Ayumu Goukon

Developmental order driving the relationship between executive functions and theory of mind: a case study.

Several studies have suggested there is a developmental link between executive functions and theory of mind. However, the developmental order driving the relationship is not well understood. The main reason is that the development of executive function parallels the development of theory of mind in normally developing children. In this paper, a case (H.Y.) is reported. H.Y. had lived in a persistent vegetative state for 6 years after encephalitis at the age of 10. He showed a developmental order driving the relationship between executive functions and theory of mind. These findings are consistent with recent suggestions that development of executive function might be important as a predecessor of either the ability to understand false beliefs or the ability to express that understanding.

Is processing emotional signals necessary for performance on tasks requiring understanding a "theory of mind".

In this case study, HY had lived in a persistent vegetative state for 6 years after onset of encephalitis at age 10. His processing of emotionally and socially meaningful information was impaired by the age of 20, as it is in individuals with amygdala damage; however, his performance on tasks requiring understanding a “theory of mind” improved by age 22. A series of responses to photographs of facial expressions and to a gambling task were obtained to evaluate his functioning related to the amygdala. He was particularly impaired in recognizing fear. One may tentatively suggest that processing emotional signals, i.e., functioning related to the amygdala, may not play an important role in the neural systems supporting development of understanding a “theory of mind.”

A case report of compensation in daily life of a person with memory problems: detailed functional use of memory aids over a five-year period.

Numerous studies have been conducted on memory aids for memory-impaired people. However, it is not known how they use these memory aids in a functional, practical way. A 20-year-old patient (MH) was monitored for five years to identify what memory aids or other means she used and how she used them to compensate for her memory problems, e.g., forgetting what was said by others in a few minutes and getting lost or turning in the wrong direction on a walk or in a building. Results indicated MH did not necessarily always use memory aids such as a notebook or calendar to compensate for her memory problems, although MH and her mother reported that she frequently used them in daily life. She coped with memory problems by using various “resources” besides the memory aid. These facts suggest that it may be necessary to redefine functionally useful compensations, which include both memory aids and resources in daily life.

Impairment in the recognition of facial expression: a case study

In this study, a case (HY) is described. This man, now 25 yr. old, lived in a persistent vegetative state for 6 yr. after encephalitis at the age of 10 yr. He was reportedly impaired at recognizing fear, and in everyday life, apparently had impaired recognition of anger as well. In testing with facial expressions, no obvious differences between HY and normal controls in anger perceptions were found. In this study, Japanese and Caucasian models of facial expression were used; on these tests, HY was impaired at recognizing facial expressions of anger only in the Japanese models.

Recognition and its Impairment regarding Autobiographical Memories in a Patient with Hippocampal Amnesia

Autobiographical memories of one case (Y.K.) were assessed before and after onset of hippocampal amnesia. He was a 56-yr.-old male patient who used to work in an office. The findings can be described as follows. First, Y.K.‘s recognition performance regarding his premorbid and postmorbid personal semantics along with premorbid autobiographical incidents was significantly greater than chance, and recognition of premorbid autobiographical incidents was within chance. Given information before onset, a relationship was suspected between frontal lobe dysfunction and Y.K.‘s autobiographical problem. The possibility that an amnesic patient could acquire semantic information after onset is discussed.