Verbal Memory and Performance IQ Predict Theory of Mind and Emotion Recognition Ability in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and in Psychiatric Control Children

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the developmental and cognitive correlates of theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition ability in children with autism (N = 20), with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) (N = 20), and in psychiatric control children (N = 20). The diagnostic groups were person-to-person matched on age and verbal IQ. The age of the children was between 8 and 18 years; their Full Scale IQ was at least 65. The test battery included tasks for the matching and the context recognition of emotional expressions, and a set of first- and second-order ToM tasks. The relationships between composite domain scores and the subjects' age, Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, verbal memory, visual memory, and gender were examined in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Further, the subjects who reliably and consistently passed the tasks of a domain and those who could not were compared on developmental and cognitive characteristics. Overall, the results of the various analyses converged and indicated that verbal memory, Performance IQ, age and gender were the best predictors of social cognitive ability.

Brief Report: A Theory-of-Mind-based Social-Cognition Training Program for School-Aged Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders: An Open Study of its Effectiveness

“…Serra et al (1995) reported lower emotional role taking abilities in PDD-NOS children, when compared to typical children, in a study in which IQ was not included in the analyses. Buitelaar et al (1999) did not find significant differences in emotion recognition between PDDchildren, PDD-NOS children and psychiatric controls, when matched for age and verbal IQ. Muris et al (1999) assessed lower emotion recognition skills in PDD-NOS children than normal controls with the TOM test.…”

“…Findings regarding emotion recognition in children with PDD-NOS are limited and conflicting (Buitelaar, van der Wees, Swaab-Barneveld, & van der Gaag, 1999). Serra et al (1995) reported lower emotional role taking abilities in PDD-NOS children, when compared to typical children, in a study in which IQ was not included in the analyses.…”

Emotional Cognition: Theory of Mind and Face Recognition

“…Their success in emotional tasks or ToM "emotion" tasks is also variable according to verbal or non-verbal competence (Buitelaar, van der Wees, Swaab-Barneveld, & van der Gaag, 1999b;Happé, 1995).…”

Evidence for deficits in facial affect recognition and theory of mind in multiple sclerosis

“…Thus, although some studies have suggested that performance on ToM tasks is related to the ability to identify facial expressions of emotion (e.g., Buitelaar et al, 1999 ), in a study of normal adult aging, Phillips et al ( 2002) found that older adults were significantly impaired on the Mind in the Eyes test, but not facial affect recognition, with performance on the two measures uncorrelated ( r = .08). Furthermore, found that although individuals who had sustained traumatic brain injury exhibited a comparable level of impairment on both measures, only for the control group was performance on the two tasks correlated.…”