University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology, Madison, WI, USA.
Psychiatry Res. 2011 Jul 30;188(2):217-23. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.04.029. Epub 2011 May 19.
The extent to which Theory of Mind impairments are a trait associated with schizotypy is unclear. To date, findings have been mixed. We compared two groups of psychometrically identified schizotypes, namely, those characterized by positive schizotypy (perceptual aberrations and magical ideation; n=36) and those characterized by negative schizotypy (social anhedonia; n=30) to a low schizotypy comparison group (n=68) in terms of their Theory of Mind performance. Theory of Mind was assessed in two ways: a composite Hinting Task and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. The groups were also compared in terms of their self-reported levels of referential thinking. Our results indicate that individuals characterized by positive schizotypy show Theory of Mind deficits, as measured by the Hinting Task. The three groups did not differ in terms of the Eyes Test. Referential thinking was significantly associated with the Eyes Test but not the Hinting Task. Overall these findings suggest that different aspects of schizotypy are associated differentially with Theory of Mind deficits. The results also provide further rationale for the inclusion of multiple tasks when attempting to study multifaceted constructs such as Theory of Mind.
心理理论损伤在多大程度上是与精神分裂症特质相关的特征尚不清楚。迄今为止，研究结果喜忧参半。我们比较了两组通过心理计量学方法确定的精神分裂症特质者，即表现出阳性精神分裂症特质（知觉异常和魔幻思维；n=36）和表现出阴性精神分裂症特质（社交快感缺失；n=30）的个体，以及低精神分裂症特质对照组（n=68），在心理理论表现方面。心理理论是通过两种方式评估的：综合提示任务和“读心测试”。这三组在他们的参照思维的自我报告水平上也进行了比较。我们的研究结果表明，以知觉异常和魔幻思维为特征的阳性精神分裂症个体在心理理论测试中表现出心理理论损伤。三组在“读心测试”中没有差异。参照思维与“读心测试”显著相关，但与“提示任务”无关。总的来说，这些发现表明精神分裂症特质的不同方面与心理理论损伤有不同的关联。这些结果也为在尝试研究多维结构（如心理理论）时纳入多个任务提供了进一步的依据。
