Melania Mariano

Could schizophrenic subjects improve their social cognition abilities only with observation and imitation of social situations

Schizophrenics display impairments in domains of social cognition such as theory of mind and emotion recognition. Recent studies, showing that the relationship of social cognition abilities with functional outcome is more significant than other neuro-cognitive functions, have considered these abilities as a target for intervention research. This article describes preliminary data from a new group-based study focused on Emotion and ToM Imitation Training (ETIT), an imitation treatment aimed at improving social cognition and social functioning in schizophrenia. In the present study, 16 outpatients with schizophrenia completed ETIT assessment and were compared with 17 outpatients who participated to a Problem Solving Training group. Participants were assessed at pre- and post-test on measures of emotion recognition, theory of mind, cognition, flexibility and social functioning. We compared the rehabilitation training effects on neuro-physiological activation through the event-related potentials (ERPs) method, which was recorded pre- and post-rehabilitation training. The results showed that when compared to the control group, ETIT participants improved on every social cognitive measure and showed better social functioning at post-test. Improvement in social cognition, in particular in emotion recognition, is also supported by ERP responses: we recorded an increase in electroactivity of medio-frontal areas only after ETIT treatment. Action observation and imitation could be regarded as a new frontier in rehabilitation.

Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

The broad construct of empathy incorporates both cognitive and affective dimensions. Recent evidence suggests that the subjects with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) show a significant impairment in empathic ability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cognitive and affective components of empathy in adolescents with ASD compared to controls. Fifteen adolescents with ASD and 15 controls underwent paper and pencil measures and a computerized Multifaceted Empathy Test. All measures were divided into mentalizing and experience sharing abilities. Adolescents with ASD compared to controls showed deficits in all mentalizing measures: they were incapable of interpreting and understanding the mental and emotional states of other people. Instead, in the sharing experience measures, the adolescents with ASD were able to empathize with the emotional experience of other people when they express emotions with positive valence, but were not able to do so when the emotional valence is negative. These results were confirmed by the computerized task. In conclusion, our results suggest that adolescents with ASD show a difficulty in cognitive empathy, whereas the deficit in affective empathy is specific for the negative emotional valence.

Social cognition disorders in military police officers affected by posttraumatic stress disorder after the attack of An-Nasiriyah in Iraq 2006

Emotional numbness in individuals affected by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be a result of the depletion of emotional capacities. The ability to process emotions in a social context is a part of social cognition, which is still an under-explored topic in PTSD. The present study investigated deficits in social cognition, such as emotion recognition and theory of mind, and their relationship to emotional numbing in 35 military police officers who were in Iraq in April 2006 during a terrorist attack in An-Nasiriyah. Our results indicated that individuals suffering from PTSD showed deficits in social cognition when compared with healthy subjects. These disorders seemed to involve emotional numbing rather than clinical symptoms such as anxiety and depression. Future research directions are suggested to improve the measurement of emotional functioning in PTSD.

New evidence in theory of mind deficits in subjects with chronic schizophrenia and first episode: correlation with symptoms, neurocognition and social function.

AIM Currently substantial evidence exists about Theory of Mind (ToM) impairment in subjects affected by chronic and first episode schizophrenia. In particular, in order to enhance the validity of our construct, we used in this study classical false beliefs tasks and advanced theory of mind tasks, together with the application of structural equation model, in order to ex-amine whether we are using ToM tasks with good psychometric properties. The main goal of the present study was to examine ToM deficits in a large sample including subjects suffering from chronic schizophrenia, first episode of schizophrenia and nor-mal controls, by observing in the same task the relationship with symptomatological gravity, neurocognition and social function.Materials and methods. A sample of 178 patients with chronic schizophrenia, a sample of 49 subjects with a first episode of psychosis and 484 healthy controls participated to this study. Measures of social cognition included task of false belief and advanced theory of mind task. RESULTS No significant differences were found on ToM tasks between subjects affected by chronic and first episode schizophrenia. Social cognition showed in both groups a strong correlation with negative symptoms and social function, but did not evidence any relationship with neurocognition. CONCLUSION; ToM deficits exist in subjects suffering from chronic and first episode schizophrenia. These impairments do not seem to be a consequence of illness condition, they are likely to be state-independent and appear to be the most important cognitive mediator of social functioning in both groups.

Neural correlates of automatic perceptual sensitivity to facial affect in posttraumatic stress disorder subjects who survived L’Aquila eartquake of April 6, 2009

The “Emotional Numbing” (EN) constitutes one of the core symptoms in PTSD although its exact nature remains elusive. This disorder shows an abnormal response of cortical and limbic regions which are normally involved in understanding emotions since the very earliest stages of the development of processing ability. The aim of our study, which included ten physically healthy subjects with PTSD, diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR, who survived L’Aquila earthquake of April 6, 2009, and 10 healthy controls matching for age, sex and education, was to examine automatic perceptual sensitivity to facial affect in PTSD, through an affective priming task that was administered during functional magnetic resonance (fMRI). Behavioural data revealed in the PTSD group a higher sensitivity to negative facial affect on an automatic processing level. FMRI data analysis revealed that PTSD subjects showed a significantly higher activation in right insula and left amygdala that we did not observe in healthy subjects; on the contrary, healthy controls showed a greater activation of left lingual gyrus. Our data support the hypothesis that PTSD appears to be sensitive to negative affect on an automatic processing level and correlates with the activation of specific areas involved in processing emotions. An elevated activation of these areas may underlie the emotion dysregulation in PTSD and could explain the Emotional Numbing symptom associated with this disorder. The present study suffers of a number of limitations, for instance, the relatively small sample size did not allow the application of alternative statistical models.

The Role of Theory of Mind on Social Information Processing in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Mediation Analysis

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) show significant impairments in social skills and theory of mind (ToM). The aim of this study was to evaluate ToM and social information processing abilities in 52 children with ASD compared to 55 typically developing (TD) children. A mediation analysis evaluated whether social information processing abilities can be mediated by ToM competences. In our results, children with autism showed a deficit in social skills and ToM components. The innovative results of our study applying mediation analysis demonstrate that ToM plays a key role in the development of social abilities, and the lack of ToM competences in children with autism impairs their competent social behavior.

Understanding criminal behavior: Empathic impairment in criminal offenders

ABSTRACT Criminal offenders (CO) are characterized by antisocial and impulsive lifestyles and reduced empathy competence. According to Zaki and Ochsner, empathy is a process that can be divided into three components: mentalizing, emotional sharing and prosocial concern. The aim of our study was to evaluate these competences in 74 criminal subjects compared to 65 controls. The CO group demonstrated a lower ability in measures of mentalizing and sharing, especially in recognizing the mental and emotional states of other people by observing their eyes and sharing other people’s emotions. Conversely, CO subjects showed better abilities in prosocial concern measures, such as judging and predicting the emotions and behavior of other people, but they were not able to evaluate the gravity of violations of social rules as well as the control group. In addition, logistic regression results show that the higher the deficits in the mentalizing component are, the higher the probability of committing a crime against another person. Taken together, our results suggest that criminal subjects are able to judge and recognize other people’s behavior as right or wrong in a social context, but they are not able to recognize and share the suffering of other people.

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Objective: To investigate empathic abilities in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared to control subjects. OCD is characterized by persistent obsessions and compulsions. Previous studies have proposed specific emotion recognition deficits in patients with OCD. The ability to recognize emotion is part of the broad construct of empathy that incorporates mentalizing and experience-sharing dimensions. Methods: Twenty-four subjects with a diagnosis of OCD and 23 control subjects underwent empathic measures. Results: Patients with OCD compared to control subjects showed deficits in all mentalizing measures. They were incapable of understanding the mental and emotional states of other people. On the other hand, in the sharing experience measures, the OCD group was able to empathize with the emotional experience of other people when they expressed emotions with positive valence, but were not able to do when the emotional valence was negative. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients with OCD show a difficulty in mentalizing ability, whereas the deficit in sharing ability is specific for the negative emotional valence.

Simple Mindreading Abilities Predict Complex Theory of Mind: Developmental Delay in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Theory of mind (ToM) is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The aims of this study were to: (i) examine the developmental trajectories of ToM abilities in two different mentalizing tasks in children with ASD compared to TD children; and (ii) to assess if a ToM simple test known as eyes-test could predict performance on the more advanced ToM task, i.e. comic strip test. Based on a sample of 37 children with ASD and 55 TD children, our results revealed slower development at varying rates in all ToM measures in children with ASD, with delayed onset compared to TD children. These results could stimulate new treatments for social abilities, which would lessen the social deficit in ASD.

Formal Psychological Assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis: A New Methodology to Build An Adaptive Testing System

RESEARCH ARTICLE Formal Psychological Assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis: A New Methodology to Build An Adaptive Testing System Maria Chiara Pino, Andrea Spoto, Melania Mariano, Umberto Granziol, Sara Peretti, Francesco Masedu, Marco Valenti, Monica Mazza and Giulio Vidotto Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnology, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, L’Aquila, Italy Reference Regional Centre for Autism, Abruzzo Region Health System, L’Aquila, Italy