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Objectives: One of the most promising Theory of Mind (ToM) tests developed for children with ASD is the Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToM-TB). Still, additional psychometric properties of this tool need to be assessed. The main objective of this preregistered study was to investigate the known-groups and convergent validities of the ToM-TB compared to a well-established test used to assess ToM in children with ASD (the Strange Stories Test; SST)., Methods: A total of 68 school-aged children were recruited (34 children with ASD and 34 children with typical development). The groups were matched on sex and age, and on both receptive language abilities and overall cognitive functioning., Results: Regarding the known-groups validity, we found group differences in the performance on the ToM-TB and SST. Additional analyses revealed that this result tended to be more robust for the ToM-TB than for the SST. Regarding convergent validity, we showed that the ToM-TB and SST correlated strongly, for children with ASD and children with typical development. In contrast, we found small correlations of these two tests with social competence in daily life. No evidence was found for greater known-groups or convergent validity of one test compared to the other., Conclusion: Our data confirmed the relevance of the ToM-TB and the SST for the assessment of ToM in school-aged children. Future studies should continue to assess the psychometric qualities of various ToM tests to provide reliable information to best guide researchers and clinicians when choosing optimal neuropsychological tools., (© 2023 British Psychological Society.)

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study is to see if: (i) alexithymia is associated with PG and with the severity of gambling behavior; (ii) alexithymia is associated with strategic and non-strategic gambling., Methods: Two hundred and twenty-six gamblers were recruited in different gambling locations. First, pathological gamblers (PGs) (n = 106) were compared to non-pathological gamblers (NPGs) (n = 120). Second, strategic gamblers (n = 92) were compared to non-strategic gamblers (n = 96)., Results: After controlling for being or not depressed, PGs have significantly higher alexithymia scores. Alexithymia is positively correlated to the intensity of gambling behavior and associated with PG: being alexithymic (OR = 4.21, SEB = .32, p < .001), "difficulty identifying feelings" (OR = 1.07, SEB = .03, p = .038), and "externally-oriented thinking" (OR = 1.07, SEB = .03, p = .026) factors. Nevertheless, while alexithymia is associated with PG in strategic gamblers (being alexithymic (OR = 6.80, SEB = .50 p < .001) and "difficulty identifying feelings" (OR = 1.12, SEB = .05 p = .026) factor), this is not the case in non-strategic gamblers. In the latter, only depression is associated with PG (OR = 3.43, SEB = .50 p = .013)., Discussion and Conclusion: The results highlight the importance of taking into account the gambling type in the relationship between alexithymia, depression, and PG., Scientific Significance: In non-strategic PGs, specific therapies targeting depression could be appropriate, while for strategic PGs, specific psychotherapeutic techniques like body-centered psychotherapy could help them to differentiate feelings from bodily sensations. (Am J Addict 2017;26:152-160)., (© 2017 American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.)

Research on deductive reasoning in adolescents and adults has shown that errors in deductive logic are not necessarily due to a lack of logical ability but can stem from an executive failure to inhibit biases. Few studies have examined this dissociation in children. Here, we used a negative priming paradigm with 64 children (8-10 years old) to test the role of cognitive inhibition in syllogisms with belief-bias effects. On trials where negative priming was predicted, results were as follows: For the first syllogism (A), the strategy 'unbelievable-equals-invalid' had to be inhibited. The logic of the syllogism led to affirming a conclusion inconsistent with one's knowledge of the world, such as 'All elephants are light.' For the second syllogism (B), one's real-world knowledge and the syllogism's logic were congruent but the latter required affirming exactly what had been inhibited for A (i.e. that elephants are heavy). A negative priming effect on the A-B sequence was reflected in a significant drop in reasoning performance on B. This supports the idea that during cognitive development, inhibitory control is required for success on syllogisms where beliefs and logic interfere.