Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-08-26T14:35:32Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese (VERSÃO FINAL) Josiane em PDF.pdf: 2742658 bytes, checksum: 600d697767f82f73dd7ae1b6dcfb94eb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-26T14:35:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese (VERSÃO FINAL) Josiane em PDF.pdf: 2742658 bytes, checksum: 600d697767f82f73dd7ae1b6dcfb94eb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / FACEPE / O Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade tem sido, atualmente, um dos diagnósticos psiquiátricos mais comuns na infância. Trata-se de um transtorno neurocomportamental, com um quadro clínico, de início precoce, que se caracteriza por sintomas de desatenção, hiperatividade e impulsividade exageradas acarretando grandes prejuízos em várias esferas da vida, mas sobretudo na vida social e acadêmica. Além das dificuldades comportamentais, são percebidas as dificuldades nas interações sociais, pois a falta de controle das atitudes e reações dificultam a participação em atividades de grupo, ou que envolvam relações, denotando uma inabilidade de compreender e aceitar as questões do outro. Essa inabilidade, por sua vez, implica na Teoria da Mente, que é o processo cognitivo responsável pela capacidade de compreender, interpretar e atribuir estados mentais para si e para o outro, que viabilizam um melhor desenvolvimento social. Uma criança com TDAH, além do déficit da atenção e impulsividade, apresenta um prejuízo do controle inibitório, que está relacionado com as funções executivas. Um prejuízo nessas funções pode ser observado no desempenho acadêmico, como no comportamento, à medida que a criança apresenta dificuldades de planejar, inibir respostas, sustentar a atenção, participar de jogos e interação com pares, gerando desconforto e conflitos a sua volta. Objetivo: investigar a relação entre teoria da mente, funções executivas e competência social em crianças em risco para o Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade. Método: estudo de investigação correlacional, quantitativo, transversal e analítico. Participaram 230 alunos de escolas particulares de Recife, com idades entre 7,0; 10 e 11anos (idade média 8,5), ambos os sexos, divididos em dois grupos, um com crianças que apresentassem ao menos 7 sintomas para TDAH, segundo critérios do DSM-IV, consideradas “em risco”, e outro com crianças com desenvolvimento típico. Os dados foram coletados através de questionário sociodemográfico, questionário SNAP-IV, Matrizes Progressivas de RAVEN, Torre de Londres, Stroop palavra-cores, Tarefas de Teoria da Mente de crença falsa de primeira e segunda ordem e o Inventário Multimídia de Habilidades Sociais para Crianças. Resultados: teoria da mente de 2ª ordem mostrou correlação positiva em crianças com risco para TDAH, assim como, estas apresentaram grande prejuízo na execução das tarefas que avaliaram as funções executivas e competência social, diferindo significativamente do grupo de crianças com desenvolvimento típico. A correlação entre as variáveis, teoria da mente de 2ª ordem, funções executivas e competência social mostraram ser preditoras do TDAH, denotando que quanto maior o risco para o TDAH em crianças, maior o prejuízo da teoria da mente de 2ª ordem, das funções executivas e menos competentes socialmente estas se apresentam. / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has been lately, one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in the childhood. It is a neurobehavioral disorder presenting its clinical conditions at a premature life stage. The symptoms are characterized as exaggerated absence of mind, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness leading to great losses in several areas of the patient’s life, but mainly over his social and academic life. Apart from behavioral difficulties, problems on social interactions are perceived, for the lack of control of the attitudes and reactions, hinder participation on group activities, or activities that involve relations, denoting a disability to comprehend and accept the issues of the other. This disability, on the other hand, implicates on the theory of mind, which is the cognitive process responsible by the capacity to comprehend, interpret and assign mental states for himself and others, which enables better social development. A child with ADHD, in addition to the attention deficit and impulsiveness, presents loss of the inhibitory control, which is related with the executive functions. A damage to these functions can be observed over the academic performance, as on behavior, as the child presents difficulties to plan, inhibit responses, maintain attention, participate of games and interact with pairs, generating discomfort and conflicts around himself. Objective: to investigate the relation between the theory of mind, executive functions and social competence on children at risk to the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Methods: correlation inquiry study, quantitative, transversal and analytical. 230 students from private schools of Recife participated, aged between 7,0 and 10,11 years old (mean age 8,5), both genders, divided into two groups, one with children presenting at least 7 symptoms to ADHD, according to DSM-IV criteria, considered “at risk”, and another containing children with typical development. Data were collected through a sociodemographic questionnaire, SNAP-IV questionnaire, Raven Progressive Dies, London Tower, Stroop word-colors, Theory of Mind tasks of false belief from both first and second orders and the Multimedia Inventory of Social Abilities for Children. Results: theory of mind 2ª order showed positive correlation in children at risk for ADHD, and these showed great impairment in executive functions tasks and social competence, differing significantly from the group of children with typical development. The correlation between the variables theory of mind from 2ª order, executive functions and social competence shown to be predictors of ADHD, indicating that the higher the risk for ADHD in children, the greater the loss of the theory of mind from 2ª order, executive functions and less social competence they present themselves.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:41:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renata de Lima Velloso.pdf: 1203406 bytes, checksum: bd6f70f280924e3d77a921b7f2e7a1f3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-02 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) refer to important deficits in social interac-tion, in verbal and nonverbal communication, and in imaginative activities, which are replaced by repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. For several years, researchers have been proposing theories for explaining the primary deficit in the ASD, and cur-rently two theoretical approaches are preponderant: the developmental theory and the cognitive theory. This study has aimed at assessing abilities of language and of a theory of mind in children with ASD and in control children, with the application of the Strange Stories Test translated into Portuguese and adopted for Brazilian culture. Male children with ASD (28) and male control children (56) aged 6 to 12 years old took part in this study. The Brazilian version of the Strange Stories Test was applied following the same procedures to both experimental and control groups. Findings evidenced significant differences between mean scores of the groups in every of the 12 histories composing the test as well as in the sum of mean scores for all histories. Mean scores in all histories were significantly higher in the control group compared to the experimental group (children with ASD). Significant positive correlation was es-tablished between the estimated intelligence quotients and the sum of mean scores in the ASD group, and between the age and the sum of mean scores in the control group. Optimal internal consistence of the protocol was observed (0.955). Results were discussed under developmental and cognitive theories. It is concluded that the abilities of language and of a theory of mind assessed by the Strange Stories Test presented altered in children with ASD compared to children with typical develop-ment. / Os Transtornos do Espectro do Autismo (TEA) se caracterizam por prejuízos significativos na interação social, na comunicação verbal e não verbal e pela ausên-cia de atividades imaginativas, substituídas por comportamentos repetitivos e este-reotipados. Os pesquisadores vêm há muitos anos propondo teorias explicativas do prejuízo primário nos TEA, prevalecendo atualmente duas vertentes teóricas: a teo-ria desenvolvimentista e a teoria cognitivista. O objetivo deste estudo foi a avaliação de habilidades de linguagem e de Teoria da Mente em indivíduos com TEA e indiví-duos-controle, com a aplicação do teste Strange Stories, traduzido e adaptado para a Língua portuguesa. Participaram do estudo 28 crianças com TEA e 56 crianças-controle, todas do sexo masculino e na faixa etária entre seis e 12 anos. A versão brasileira do teste Strange Stories foi aplicada, seguindo os mesmos procedimentos, tanto ao grupo experimental quanto ao grupo-controle. Os resultados indicaram dife-renças significativas entre os escores médios dos grupos experimental e controle em cada uma das 12 histórias do teste e na soma dos escores de todas as histórias. Os escores médios registrados para todas as histórias foram significativamente maiores no grupo-controle do que no grupo experimental (crianças com TEA). Observou-se correlação positiva entre quociente de inteligência e soma dos escores médios para o grupo experimental, e correlação positiva entre idade e soma dos escores médios para o grupo-controle. Observou-se ótima consistência interna do protocolo. Os re-sultados foram discutidos sob a perspectiva cognitivista e desenvolvimentista. Con-cluiu-se que as habilidades de linguagem e de Teoria da Mente avaliadas pelo teste Strange Stories se mostraram alteradas no grupo de crianças com TEA quando comparadas às crianças do grupo-controle.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-05-13T15:29:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 maizecarlacostapelisson.pdf: 810948 bytes, checksum: 187d2386282a3e49e52bac6e350cd881 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-06-27T20:51:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 maizecarlacostapelisson.pdf: 810948 bytes, checksum: 187d2386282a3e49e52bac6e350cd881 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-27T20:51:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 maizecarlacostapelisson.pdf: 810948 bytes, checksum: 187d2386282a3e49e52bac6e350cd881 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-16 / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / A capacidade de compreender estados mentais como intenções, desejos, crenças e emoções é denominada na literatura como teoria da mente. Tal capacidade possibilita à criança entender e predizer o comportamento próprio e alheio, sendo um dos marcos para o desenvolvimento sociocognitivo infantil. Estudos, envolvendo as relações entre a teoria da mente e a linguagem, têm evidenciado o potencial dos livros de histórias infantis como fonte de conhecimento e compreensão dos estados mentais, uma vez que diferentes aspectos são identificados no conteúdo das histórias, como situações de crenças divergentes da realidade, ironia e situações envolvendo pistas sociais. Do ponto de vista sociocognitivo, a ironia constitui um aspecto de relevância, pois fornece informações sobre mentes e experiências subjetivas utilizando de uma perspectiva sutil sobre os pensamentos, desejos e sentimentos alheios, o que pode produzir um efeito benéfico no aprimoramento da compreensão infantil dos estados mentais. O presente estudo investigou a compreensão da ironia contida em dois livros de histórias infantis (L1 e L2), divergentes quanto ao nível de complexidade da ironia contida na narrativa, em 61 pré-escolares de 5 e 6 anos, oriundos de uma escola privada de educação infantil da rede de ensino de uma cidade da zona da mata mineira. A avaliação foi realizada de forma individual, iniciando-se com a aplicação do Teste de Vocabulário Auditivo (TVAud), para avaliação da linguagem receptiva e expressiva, visando identificar possíveis diferenças linguísticas entre grupos de crianças com a mesma faixa etária. Posteriormente, realizou-se a leitura oral de cada livro para a criança e aplicou-se uma tarefa de compreensão textual e quatro tarefas de compreensão da ironia respectivas a cada história. Os resultados evidenciaram uma correlação positiva entre a compreensão textual e a compreensão da ironia na história de L1. Verificou-se que as crianças, de ambos os grupos etários e gêneros, não se divergiram quanto ao nível de compreensão da ironia nos dois livros, tendo apresentando uma compreensão satisfatória da ironia contida em L1 e uma compreensão parcial da ironia contida em L2. Espera-se que os resultados possam aprofundar as investigações a respeito desta temática, ainda escassa, tanto no contexto nacional quanto internacional. Almeja-se que os resultados ofereçam subsídios para ações promotoras educativas quanto às formas de utilização dos livros de histórias e de exploração das ironias presentes nas narrativas, bem como reforcem a necessidade de que as atividades leitoras sejam mais valorizadas e sistematicamente integradas aos currículos escolares como metodologia que enriqueça a prática de profissionais que atuam na área educacional. / Ability to understand mental states like intentions, desires, beliefs and emotions is known in literature as theory of mind. This ability allows children to understand and predict the behavior of others and themselves, one of the guides for social cognitive child development. Studies involving the relationship between theory of mind and language have shown the potential of story books as a source of knowledge and understanding of mental states since different aspects are identified in the content of the stories such as situations of differing beliefs of reality, irony and situations involving social clues. In socio-cognitive perspective, irony is an aspect of relevance because it provides information on the minds and subjective experiences using a subtle perspective into thoughts, other people's desires and feelings, having a beneficial effect in improving children's understanding of mental states. This study investigated the understanding of irony contained in two children's story books (L1 and L2), differing in the level of complexity of irony contained in the narrative in 61 preschool children from 5-6 years-old from a private educational school system of a city in the state Minas Gerais. The evaluation was performed individually, starting with the Auditory Vocabulary Test (TVAud) to assess receptive and expressive language and to identify possible linguistic differences between groups of children with the same age group. Posteriorly, there was the oral reading of each book to the child and were applied one reading comprehension task and four comprehension tasks of the respective irony to every story. The results showed a positive correlation between reading comprehension and the understanding of irony in the L1 story. It was found that children in both age groups and genders didn´t diverge in the level of understanding of irony in the two books, and presented a satisfactory understanding of irony contained in L1 and a partial understanding of irony contained in L2. It is expected that the results can further enhance research about this thematic, still scarce, both in the national and international context. It is expected that the results will provide grants for educational development actions on ways to use the story books and exploration of irony present in the narratives as well as reinforcing the need for reader activities to be valued and systematically integrated into the school curriculum as a methodology that would improve the practice of professionals working in education.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-06-12T12:22:10Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: on 2018-06-12T13:39:43Z (GMT) / Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-06-12T13:40:31Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-06-14T11:49:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-14T11:49:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-02-28 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Algumas habilidades são fundamentais para o desenvolvimento social e cognitivo das crianças. Dentre elas, esta dissertação elegeu a Teoria da Mente (ToM), pois ela se mostra importante para outros dois processos psicológicos chaves para a competência social: empatia e a resolução de problemas interpessoais. ToM é a capacidade de compreender, explicar e predizer o comportamento humano em termos de estados mentais e permite à criança formular o entendimento do mundo social. Empatia tem sido descrita como a capacidade de o indivíduo se colocar no lugar do outro, compreendendo, assim, os seus sentimentos. Resolução de problemas interpessoais diz respeito ao uso de estratégias para gerar e usar respostas eficazes de enfrentamento em situações problemáticas. Logo, são três variáveis que se mostram relevantes para um desenvolvimento social positivo na infância. Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral analisar teórica e empiricamente relações entre ToM, empatia e resolução de problemas interpessoais. Para tanto, dois estudos foram conduzidos. Uma revisão narrativa de literatura descreve o panorama histórico e conceitual do campo da ToM e as interfaces entre ele empatia e resolução de problemas interpessoais. Apesar de a escassez de estudos sobre as relações entre estes processos psicológicos, foi possível inferir que elas ocorrem na forma de um determinismo recíproco. Uma investigação empírica associou estas três variáveis em uma amostra de 56 crianças com idade média de 6,32 anos. É preciso esclarecer que, no caso da resolução de problemas interpessoais, considerou-se apenas a geração de alternativas. Os dados foram coletados em dois momentos na escola pública que os participantes frequentavam. No primeiro, foram aplicadas a Escala da Teoria da Mente e a Escala de Empatia para Crianças e Adolescentes. No segundo, realizaram as Tarefas de Resolução de Problemas Interpessoais. Poucas associações entre ToM, empatia e geração de alternativas para resolução de problemas interpessoais foram observadas, evidenciando que, se considerada uma causalidade linear direta, são variáveis mais independentes do que associadas. As limitações do estudo e sugestões para pesquisas futuras são apresentadas. / Some abilities are fundamental to the children social and cognitive development. Among them, this master thesis elected the Theory of Mind (ToM), since it shows important to other two key psychological processes for social competence: empathy and interpersonal problem solving. ToM is the capacity to comprehend, explain and predict the human behave in terms of mental states e allows the children to form the understanding of the social world. Empathy has been described as the capacity of the individual to stand in someone’s place, thus understanding his or her feelings. Interpersonal problem solving concerns about using strategies to generate and use effective coping answers/strategies to problematics situations. Therefore, three variable show relevant to a positive social development in childhood. This work had, as general objective, analyze empirically and theoretically relations between ToM, empathy and interpersonal problem solving. To do so, two studies were conducted. A narrative review of literature describes the historical and conceptual panorama in ToM field and its interfaces with empathy and interpersonal problems resolution. Besides de the lack of studies about the relations between these psychological processes, it is possible infer that they occurs in form of reciprocal determinism. An empirical investigation associated these three variables into a sample of 56 children at average age of 6.32 years old. It is necessary elucidate that, in case of interpersonal problem solving, only generation of alternatives were considered. The data was collected in two moments at the public school where the participants attended. On the first one, the Theory-of-Mind Scale and Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents were applied. On the second one, they performed the Interpersonal Problems Solving Tasks. Few associations between ToM, empathy and generating alternatives for interpersonal problems solving were observed, revealing that these variables are more independent than associated, if linear direct causality is considered. The limitations of the study and suggestions for future researches are presented.

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and other people. In this thesis, I present a new paradigm, the Self/Other Differentiation task, which was designed to assess ToM abilities – specifically, the ability to attribute belief states to the ‘Self' and ‘Other' – in typically developed, healthy adults. By focussing on fully developed ToM abilities, we aimed to increase understanding of how the ToM mechanism is structured and functions in everyday life, and how individual ToM components may differentially relate to executive functioning (EF) abilities. The Self/Other Differentiation task is a computerized false-belief task utilizing a matched- design to allow direct comparison of self-oriented versus other-oriented belief- attribution processes. Using behavioural (response times/error rates) and electrophysiological (EEG) methods, the work presented in this thesis provides evidence of a clear and distinct differentiation in the processing of ‘Self' versus ‘Other' perspectives in healthy ToM. We established a key role of perspective-shifting in ToM, which we hypothesize plays a crucial role in day-to-day communications; shifting from the Self-to-Other perspective was significantly harder (longer and more error prone) than shifting from the Other-to-Self perspective, suggesting that the ‘Self' forms the stem of understanding the ‘Other'. EEG analysis revealed these effects were present across fronto-lateral and occipital-lateral areas of the brain, particularly across the right hemisphere in parietal regions. We provide evidence of these features as universal, core components of the ToM mechanism, with data collected from both Chinese and Western cultures illustrating similar patterns of results. Results regarding the relationship between ToM and EF were mixed, with one study finding that affective EF positively correlates with ToM task performance, whilst non-affective EF does not, and a further two studies finding no such differential relationship. The Self/Other Differentiation task provides the opportunity to establish the features of ‘typical' ToM processes in healthy adults, to further our understanding of how the mature ToM mechanism functions.

Social cognition - the ability to identify, perceive, and interpret socially relevant information - is an important skill that plays a significant role in successful interpersonal functioning. Social cognitive performance seems to be impaired in several mental disorders. The relationship with major depressive disorder is less well understood. The aim of the thesis was to present a comprehensive overview of current knowledge on social cognition in depression as well as to contribute with results of our own research. Two original video-methods presenting difficult and complex social situation were developed in this study. Acutely depressed patients (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 20) were examined with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and with Lie or True and Rendez-views video-methods. We found no difference in the performance in our video-methods between the tested groups. Evidence of The Depressive Realism Hypothesis was not proven in this study. Further research in this area is needed. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gender in adolescent Theory of Mind. The term Theory of Mind (TOM) was introduced more than 30 years ago. Most of the TOM studies investigated Theory of Mind among animals, infants, children and clinical patients. Based on literature review, we know that developmental changes do not stop in childhood but continue through adolescence and into adulthood. Evidently there is a lack of studies on Theory of Mind in adolescents, despite the fact that adolescence is a critical stage for social, emotional and relationship skills. One of the variables important for our research is the effect of gender and gender identity. Gender differences are considered one of the least examined aspects of TOM, and further studies are not specifically aimed to gender-related differences. The tests we employed were Reading Mind in the eyes test (revised version, RMET-R) and Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). Statistical analysis revealed that older adolescents (17- year old) scored significantly higher than younger (16-year old) on the RMET-R test. There were no significant differences between females and males on the RMET-R test performance results. We found no significant effect of gender identity, feminine traits and familiarity with TOM stimuli in relation to RMET-R...

Approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury each year in the United States. Perspective taking is a repertoire known to be severely affected following a traumatic brain injury. The ability to take the perspective of another greatly contributes to social interactions and involves a complex set of skills. A small number of studies have attempted to train perspective taking skills in populations lacking the ability, but none with individuals diagnosed with TBI. This study aimed to teach perspective taking skills to adults with TBI through established protocols which teach deictic relational frames. Three adult males with traumatic brain injuries were exposed to the deictic relational training protocol. Each participant was tested on traditional theory of mind tasks prior to and following mastery of deictic training. All three participants achieved mastery of the relational training protocol and showed some improvement on theory of mind tasks following training and at follow-up.

Les hommes semblent dotés d'une capacité fascinante : celle d'attribuer des croyances et des désirs aux autres afin d'expliquer leur comportement. Cette capacité, appelée Théorie de l'Esprit, nous permet de résoudre un problème complexe : à partir de la seule observation de leurs faits et gestes, nous déduisons les états mentaux qui poussent les autres à agir. Dans cette thèse, nous formalisons ce problème et en proposons une solution se fondant sur l'inférence bayésienne. Nous appliquons ce cadre théorique à deux situations particulières : l'attribution de croyances récursives en situations d'interaction sociale et l'apprentissage des préférences des autres. En combinant modèles computationnels et expériences comportementales, nous abordons avec une nouvelle perspective certaines questions fondamentales soulevées par l'étude de la Théorie de l'Esprit. Sommes-nous optimaux lorsque nous attribuons des croyances et des préférences aux autres ? Employons-nous des processus spécifiques quand nous interagissons avec d'autres personnes ? Quelles sont les contraintes évolutionnaires qui ont donné forme à notre Théorie de l'Esprit ? Cette capacité est-elle spécifiquement humaine ? Comment la Théorie de l'Esprit est-elle affectée dans l'autisme ? / Human beings have this surprising ability – coined Theory of Mind (ToM) – to reason about the mind of others and interpret their behaviour in terms of beliefs and desires. In this thesis, we focus on two critical aspects of ToM: (1) our ability to attribute recursive beliefs of the type “I think that you think that I think...” in the context of social interactions, (2) our ability to infer other people’s personal characteristics or preferences from observing their choices. This computational characterization of mechanisms at play in ToM provides new tools to address important questions such as: What is specific about learning in a context of social interactions? Are we optimal in our inference about others’ preferences or beliefs? Can we identify evolutionary constraints that may have shaped our current sophistication in ToM? Are these processes uniquely human? In which ways is ToM affected in disorders involving difficulties with social interactions? We investigated these questions combining computational modelling and behavioural experiments. The results of our studies offer significant advances in the description of the computational mechanisms underlying social cognition in humans and in non-human primates. Moreover, applying our paradigms to people from the autistic spectrum disorder allowed us to characterize what makes social cognition in autism so different.

No description available.