Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task

Abstract Research has identified impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in depressed patients, particularly in relation to tasks involving empathetic responses and belief reasoning. We aimed to build on this research by exploring the relationship between depressed mood and cognitive ToM, spec...

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Autores principales:	Heather J. Ferguson, James Cane
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5acdf6a3c392421686c70433b2099527
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5acdf6a3c392421686c70433b20995272021-12-02T11:52:19ZTracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task10.1038/s41598-017-13922-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/5acdf6a3c392421686c70433b20995272017-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13922-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Research has identified impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in depressed patients, particularly in relation to tasks involving empathetic responses and belief reasoning. We aimed to build on this research by exploring the relationship between depressed mood and cognitive ToM, specifically visual perspective-taking ability. High and low depressed participants were eye-tracked as they completed a perspective-taking task, in which they followed the instructions of a ‘director’ to move target objects (e.g. a “teapot with spots on”) around a grid, in the presence of a temporarily-ambiguous competitor object (e.g. a “teapot with stars on”). Importantly, some of the objects in the grid were occluded from the director’s (but not the participant’s) view. Results revealed no group-based difference in participants’ ability to use perspective cues to identify the target object. All participants were faster to select the target object when the competitor was only available to the participant, compared to when the competitor was mutually available to the participant and director. Eye-tracking measures supported this pattern, revealing that perspective directed participants’ visual search immediately upon hearing the ambiguous object’s name (e.g. “teapot”). We discuss how these results fit with previous studies that have shown a negative relationship between depression and ToM.Heather J. FergusonJames CaneNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Heather J. Ferguson James Cane Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
description	Abstract Research has identified impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in depressed patients, particularly in relation to tasks involving empathetic responses and belief reasoning. We aimed to build on this research by exploring the relationship between depressed mood and cognitive ToM, specifically visual perspective-taking ability. High and low depressed participants were eye-tracked as they completed a perspective-taking task, in which they followed the instructions of a ‘director’ to move target objects (e.g. a “teapot with spots on”) around a grid, in the presence of a temporarily-ambiguous competitor object (e.g. a “teapot with stars on”). Importantly, some of the objects in the grid were occluded from the director’s (but not the participant’s) view. Results revealed no group-based difference in participants’ ability to use perspective cues to identify the target object. All participants were faster to select the target object when the competitor was only available to the participant, compared to when the competitor was mutually available to the participant and director. Eye-tracking measures supported this pattern, revealing that perspective directed participants’ visual search immediately upon hearing the ambiguous object’s name (e.g. “teapot”). We discuss how these results fit with previous studies that have shown a negative relationship between depression and ToM.
format	article
author	Heather J. Ferguson James Cane
author_facet	Heather J. Ferguson James Cane
author_sort	Heather J. Ferguson
title	Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
title_short	Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
title_full	Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
title_fullStr	Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
title_full_unstemmed	Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
title_sort	tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/5acdf6a3c392421686c70433b2099527
work_keys_str_mv	AT heatherjferguson trackingtheimpactofdepressioninaperspectivetakingtask AT jamescane trackingtheimpactofdepressioninaperspectivetakingtask
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Tracking the impact of depression in a perspective-taking task

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