Department of Psychology, City, University of London, London, UK.
Community Mental Health Department GGZ Noord-Holland-Noord, Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands.
Psychol Med. 2023 Dec;53(16):7913-7922. doi: 10.1017/S0033291723002052. Epub 2023 Jul 31.
Schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties in theory of mind (ToM). We examined group differences in performance on a ToM-related test and associations with an estimated IQ.
Participants [ = 1227, SZ ( = 563), ASD ( = 159), and controls ( = 505), 32.2% female] completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and assessments of cognitive ability. Associations between IQ and group on RMET were investigated with regression analyses.
SZ ( = 0.73, < 0.001) and ASD ( = 0.37, < 0.001) performed significantly worse on the RMET than controls. SZ performed significantly worse than ASD ( = 0.32, = 0.002). Adding IQ to the model, SZ ( = 0.60, < 0.001) and ASD ( = 0.44, < 0.001) continued to perform significantly worse than controls, but no longer differed from each other ( = 0.13, = 0.30). Small significant negative correlations between symptom severity and RMET performance were found in SZ (PANSS positive: = -0.10, negative: = -0.11, both < 0.05). A small non-significant negative correlation was found for Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores and RMET in ASD ( = -0.08, = 0.34).
SZ and ASD are characterized by impairments in RMET. IQ contributed significantly to RMET performance and accounted for group differences in RMET between SZ and ASD. This suggests that non-social cognitive ability needs to be included in comparative studies of the two disorders.
精神分裂症（SZ）和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特点是在心理理论（ToM）方面存在困难。我们研究了在与 ToM 相关的测试中表现的组间差异，并与估计的智商进行了关联。
参与者[=1227，SZ（=563），ASD（=159）和对照组（=505），32.2%为女性]完成了“读心测试”（RMET）和认知能力评估。使用回归分析研究智商与 RMET 上的组间关联。
SZ（=0.73，<0.001）和 ASD（=0.37，<0.001）在 RMET 上的表现明显差于对照组。SZ 的表现明显差于 ASD（=0.32，=0.002）。将智商纳入模型后，SZ（=0.60，<0.001）和 ASD（=0.44，<0.001）的表现仍然明显差于对照组，但彼此之间不再有差异（=0.13，=0.30）。在 SZ 中，发现症状严重程度与 RMET 表现之间存在小的显著负相关（PANSS 阳性：= -0.10，阴性：= -0.11，均<0.05）。在 ASD 中，发现自闭症诊断观察量表评分与 RMET 之间存在小的非显著负相关（= -0.08，=0.34）。
SZ 和 ASD 的特点是 RMET 受损。智商对 RMET 表现有显著贡献，并解释了 SZ 和 ASD 之间 RMET 组间差异。这表明，在这两种疾病的比较研究中，需要纳入非社交认知能力。
