title: Irony and empathy in children with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: Social communication involves influencing what other people think and feel about themselves. We use the term conative theory of mind (ToM) to refer to communicative interactions involving one person trying to influence the mental and emotional state of another, paradigmatic examples of which are irony and empathy. This study reports how children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) understand ironic criticism and empathic praise, on a task requiring them to identify speaker belief and intention for direct conative speech acts involving literal truth, and indirect speech acts involving either ironic criticism or empathic praise. Participants were 71 children in the chronic state of a single TBI and 57 age- and gender-matched children with orthopedic injuries (OI). Group differences emerged on indirect speech acts involving conation (i.e., irony and empathy), but not on structurally and linguistically identical direct speech acts, suggesting specific deficits in this aspect of social cognition in school-age children with TBI. Deficits in children with mild-moderate TBI were less widespread and more selective than those of children with more severe injuries. Deficits in understanding the social, conative function of indirect speech acts like irony and empathy have widespread and deep implications for social function in children with TBI.
authors: Program in Neuroscience & Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario. maureen.dennis@sickkids.ca
authors: Maureen
authors: M
authors: Dennis
authors: Nevena
authors: N
authors: Simic
authors: Alba
authors: A
authors: Agostino
authors: H Gerry
authors: HG
authors: Taylor
authors: Erin D
authors: ED
authors: Bigler
authors: Kenneth
authors: K
authors: Rubin
authors: Kathryn
authors: K
authors: Vannatta
authors: Cynthia A
authors: CA
authors: Gerhardt
authors: Terry
authors: T
authors: Stancin
authors: Keith Owen
authors: KO
authors: Yeates
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003469:Culture; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009341:Negativism; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*