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An Electrocortical Measure Associated With Metarepresentation Mediates the Relationship Between Autism Symptoms and Theory of Mind

Authors :
Greg Hajcak
Matthew D. Lerner
Erin J Libsack
James C. McPartland
Kathryn M. Hauschild
Elizabeth M. Trimber
Source :
Clinical Psychological Science. 10:324-339
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
SAGE Publications, 2021.

Abstract

Impairments in theory of mind (ToM)—long considered common among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)—are in fact highly heterogeneous across this population. Although such heterogeneity should be reflected in differential recruitment of neural mechanisms during ToM reasoning, no research has yet uncovered a mechanism that explains these individual differences. In this study, 78 (48 with ASD) adolescents viewed ToM vignettes and made mental-state inferences about characters’ behavior while participant electrophysiology was concurrently recorded. Two candidate event-related-potentials (ERPs)—the late positive complex (LPC) and the late slow wave (LSW)—were successfully elicited. LPC scores correlated positively with ToM accuracy and negatively with ASD symptom severity. Note that the LPC partially mediated the relationship between ASD symptoms and ToM accuracy, which suggests that this ERP component, thought to represent cognitive metarepresentation, may help explain differences in ToM performance in some individuals with ASD.

Details

ISSN :
21677034 and 21677026
Volume :
10
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Clinical Psychological Science
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........870e32403cb290a676f696657d6e9185
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026211021975