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PubMed2005

Theory of mind after traumatic brain injury.

This study investigated whether people with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) demonstrate a specific impairment on tasks requiring them to make inferences about others' mental states (theory of mind tasks). Participants with severe TBI were compared to a healthy group on verbal first-order and second-order theory of mind (ToM) tasks, non-verbal ToM tasks and on verbal and non-verbal tasks requiring them to make general (non-mental) inferences (NMIs). The clinical group performed more poorly than controls on both ToM and NMI tasks. This performance was not completely accounted for by the working memory or implicit language demands of the tasks. Multiple regression analyses suggested that patients with TBI have a general weakness in inference-making that, combined with linguistic and working memory limitations, impairs their performance on both non-verbal and second-order ToM tasks. However, a specific ToM impairment may underlie their poor performance on verbal first-order tasks. Implications of this finding for the possibility of a separate cognitive module of ToM are discussed, as well as for the rehabilitation of social deficits after TBI.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Theory of mind following traumatic brain injury: the role of emotion recognition and executive dysfunction.

A number of studies have now documented that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with deficits in the recognition of basic emotions, the capacity to infer mental states of others (theory of mind), as well as executive functioning. However, no study to date has investigated the relationship between these three constructs in the context of TBI. In the current study TBI participants (N=16) were compared with demographically matched healthy controls (N=17). It was found that TBI participants' recognition of basic emotions, as well as their capacity for mental state attribution, was significantly reduced relative to controls. Performance on both of these measures was strongly correlated in the healthy control, but not in the TBI sample. In contrast, in the TBI (but not the control) sample, theory of mind was substantially correlated with performance on phonemic fluency, a measure of executive functioning considered to impose particular demands upon cognitive flexibility and self-regulation. These results are consistent with other evidence indicating that deficits in some aspects of executive functioning may at least partially underlie deficits in social cognition following TBI, and thus help explain the prevalence of social dysfunction in TBI.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The relationship between affective decision-making and theory of mind in the frontal variant of fronto-temporal dementia.

Structural brain imaging and neuropsychological data implicate the orbital aspects of prefrontal cortex in the developing neuropathology of fvFTD. Damage to this region is associated with deficient performance on laboratory tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM) and affective decision-making (DM), but the relationship between these two capacities in patients with prefrontal cortex dysfunction is unclear. We studied a group of patients with early/mild fvFTD (n=20) and a group of matched normal controls (n=10) on the Iowa gambling task (IGT) of affective decision-making, and the "reading the mind in the eyes" (MIE) and "faux pas" (FP) tests of ToM. The fvFTD group was impaired in both ToM tasks and the IGT. While performance measures from the two ToM tasks were significantly correlated, they were not associated with IGT performance. This suggests that whilst similar prefrontal circuitry is implicated in ToM and DM tasks, these cognitive domains may be independent. In clinical settings, the IGT may be useful as a complementary tool to the frontal test battery for patients with early/mild fvFTD. Deficits in decision-making and ToM observed in this study have distinct but additive effects upon the development of social behaviour in patients with prefrontal dysfunction.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Tai Chi and mindfulness-based stress reduction in a Boston Public Middle School.

This article provides a description of a clinical project that used combined Tai Chi and mindfulness-based stress reduction as an educational program. The 5-week program demonstrated that sustained interest in this material in middle school-aged boys and girls is possible. Statements the boys and girls made in the process suggested that they experienced well-being, calmness, relaxation, improved sleep, less reactivity, increased self-care, self-awareness, and a sense of interconnection or interdependence with nature. The curriculum is described in detail for nurses, teachers, and counselors who want to replicate this type of instruction for adolescent children. This project infers that Tai Chi and mindfulness-based stress reduction may be transformational tools that can be used in educational programs appropriate for middle school-aged children. Recommendations are made for further study in schools and other pediatric settings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Core mechanisms in "theory of mind".

Our ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of other people does not initially develop as a theory but as a mechanism. The "theory of mind" mechanism (ToMM) is part of the core architecture of the human brain, and is specialized for learning about mental states. Impaired development of this mechanism can have drastic effects on social learning, seen most strikingly in the autistic spectrum disorders. ToMM kick-starts belief-desire attribution but effective reasoning about belief contents depends on a process of selection by inhibition. This selection process (SP) develops slowly through the preschool period and well beyond. By modeling the ToMM-SP as mechanisms of selective attention, we have uncovered new empirical phenomena. We propose that early "theory of mind" is a modular-heuristic process of domain-specific learning.

Brain↗
PubMed2003

Limits on theory of mind use in adults.

By 6 years, children have a sophisticated adult-like theory of mind that enables them not only to understand the actions of social agents in terms of underlying mental states, but also to distinguish between their own mental states and those of others. Despite this, we argue that even adults do not reliably use this sophisticated ability for the very purpose for which it is designed, to interpret the actions of others. In Experiment 1, a person who played the role of "director" in a communication game instructed a participant to move certain objects around in a grid. Before receiving instructions, participants hid an object in a bag, such that they but not the director would know its identity. Occasionally, the descriptions that the director used to refer to a mutually-visible object more closely matched the identity of the object hidden in the bag. Although they clearly knew that the director did not know the identity of the hidden object, they often took it as the referent of the director's description, sometimes even attempting to comply with the instruction by actually moving the bag itself. In Experiment 2 this occurred even when the participants believed that the director had a false belief about the identity of the hidden object, i.e. that she thought that a different object was in the bag. These results show a stark dissociation between an ability to reflectively distinguish one's own beliefs from others', and the routine deployment of this ability in interpreting the actions of others. We propose that this dissociation indicates that important elements of the adult's theory of mind are not fully incorporated into the human comprehension system.

Awareness↗
PubMed2004

Out of one's mind: a study of involuntary semantic memories.

The study of memories that pop into one's mind without any conscious attempt to retrieve them began only recently. While there are some studies on involuntary autobiographical memories (e.g., ) research on involuntary semantic memories or mind-popping is virtually non-existent. The latter is defined as an involuntary conscious occurrence of brief items of one's network of semantic knowledge. The recall of these items (e.g., a word, a name, a tune) is not accompanied by additional contextual information and/or involvement of self-a standard feature of involuntary autobiographical memories. The paper reports several diary and questionnaire studies which looked into the nature and frequency of occurrence of these memories. The data show that people do experience involuntary semantic memories which tend to occur without any apparent cues while being engaged in relatively automatic activities. Possible mechanisms of involuntary semantic memories are discussed (e.g., very long-term priming), and the results of the study provide information on the possible duration of the priming effects in everyday life. Related theoretical and methodological issues and future avenues of research in this neglected area are outlined.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Origins of theory of mind, cognition and communication.

There has been a revolution in our understanding of infant and toddler cognition that promises to have far-reaching implications for our understanding of communicative and linguistic development. Four empirical findings that helped to prompt this change in theory are analyzed: (a) Intermodal coordination--newborns operate with multimodal information, recognizing equivalences in information across sensory-modalities; (b) Imitation--newborns imitate the lip and tongue movements they see others perform; (c) Memory--young infants form long-lasting representations of perceived events and use these memories to generate motor productions after lengthy delays in novel contexts; (d) Theory of mind--by 18 months of age toddlers have adopted a theory of mind, reading below surface behavior to the goals and intentions in people's actions. This paper examines three views currently being offered in the literature to replace the classical framework of early cognitive development: modularity-nativism, connectionism, and theory-theory. Arguments are marshaled to support the "theory-theory" view. This view emphasizes a combination of innate structure and qualitative reorganization in children's thought based on input from the people and things in their culture. It is suggested that preverbal cognition forms a substrate for language acquisition and that analyzing cognition may enhance our understanding of certain disorders of communication.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2003

The efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction in the treatment of sleep disturbance in women with breast cancer: an exploratory study.

OBJECTIVE: The diagnosis of breast cancer, the most common type of cancer among American women, elicits greater distress than any other diagnosis regardless of prognosis. Therefore, the present study examined the efficacy of a stress reduction intervention for women with breast cancer. METHODS: As part of a larger, randomized, controlled study of the effects on measures of stress of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention for women with breast cancer, the current analyses examined the effects on sleep complaints. RESULTS: Analyses of the data indicated that both MBSR and a free choice (FC) control condition produced significant improvement on daily diary sleep quality measures though neither showed significant improvement on sleep-efficiency. Participants in the MBSR who reported greater mindfulness practice improved significantly more on the sleep quality measure most strongly associated with distress. CONCLUSION: MBSR appears to be a promising intervention to improve the quality of sleep in woman with breast cancer whose sleep complaints are due to stress.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Theory of mind and psychopathy: can psychopathic individuals read the 'language of the eyes'?

There have been suggestions that Theory of Mind (ToM) impairment might lead to aggressive behaviour and psychopathy. Psychopathic and matched non-psychopathic individuals, as defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist [The Hare Psychopath Checklist-Revised, 1991] completed the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' ToM Test [Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1997;38:813]. This test requires the self-paced identification of mental states from photographs of the eye region alone. Results indicated that the psychopathic individuals did not present with any generalised impairment in ToM. The data are discussed with reference to the putative neural system mediating performance on this task and models of psychopathy.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Sperry's concept of mind as an emergent property of brain function and its implications for the future of humankind.

Sperry's proposal that subjective experience plays a major role in brain function and in the emergence of mind, consciousness and human values represent a challenge to behaviorism as the dominant force in psychology. Mind is viewed as an emergent property of the brain, generated from and dependent upon neural activity, but nonetheless separate from it. Macrodeterministic factors result in the evolution of human values, which represent a critical key to world change. Two major conferences resulted from Sperry's challenge to the scientific community. The Trieste Conference led to a 'Declaration of Human Responsibilities', presently under consideration by the United Nations as a corollary to the 'Declaration of Human Rights'. The Japan Conference inspired work toward a Network University of the Green World, in which computer networking will support international communication in areas of environmental concern.

Brain↗
PubMed2000

The effects of anterior lesions on performance on a story comprehension test: left anterior impairment on a theory of mind-type task.

Participants with unilateral anterior or posterior lesions were compared to a healthy group on a theory of mind-type task that involved explaining the words or actions of story characters in a series of brief vignettes. Participants also carried out a set of non-social neuropsychological tests. Those with left anterior brain lesions (n=6) showed impairment relative to those with right anterior (n=13), left (n=4) and right (n=8) posterior lesions and healthy participants (n=60) in story comprehension, and their errors commonly involved failure to make non-literal interpretations. The left anterior lesion participants also showed impairment on some measures of executive function. The implications of the findings for our understanding of impairments in story comprehension after brain injury are discussed in terms of models of executive function and theory of mind.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Exploring the nature and functions of the mind: a Tibetan Buddhist meditative perspective.

The Tibetan Buddhist classification of mind, its divisions and the system of meditation practices aimed at achieving ideal states of being are a complex presentation of psychological, behavioral and spiritual concepts and processes that demand thorough understanding before assessing their value and outcome (Yeshe, 1995). It is the authors' belief that with the rapid advances in the neuroscience of mental processes, both scientist and Tibetan practitioner can benefit from each other's knowledge and experience to enhance our search for greater understanding of the relationship between mind, body and spirit.

Buddhism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health-related quality of life in a heterogeneous patient population.

This study examined the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on health-related quality of life and physical and psychological symptomatology in a heterogeneous patient population. Patients (n=136) participated in an 8-week MBSR program and were required to practice 20 min of meditation daily. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected by using the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Medical Symptom Checklist (MSCL) and Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R). Health-related quality of life was enhanced as demonstrated by improvement on all indices of the SF-36, including vitality, bodily pain, role limitations caused by physical health, and social functioning (all P<.01). Alleviation of physical symptoms was revealed by a 28% reduction on the MSCL (P<.0001). Decreased psychological distress was indicated on the SCL-90-R by a 38% reduction on the Global Severity Index, a 44% reduction on the anxiety subscale, and a 34% reduction on the depression subscale (all P<.0001). One-year follow-up revealed maintenance of initial improvements on several outcome parameters. We conclude that a group mindfulness meditation training program can enhance functional status and well-being and reduce physical symptoms and psychological distress in a heterogeneous patient population and that the intervention may have long-term beneficial effects.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

A neurobiological mapping of theory of mind.

This paper attempts, based on a review of a wide range of clinical, biobehavioral and neuroanatomical studies, to account for the various theory of mind impairments observed in psychiatric and developmental disorders in a single neurobiological model. The proposed model is composed of a representational component subserved by posterior brain regions (temporal and parietal) and an application/execution component subserved by prefrontal regions. Information processed in posterior regions is relayed through a limbic-paralimbic system, which is essential for the implementation of theory of mind processes. In addition to its clinical implications, the proposed model accounts for (1) the ability to mentalize about both the self and others, (2) the nature of the anatomic connections of the various brain regions and their functional correlates, and (3) theories pertaining to the inferencing mechanisms used during mental representation/attribution.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The mind and brain scholar as a hitchhiker in the post-Gutenberg galaxy: publishing at 2000 and beyond.

Electronic journal (e-journal) publishing has started to change the ways we think about publishing. However, many scholars and scientists in the mind and brain sciences are still ignorant of the new possibilities and ongoing debates. This paper will provide a summary of the issues involved, give an update of the current discussion, and supply practical information on issues related to e-journal publishing and self-archiving relevant for the mind and brain sciences. Issues such as differences between traditional and e-journal publishing, open archive initiatives, worldwide conventions, quality control, costs involved in e-journal publishing, and copyright questions will be addressed. Practical hints on how to self-archive, how to submit to the e-journal Psycoloquy, how to create an open research archive, and where to find information relevant to e-publishing will be supplied.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Mindfulness: overcoming intractable conflict.

Intractable conflict involves reoccurring patterns of ineffective communication in which issues are not resolved and build over time. These situations can lead to bad feelings, damaged relationships, depression, aggression, anxiety and substance abuse. Grounded theory methods were used to study the processes involved in intractable conflicts and to identify ways of responding that promote growth and/or resolution. Results indicate that developing mindfulness over mindlessness is the basic social process that threads through three phases of working through intractable conflict. Phases include: growing awareness, self-realization, and regaining equilibrium. Mental health professionals can use this knowledge to support mindful practices as a means to protect against destructive conflict and mental health woes.

Communication↗
PubMed2000

Mind-body medicine in rheumatologic disease.

Research over the last 20 years in Mind-Body Medicine has made significant contributions to the treatment of rheumatic disease. This approach is based on the concept that patients have the ability to influence their experience of illness through directed modification of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This article finds that Mind-Body treatment results in significant, incremental symptom relief and improvement in disability status and well-being beyond that achieved through routine medical care. There is also evidence that these interventions reduce utilization of health care services, despite continuing progression of disease, a finding that has major economic implications for health policy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗