Introduction. The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test (henceforth, Eyes test) is a simple but advanced Theory of Mind test, and it is widely used across different cultures. This study assessed the reliability and construct (convergent and discriminant) validity of the Eyes test in Italy. Methods. A sample of 18- to 32-year-old undergraduate students of both sexes (N=200, males=46%) were invited to fill in the Italian version of the Eyes test, the Empathy Quotient (EQ), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS). Results. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was .605. Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for a unidimensional model, with maximal weighted internal consistency reliability=.719. Test–retest reliability for the Eyes test, as measured by intraclass correlation coefficient, was .833 (95% confidence interval=.745 to .902). Females scored significantly higher than males on both the Eyes test and the EQ, replicating earlier work. Those pa...

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The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test: systematic review of psychometric properties and a validation study in Italy.

Introduction: Over recent decades many researchers and clinicians have started to use Virtual Reality (VR) as a new technology for implementing innovative rehabilitation treatments in cognitive and...

Virtual reality in cognitive and motor rehabilitation: facts, fiction and fallacies

Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to physical, neuropsychological, and emotional deficits that interfere with the individual’s capacity to return to his or her former lifestyle. This review focuses on social cognition, that is, the capacity to attend to, recognize and interpret interpersonal cues that guide social behavior. Social cognition entails ‘‘hot’’ processes, that is, emotion perception and emotional empathy and ‘‘cold’’ processes, that is, the ability to infer the beliefs, feelings, and intentions of others (theory of mind: ToM) to see their point of view (cognitive empathy) and what they mean when communicating (pragmatic inference). This review critically examines research attesting to deficits in each of these domains and also examines evidence for theorized mechanisms including specific neural networks, the role of simulation, and non-social cognition. Current research is hampered by small, heterogeneous samples and the inherent complexity of TBI pathology. Nevertheless, there is evidence that facets of social cognition are impaired in this population. New assessment tools to measure social cognition following TBI are required that predict everyday social functioning. In addition, research into remediation needs to be guided by the growing empirical base for understanding social cognition that may yet reveal how deficits dissociate following TBI.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1355617712001506

Impairments in Social Cognition Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Impairments in social behavior are frequently found in moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients and are associated with an unfavorable outcome with regard to return to work and social reintegration. Neuropsychological tests measuring aspects of social cognition are thought to be sensitive to these problems. However, little is known about the effect of general cognitive problems on these tests, nor about their sensitivity to injury severity and frontal lesions. In the present study 28 chronic TBI patients with a moderate to severe TBI were assessed with tests for social cognition (emotion recognition, Theory of Mind, and empathy), and for general, non-social cognition (memory, mental speed, attention, and executive function). The patients performed significantly worse than healthy controls on all measures, with the highest effect size for the emotion recognition test, the Facial Expressions of Emotion-Stimuli and Tests (FEEST). Correlation analyses yielded no significant (partial) correlations between social and non-social cognition tests. Consequently, poor performance on social cognition tests was not due to general cognitive deficits. In addition, the emotion recognition test was the only measure that was significantly related to post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) duration, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, and the presence of prefrontal lesions. Hence, we conclude that social cognition tests are a valuable supplement to a standard neuropsychological examination, and we strongly recommend the incorporation of measurements of social cognition in clinical practice. Preferably, a broader range of social cognition tests would be applied, since our study demonstrated that each of the measures represents a unique aspect of social cognition, but if capacity is limited, at least a test for emotion recognition should be included.

Social cognition impairments in relation to general cognitive deficits, injury severity, and prefrontal lesions in traumatic brain injury patients.

A growing number of studies have been addressing the relationship between theory of mind (TOM) and executive functions (EF) in patients with acquired neurological pathology. In order to provide a global overview on the main findings, we conducted a systematic review on group studies where we aimed to (1) evaluate the patterns of impaired and preserved abilities of both TOM and EF in groups of patients with acquired neurological pathology and (2) investigate the existence of particular relations between different EF domains and TOM tasks. The search was conducted in Pubmed/Medline. A total of 24 articles met the inclusion criteria. We considered for analysis classical clinically accepted TOM tasks (first- and second-order false belief stories, the Faux Pas test, Happe's stories, the Mind in the Eyes task, and Cartoon's tasks) and EF domains (updating, shifting, inhibition, and access). The review suggests that (1) EF and TOM appear tightly associated. However, the few dissociations observed suggest they cannot be reduced to a single function; (2) no executive subprocess could be specifically associated with TOM performances; (3) the first-order false belief task and the Happe's story task seem to be less sensitive to neurological pathologies and less associated to EF. Even though the analysis of the reviewed studies demonstrates a close relationship between TOM and EF in patients with acquired neurological pathology, the nature of this relationship must be further investigated. Studies investigating ecological consequences of TOM and EF deficits, and intervention researches may bring further contributions to this question.

Theory of mind tasks and executive functions: a systematic review of group studies in neurology.

Exploring theory of mind after severe traumatic brain injury.

UNLABELLED: An increasing number of studies address the use of virtual environments (VE) in the cognitive assessment of spatial abilities. However, the differences between learning in a VE and a real environment (RE) remain controversial. PURPOSE: To compare the topographical behavior and spatial representations of patients with traumatic brain injury navigating in a real environment and in a virtual reproduction of this environment. METHODS: Twenty-seven subjects with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury were consecutively included and allocated to one of two groups. The subjects were taught the same route in either the virtual environment or the real environment and had to recall it twice immediately after learning the route and once after a delay. At the end of these sessions, the subjects were asked to complete three representational tests: a map test, a map recognition test recognition and a scene arrangement test. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the two groups with regards to demographics, severity of brain injury or episodic memory. As a main result, the number of error rates did not significantly differ between the real and virtual environment [F (1, 25) = 0.679; p = 0.4176)]. Scores on the scene arrangement test were higher in the real environment [U = 32.5; p = 0.01]. CONCLUSIONS: Although spatial representations probably differ between the real and virtual environment, virtual reality remains a trusty assessment tool for spatial abilities.

Do patients with traumatic brain injury learn a route in the same way in real and virtual environments

Purpose State: A pilot-study with a comparison approach between aging and traumatic brain injury (TBI) is proposed to investigate everyday object memory patterns using a virtual HOMES test. Methods: Sixteen young controls, 15 older adults and 15 TBI patients underwent the HOMES test and traditional tests. Results: Older adults and TBI patients exhibited similar HOMES performances: poor recall, a greater recognition benefit, high false recognitions, but intact clustering and proactive interference effects. The age-related differences for HOMES measures were mainly mediated by executive functioning, while the HOMES performances in the TBI group were correlated with memory measures. Conclusion: The differential cognitive mediating effects for a similar everyday-like memory pattern are discussed by highlighting the need for more cautious interpretations of cognitive mechanisms behind similar behavioral patterns in different populations especially in clinical and rehabilitation settings. Implication fo...

Everyday-like memory and its cognitive correlates in healthy older adults and in young patients with traumatic brain injury: a pilot study based on virtual reality.

Audrey Simion

Papers

Exploring theory of mind after severe traumatic brain injury.

Do patients with traumatic brain injury learn a route in the same way in real and virtual environments

Everyday-like memory and its cognitive correlates in healthy older adults and in young patients with traumatic brain injury: a pilot study based on virtual reality.

Performance analysis of adults with acquired brain injury making errands in a virtual supermarket