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Extensive research has supported the existence of a specialized face-processing network that is distinct from the visual processing areas used for general object recognition. The majority of this work has been aimed at characterizing the response properties of the fusiform face area (FFA) and the occipital face area (OFA), which together are thought to constitute the core network of brain areas responsible for facial identification. Although accruing evidence has shown that face-selective patches in the ventral anterior temporal lobes (vATLs), within perirhinal cortex, play a necessary role in facial identification, the relative contribution of these brain areas to the core face-processing network has remained unarticulated. The current study assessed the relative sensitivity of the anterior face patch, the OFA, and the FFA, to different aspects of person information. Participants learned to associate a name and occupation label, or a name only, with different facial identities. The sensitivity of the face processing areas to facial identity, occupation, and the amount of information associated with a face was then assessed. The results of a multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) revealed that distributed activity patterns in the anterior face patch contained information about facial identity, occupation, and the amount of information associated with a face, with the sensitivity of the anterior face patch to occupation and amount of information being greater than the more posterior face processing regions. When a similar analysis was conducted that included all voxels in the perirhinal cortex, sensitivity to every aspect of person information increased. These results suggest that the human ventral anterior temporal lobes may be critically involved in representing social, categorical, information about individual identities. / Psychology

Yes / It has been proposed that mentalising involves retrodicting as well as predicting behaviour, by inferring previous mental states of a target. This study investigated whether retrodiction is impaired in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Participants watched videos of real people reacting to the researcher behaving in one of four possible ways. Their task was to decide which of these four “scenarios” each person responded to. Participants’ eye movements were recorded. Participants with ASD were poorer than comparison participants at identifying the scenario to which people in the videos were responding. There were no group differences in time spent looking at the eyes or mouth. The findings imply those with ASD are impaired in using mentalising skills for retrodiction.

Although it is understood that stigma about mental ill-health emerges in middle childhood, and that parental communications are highly influential in children’s developing attitudes, almost nothing is known about the messages parents communicate to young children about mental health problems and how these might contribute to the perpetuation of stigma. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature by exploring parents' communications to their primary-school aged children around mental health and ill-health. Semi structured interviews were carried out with ten parents of children aged 7-11. Data collection and analysis was performed according to a Grounded Theory approach; a theoretical model was developed. The model highlights factors that govern parents’ communications to children about mental health issues, and the impact of this on communication purpose and approach. Parents’ communications were governed by the extent to which parents’ representations of ‘Them’ (mental illness) and ‘Us’ (mental health) overlapped or remained distinct. Communications about mental health were deliberate, comfortable, and aimed to promote child wellbeing, whilst unconscious processes driven by taboo meant communications about mental illness were characterized by avoidance, awkwardness, and ambivalence. Factors such as parent experiences, communication context, and child characteristics, fluidly influenced parents’ overlap of ‘Them’ and ‘Us’, and hence the purpose and approach of their communications to their children. Parents’ context-dependent conceptualizations of mental health and ill-health mean children are receiving complex verbal and non-verbal messages from parents, which may contribute to children’s development of stigmatized views via conscious and unconscious processes. Interventions and policy that harness parents’ existing understandings of mental wellbeing to promote a spectrum model of mental health and ill-health may lead to more open parent-child communication, increased help-seeking, and reduced stigma.

Researchers have long argued that ritual plays a crucial role in marking social identities and binding individuals together in a system of shared actions and beliefs. The psychological processes underlying how and why ritual promotes group bonding and influences in- and out-group biases have not yet been fully elucidated. The research presented in this thesis was designed to examine the social and cognitive developmental underpinnings of conventional/ ritualistic behavior. Because learning cultural conventions is essential for participation in group behavior and for signaling group membership and commitment, I propose that conventional/ ritualistic learning is motivated by a drive to affiliate. Experiment 1 investigated the affiliative nature of ritualistic learning by examining the effects of third-party ostracism on imitation of an instrumental versus ritual action sequence and prosocial behavior. Individuals who do not participate in shared group conventions often face the threat of ostracism from the group. Given that attempting re-inclusion is an established response to ostracism, I predicted that the threat of ostracism increases affiliative motivations and thus will increase imitative fidelity, especially in the context of conventional learning. Experiment 2 examined the effects of first-person ostracism in the context of in- and out-groups on children’s imitation of a ritualistic action sequence and pro-social behavior. I predicted that the experience of ostracism by an in-group versus an out-group has important implications for the construal of social exclusion and affiliative behavior. I hypothesized that children would be motivated to re-affiliate by imitating the model and acting pro-socially towards the group, especially when ostracized by in-group members. Based on the findings of this research and insight from anthropology, and social and developmental psychology, I will present a picture of how children acquire the conventions of their group and how these conventions influence social group cognition.

Section A reviewed 18 empirical behavioural studies on empathy and mental state inference (MSI) skills in those meeting Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) criteria. The review was situated within Mentalization theory (MBT), which posits a central link between such skills and complex needs presentation. Firm conclusions about BPD mentalization skills are difficult as deficits, enhanced abilities and no differences from non-patients are reported. None of the reviewed papers stimulated attachment system arousal, as warranted by mentalization theory. Economic game research was highlighted as offering value in assessing self-directed mentalization, an under-researched area. Section B sought to test MBT and other model’s claim that empathy and Mental State inference (MSI) skills are differentially degraded in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). 27 people meeting BPD criteria and a matched non-patient group had empathy assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task and MSI assessed with a modified economic game. This was done before and after a novel attachment system intervention. Empathy skills were less accurate in the BPD group. Other findings including game behaviour, fairness ratings and a social cue selective prioritisation in non-patients only are discussed. The theoretical links and suggestions for clinical innovation and research development are provided.

Individuals with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) stand an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems during adolescence. The present study aimed to develop a better understanding of interpersonal relationships in the lives of adolescents with high functioning ASD. Eight adolescents with a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome or ASD without an identified intellectual disability engaged in a structured interview based on a personal construct psychology exercise exploring constructs about interpersonal relationships. Interviews were transcribed and subjected to a thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: 1) Relationships as a source of support, 2) Perceptions of similarity and difference, 3) Valued qualities in self and others and 4) The development of and maintenance of relationships. Whilst this exploratory study highlighted some commonality in terms of perceptions of family support and friendships as protective and desirable, the participant group differed in their ability to establish and maintain peer relationships. However, peers were seen by participants as being very important in the development of social skills - a finding which has implications for the delivery of social skills training and other supportive interventions. The personal construct exercise provided an accessible and useful platform for the exploration of the social worlds of adolescents with ASD.

This study aimed to determine whether there are significant relationships between fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), social cognition, and adult insecure attachments. It was also hypothesised that social cognition would mediate the relationship between insecure attachment style and FMS. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was employed to compare experiences of 105 individuals with FMS and 172 healthy controls (HC). A correlation and a mediation analysis were used to explore relationships between insecure attachment, social cognition, and FMS symptoms. Data were obtained via self-report measures filled in either in paper form or via on-line questionnaire. The relationships between anxious and avoidant attachment styles and FMS were confirmed. The significance of the relationship between social cognition and FMS varied depending on the measure used. When ability to recognise emotions in others was tested (Reading the mind in the eyes test) there were no significant differences between FMS and HC. However, the mentalization measure- Reflective Function Questionnaire, which additionally tests the ability to recognise one’s own feelings, showed a significant relationship with FMS. The relationship of FMS with both insecure attachment styles as well as with mentalization were strongly mediated by psychological distress. Social cognition was not shown to mediate the relationship between insecure attachment and FMS. Although causality cannot be inferred, psychological distress was strongly related to FMS and significantly influenced the way FMS is related to insecure attachment and poor social cognition. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

Autism is a behaviourally defined disorder. The impairments in social communication and repetitive behaviours are individually non-specific. The disorder has indistinct boundaries both with other psychiatric disorders and with normal personality types. At the cognitive level, groups of people with autistic disorder can be differentiated from people without the disorder by their ability to reason about beliefs and knowledge (Theory of Mind) and by tests of visual disembedding (central coherence). This study examined whether young people with some of the behavioural features of autism but not necessarily a diagnosis, would show this distinctive cognitive profile. In a sample of 60 young people with additional learning support needs, we found that those with high levels of autistic traits (n=40) showed the same cognitive profile as has been found in people diagnosed with autistic disorder. This supports the view that autism is an extreme on a continuum of cognitive traits. Given the highly heritable nature of autism, we hypothesised that the parents of the young people with autistic traits will also display these cognitive features. The results indicated that there was no difference between the groups of parents on an advanced test of social cognition. Parents of people with high autistic traits were more resistant to one of the visual illusions and saw fewer reversals of an ambiguous figure when IQ was statistically controlled. These results in a sample with a low genetic load suggest ambiguous figures will be important in delineating the broader cognitive phenotype of autism.