Application of Eye-tracking in research on the theory of mind in ASD.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a broad diagnostic category describing a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which includes the autistic disorder. Failure to develop normal social relationships is a hallmark of autism. An inability to understand and cope with the social environment can occur regardless of IQ. One of the hypotheses of the appearance of ASD symptoms is associated with the theory of mind (TOM). ASD patients do not have the ability to attribute the full range of mental states (goal states and epistemic states) to themselves and to others. Eye-tracking allows for observation of early signs of TOM in ASD individuals, even before they are 1 year old, without the need of developed motor and language skills. This provides a window for looking at the very basics of mindreading - detecting intentionality and eyes in our environment. Studies show that ASD children fail to recognize biological motion, while being highly sensitive to physical contingency within the random movement. Their perception of faces seems disorganized and undirected, while object recognition is intact. Evidence suggests that this orientation of attention following gaze cues is diminished in ASD patients. Available data also show deficits in emotion recognition, that cannot be accounted for by impairments in face processing or visual modality alone. Such observations provide an insight into disturbances of information processing and offer an explanation for poor social functioning of ASD patients. When combined with other methods, Eye-tracking has the potential to reveal differences in processing information on a neural circuitry level. Thus, it may help in understanding the complexity of TOM mechanisms, and their role in social functioning.

Psychological correlates of affect in parents of children with cleft lip and/or palate.

OBJECTIVE: Parents of children with developmental malformations of different kinds are vulnerable to many consequences of the experienced stress and attempts to cope with it. The aim of the study was to determine the psychological correlates of affect for parents of such children. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included 78 respondents: 69 women and 9 men, aged between 20 and 45, all of them parents of children with craniofacial malformations who had their routine check-ups at an orthodontics clinic. The respondents were evaluated using pencil-and-paper questionnaires, the same survey set for all respondents. The following tools were used in the study: the Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress (Mini-COPE), the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The guardians' demographic data and the details of the child's medical history were gathered using a questionnaire constructed for the purposes of the study. RESULTS: The present study confirmed significant correlations between affect and preferred stress coping strategies, as well as between affect and family resilience. Coping strategies and family resilience, treated as a resource, were also significantly correlated in the group of respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Mental resilience is an important resource contributing to effective stress coping in a situation where a child suffers from malformation.

Who is happier: smoker or non-smoker? Smoking in medical students from the perspective of positive psychology.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation of nicotine dependence with perceived happiness and experienced emotions in three groups, namely non-smokers, smokers, and those who quitted smoking. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The total of 552 Poznan University of Medical Sciences students aged 21.84 ± 3.95 (women: 83.3%, men: 16.7%) participated in this study. They were asked to fill out 4 questionnaires. Two were originally designed by the authors of this paper - one asked about some demographic information and the other described cigarette smoking. Happiness and its dimensions were measured using Fordyce's Happiness Measure and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). RESULTS: The obtained results point out some significant differences between smokers, non-smokers, and those who quitted smoking as to the levels of negative affect with respects to its two dimensions: Unpleasant and Frustrated. Smokers were characterized by a higher level of a negative affect than non-smokers, as well as higher scores for the Unpleasant and Frustrated dimensions compared to non-smokers and those who quitted smoking. As far as the positive affect of smokers and those who quitted smoking is concerned, a significant difference was observed for 5 dimensions: Interested, Inspired, Attentive, Determined and Active. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this paper can help us understand better the nicotine-dependent population in the context of positive psychology, and provide us with some basic information helpful in designing preventive programmes for nicotine addicts.