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When Injury Clouds Understanding of Others: Theory of Mind after Mild TBI in Preschool Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2015

Jenny Bellerose Open the ORCID record for Jenny Bellerose [Opens in a new window] ,
Annie Bernier ,
Cindy Beaudoin ,
Jocelyn Gravel  and
Miriam H. Beauchamp
Jenny Bellerose
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Annie Bernier
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cindy Beaudoin
Affiliation:
Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Jocelyn Gravel
Affiliation:
Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Miriam H. Beauchamp*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Miriam H. Beauchamp, Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3C 3J7. E-mail: miriam.beauchamp@umontreal.ca
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Abstract

There is evidence to suggest that social skills, such as the ability to understand the perspective of others (theory of mind), may be affected by childhood traumatic brain injuries; however, studies to date have only considered moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study aimed to assess theory of mind after early, mild TBI (mTBI). Fifty-one children who sustained mTBI between 18 and 60 months were evaluated 6 months post-injury on emotion and desires reasoning and false-belief understanding tasks. Their results were compared to that of 50 typically developing children. The two groups did not differ on baseline characteristics, except for pre- and post-injury externalizing behavior. The mTBI group obtained poorer scores relative to controls on both the emotion and desires task and the false-belief understanding task, even after controlling for pre-injury externalizing behavior. No correlations were found between TBI injury characteristics and theory of mind. This is the first evidence that mTBI in preschool children is associated with theory of mind difficulties. Reduced perspective taking abilities could be linked with the social impairments that have been shown to arise following TBI. (JINS, 2015, 21, 483–493)

Keywords

PediatricHead injuryConcussionSocial cognitionPerspective takingOutcomeSocial skills
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 21 , Issue 7 , August 2015 , pp. 483 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2015 

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