaired in individuals with ASD. In this study, we examined the neural correlates of cognitive and affective ToM in children and adolescents with ASD compared to typically developing children (TDCs). Twelve children and adolescents with ASD and 12 age, IQ matched TDCs participated in this functional MRI study. The ToM task involved the attribution of cognitive and affective mental states to a cartoon character based on verbal and eye-gaze cues. In cognitive ToM tasks, ASD participants recruited the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and superior temporal gyrus (STG) to a greater extent than did TDCs. In affective ToM tasks, both ASD and TDC participants showed more activation in the insula and other subcortical regions than in cognitive ToM tasks. Correlational analysis revealed that greater activation of the mPFC/ACC regions was associated with less symptom severity in ASD patients. In sum, our study suggests that the recruitment of additional prefrontal resources can compensate for the successful behavioral performance in the ToM task in ASD participants.
2014
Objective: The present study has been carried out to develop social cognition interventional program (SCIP) based on Theory of Mind (ToM), and to investigate its effects on HighFunctional Autistic (HFA) Children's Social function. Methods: Present study was completely experimental and its participants were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group (Among 14 HFA, 7 in experimental and 7 in controls were selected as a sample). Interventional programs were taught in 20 sessions. ScottBellini Autism Social Skills profiles (ASSP) were used as outcome measures. This profile had 45 Items with 4 subscales. The validity of this scale was confirmed by specialists and its reliability was estimated 0.940. Results: the gathered data were analyzed using repeated measures and analysis of variance. The results showed that SCIP had a significant effect on participant's social function. Conclusion: Based on the results, SCIP may be effective in and increasing social function in ...
Theory of Mind Abilities and Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Topics in Language Disorders, 2014
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurobiological disorder that significantly impairs children's social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and behaviors. Questions about theory of mind (ToM) deficits in ASD have generated a large number of empirical studies. This article reviews current studies of the relationship between ToM and ASD, including contributions to the understanding of social and academic manifestations of ASD. Several themes emerge: Enhanced language and verbal abilities facilitate better ToM understanding; implicit ToM elements that incorporate parallel processing pose more difficulties than explicit ones; and general and multimodal interventions are more effective than specific interventions. A brief overview is followed by a review of emerging research on the role of domain-general cognitive skills (executive function) and central coherence in the development of ToM. Next, a summary of studies addressing ToM across the development and social and academic manifestations is presented. The article ends with a critical review of ToM intervention studies, which suggests that generalization may be more likely to occur when ToM is targeted as part of broader sociocognitive interventions rather than as an isolated skill.