Deficits in comprehension of speech acts after TBI: The role of theory of mind and executive function.
Theory of mind (ToM) is critical to effective communication following traumatic brain injury (TBI) however, whether impairments are specific to social cognition, or reflective of executive demands is unclear. This study examined whether ToM impairments are predicted by executive function difficulties using everyday conversation tasks. Twenty-five individuals with severe-TBI were compared to 25 healthy controls on low- and high-ToM tasks across four conditions: (1) low cognitive load, (2) high flexibility, (3) high working memory (WM) and (4) high inhibition. TBI individuals were impaired on high-ToM tasks in the WM condition. When the WM demands of the task were controlled, the impairments were no longer apparent. TBI individuals were not impaired on high-ToM tasks in the inhibition and flexibility conditions, suggesting these tasks may not have been sufficiently demanding of ToM abilities. The results suggest that ToM impairments in everyday communication may arise due to WM demands, in individuals with TBI.
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Moving Ahead Centre for Research Excellence in Brain Recovery, Australia. Electronic address: c.honan@unsw.edu.au.
Cynthia A
CA
Honan
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Moving Ahead Centre for Research Excellence in Brain Recovery, Australia. Electronic address: s.mcdonald@unsw.edu.au.
Skye
S
McDonald
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: Alison.gowland@gmail.com.
Alison
A
Gowland
School of Psychology, Centre for Medical Psychology and Evidence-based Decision Making (CeMPED), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: a.fisher@sydney.edu.au.
Alana
A
Fisher
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: Rebekah.k.randall@gmail.com.
Rebekah K
RK
Randall
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D032882:Comprehension; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012919:Social Behavior; D013060:Speech; D056345:Theory of Mind; D055815:Young Adult
Executive function; Pragmatic language; Social cognition; Theory of mind; Traumatic brain injury