Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects
Social cognition, in particular mindreading, enables the understanding of another individual’s feelings, intentions, desires, and mental states. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) captures the ability to identify mental states from gaze. We investigated RMET accuracy in the context of age...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2020.550416/full |
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| author | Jana Kynast Jana Kynast Eva Maria Quinque Eva Maria Quinque Maryna Polyakova Maryna Polyakova Tobias Luck Steffi G. Riedel-Heller Steffi G. Riedel-Heller Simon Baron-Cohen Andreas Hinz A. Veronica Witte A. Veronica Witte Julia Sacher Julia Sacher Julia Sacher Arno Villringer Arno Villringer Arno Villringer Matthias L. Schroeter Matthias L. Schroeter Matthias L. Schroeter |
| author_facet | Jana Kynast Jana Kynast Eva Maria Quinque Eva Maria Quinque Maryna Polyakova Maryna Polyakova Tobias Luck Steffi G. Riedel-Heller Steffi G. Riedel-Heller Simon Baron-Cohen Andreas Hinz A. Veronica Witte A. Veronica Witte Julia Sacher Julia Sacher Julia Sacher Arno Villringer Arno Villringer Arno Villringer Matthias L. Schroeter Matthias L. Schroeter Matthias L. Schroeter |
| author_sort | Jana Kynast |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social cognition, in particular mindreading, enables the understanding of another individual’s feelings, intentions, desires, and mental states. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) captures the ability to identify mental states from gaze. We investigated RMET accuracy in the context of age and cognition across the whole adult age-range (19–79 years) in a very large population-based sample (N = 1,603) with linear regression models accounting for cognitive abilities, neurological diseases, and psychiatric disorders. Higher age predicted lower RMET performance in women and men, suggesting difficulties to infer mental states from gaze at older age. Effects remained stable when taking other cognitive abilities and psychiatric disorders or neurological diseases into account. Our results show that RMET performance as a measure of social cognition declines with increasing age. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:46:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-66feef31375c4a2296d10339236c8c48 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1663-4365 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:46:01Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-66feef31375c4a2296d10339236c8c482022-12-21T23:39:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience1663-43652020-10-011210.3389/fnagi.2020.550416550416Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 SubjectsJana Kynast0Jana Kynast1Eva Maria Quinque2Eva Maria Quinque3Maryna Polyakova4Maryna Polyakova5Tobias Luck6Steffi G. Riedel-Heller7Steffi G. Riedel-Heller8Simon Baron-Cohen9Andreas Hinz10A. Veronica Witte11A. Veronica Witte12Julia Sacher13Julia Sacher14Julia Sacher15Arno Villringer16Arno Villringer17Arno Villringer18Matthias L. Schroeter19Matthias L. Schroeter20Matthias L. Schroeter21Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyFaculty of Applied Social Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Erfurt, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyInstitute for Social Medicine, Occupational Medicine and Public Health, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United KingdomDepartment for Medical Psychology and Sociology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyClinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyClinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyLIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanyClinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, GermanySocial cognition, in particular mindreading, enables the understanding of another individual’s feelings, intentions, desires, and mental states. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) captures the ability to identify mental states from gaze. We investigated RMET accuracy in the context of age and cognition across the whole adult age-range (19–79 years) in a very large population-based sample (N = 1,603) with linear regression models accounting for cognitive abilities, neurological diseases, and psychiatric disorders. Higher age predicted lower RMET performance in women and men, suggesting difficulties to infer mental states from gaze at older age. Effects remained stable when taking other cognitive abilities and psychiatric disorders or neurological diseases into account. Our results show that RMET performance as a measure of social cognition declines with increasing age.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2020.550416/fullagingReading the Mind in the Eyes Testsocial cognitionwomenmen |
| spellingShingle | Jana Kynast Jana Kynast Eva Maria Quinque Eva Maria Quinque Maryna Polyakova Maryna Polyakova Tobias Luck Steffi G. Riedel-Heller Steffi G. Riedel-Heller Simon Baron-Cohen Andreas Hinz A. Veronica Witte A. Veronica Witte Julia Sacher Julia Sacher Julia Sacher Arno Villringer Arno Villringer Arno Villringer Matthias L. Schroeter Matthias L. Schroeter Matthias L. Schroeter Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience aging Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test social cognition women men |
| title | Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects |
| title_full | Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects |
| title_fullStr | Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects |
| title_short | Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging – Evidence From 1,603 Subjects |
| title_sort | mindreading from the eyes declines with aging evidence from 1 603 subjects |
| topic | aging Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test social cognition women men |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2020.550416/full |
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