A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study
Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand and attribute mental states to ourselves and others, could be impaired in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease affecting young adults. Considering that ToM is strictly connected to Quality of Life (QoL) in MS and that could enhance the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1198018/full |
| _version_ | 1797738204945711104 |
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| author | Alessia d’Arma Alessia d’Arma Annalisa Valle Davide Massaro Gisella Baglio Sara Isernia Sonia Di Tella Sonia Di Tella Marco Rovaris Francesca Baglio Antonella Marchetti |
| author_facet | Alessia d’Arma Alessia d’Arma Annalisa Valle Davide Massaro Gisella Baglio Sara Isernia Sonia Di Tella Sonia Di Tella Marco Rovaris Francesca Baglio Antonella Marchetti |
| author_sort | Alessia d’Arma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand and attribute mental states to ourselves and others, could be impaired in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease affecting young adults. Considering that ToM is strictly connected to Quality of Life (QoL) in MS and that could enhance the social support network -which is particularly important for this population-, we aimed to design and implement a novel ToM rehabilitation training. To make the training as much ecological as possible, we have devised a protocol enhancing ToM through stimuli depicting real-world conditions (video-clips taken from cinema movies, literary fictions, and audio voices). We test training’s effect on both cognitive and affective components of ToM in a sample of 13 subjects, randomly assigned to the ToM training Group and to the Control Group. The following ToM tasks were administered: the Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RMET), the Strange Stories task, the Faux Pas Task and the False Belief First- and Second - Order Task (FB II and III order). We also administered a psycho-behavioral assessment through the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Results show that our novel ToM training is useful in enhancing ToM abilities measured by the following tasks: the RMET (affective task, p = 0.015) and the FB II-order task (FB, cognitive task, p = 0.032). Our ToM training had also a significant effect on the total score of the TAS-20 Scale (p = 0.018) and on its “Difficulty Describing Feelings subscale” (p = 0.018), indicating a reduction of the alexithymia traits. Future works with larger samples could investigate the ToM training effectiveness in a more representative MS populations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:39:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ada3d74c9ffb4e4aab1f1762ad22ad09 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:39:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ada3d74c9ffb4e4aab1f1762ad22ad092023-08-23T21:15:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-08-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.11980181198018A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled studyAlessia d’Arma0Alessia d’Arma1Annalisa Valle2Davide Massaro3Gisella Baglio4Sara Isernia5Sonia Di Tella6Sonia Di Tella7Marco Rovaris8Francesca Baglio9Antonella Marchetti10Unità di Urologia, Ospedale San Raffaele (IRCCS), Milan, ItalyUnità di Ricerca sulla Teoria della Mente, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyUnità di Ricerca sulla Teoria della Mente, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyUnità di Ricerca sulla Teoria della Mente, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyUnità di Ricerca sulla Teoria della Mente, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus (IRCCS), Milan, ItalyFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus (IRCCS), Milan, ItalyUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus (IRCCS), Milan, ItalyFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus (IRCCS), Milan, ItalyUnità di Ricerca sulla Teoria della Mente, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyTheory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand and attribute mental states to ourselves and others, could be impaired in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease affecting young adults. Considering that ToM is strictly connected to Quality of Life (QoL) in MS and that could enhance the social support network -which is particularly important for this population-, we aimed to design and implement a novel ToM rehabilitation training. To make the training as much ecological as possible, we have devised a protocol enhancing ToM through stimuli depicting real-world conditions (video-clips taken from cinema movies, literary fictions, and audio voices). We test training’s effect on both cognitive and affective components of ToM in a sample of 13 subjects, randomly assigned to the ToM training Group and to the Control Group. The following ToM tasks were administered: the Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RMET), the Strange Stories task, the Faux Pas Task and the False Belief First- and Second - Order Task (FB II and III order). We also administered a psycho-behavioral assessment through the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Results show that our novel ToM training is useful in enhancing ToM abilities measured by the following tasks: the RMET (affective task, p = 0.015) and the FB II-order task (FB, cognitive task, p = 0.032). Our ToM training had also a significant effect on the total score of the TAS-20 Scale (p = 0.018) and on its “Difficulty Describing Feelings subscale” (p = 0.018), indicating a reduction of the alexithymia traits. Future works with larger samples could investigate the ToM training effectiveness in a more representative MS populations.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1198018/fullMultiple Sclerosisrehabilitationrehabilitation trainingToMsocial cognition |
| spellingShingle | Alessia d’Arma Alessia d’Arma Annalisa Valle Davide Massaro Gisella Baglio Sara Isernia Sonia Di Tella Sonia Di Tella Marco Rovaris Francesca Baglio Antonella Marchetti A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study Frontiers in Psychology Multiple Sclerosis rehabilitation rehabilitation training ToM social cognition |
| title | A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study |
| title_full | A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study |
| title_fullStr | A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study |
| title_full_unstemmed | A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study |
| title_short | A cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a pilot randomized controlled study |
| title_sort | cultural training for the improvement of cognitive and affective theory of mind in people with multiple sclerosis a pilot randomized controlled study |
| topic | Multiple Sclerosis rehabilitation rehabilitation training ToM social cognition |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1198018/full |
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