title: Are adolescents with anorexia nervosa better at reading minds?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present study aimed to investigate mindreading abilities in female adolescent patients with AN compared to healthy controls (HCs), analysing differences for emotional valence of facial stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Eating Disorder Inventory) for evaluating psychological traits associated with eating disorders and the Children's version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test for evaluating mindreading abilities were administered to 40 Italian female patients (mean age = 14.93; SD = 1.48) with restrictive diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) and 40 healthy females (mean age = 14.88; SD = 0.56).
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences between the AN group and HCs for the Eyes Total score were found. Even when analysing emotional valence of the items, the two groups were equally successful in the facial recognition of positive, negative and neutral emotions. A significant difference was revealed for the percentage of correct responses of item 10 and item 15, where the AN group was less able to correctly identify the target descriptor (Not believing) over the foils than HCs. A significant difference was revealed in discriminating for affective emotions versus cognitive states; only for affective but not for cognitive states, patients with AN were found to perform better than controls on the mindreading task.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study highlighted the importance of analysing and discriminating for different valences of facial stimuli when assessing mindreading abilities in adolescents with AN, so that more precise and specific treatment approaches could be developed for female adolescents with AN.
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Medicine and Psychology , Sapienza, University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Fiorenzo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Laghi
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Medicine and Psychology , Sapienza, University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pompili
authors.affiliation: b Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience-I.R.C.C.S ., Children Hospital Bambino Gesù , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zanna
authors.affiliation: b Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience-I.R.C.C.S ., Children Hospital Bambino Gesù , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Castiglioni
authors.affiliation: b Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience-I.R.C.C.S ., Children Hospital Bambino Gesù , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Criscuolo
authors.affiliation: b Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience-I.R.C.C.S ., Children Hospital Bambino Gesù , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Ilenia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chianello
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Medicine and Psychology , Sapienza, University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Medicine and Psychology , Sapienza, University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baiocco
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D064866:Mindfulness; D011932:Reading; D056345:Theory of Mind; D013850:Thinking
keywords: adolescents; anorexia nervosa; cognitive states; emotional valence; mindreading