TY - JOUR
T1 - Low self-awareness of individuals with severe traumatic brain injury can lead to reduced ability to take another person's perspective
AU - Bivona, Umberto
AU - Riccio, Angela
AU - Ciurli, Paola
AU - Carlesimo, Giovanni Augusto
AU - Donne, Valentina Delle
AU - Pizzonia, Elisa
AU - Caltagirone, Carlo
AU - Formisano, Rita
AU - Costa, Alberto
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Aims of this study were (i) to verify whether a deficit or a lack of self-awareness can lead to difficulties in assuming another person's perspective after a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI); (ii) to verify whether perspective-taking deficits emerge more from performance-based tasks than self-reports; and (iii) to evaluate the possible relationships between perspective-taking difficulties and some clinical, neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, and neuroimaging variables. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Empathy Quotient, first-order false-belief, and faux pas written stories were administered to 28 patients with severe TBI and 28 healthy controls. The Awareness Questionnaire was also administered to TBI patients and their caregivers. Patients were split into 2 groups (impaired self-awareness vs adequate self-awareness) on the basis of the discrepancy Awareness Questionnaire score. Both TBI groups obtained lower scores than healthy controls on the Fantasy subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the reality question of the false-belief stories, and the memory questions of the faux pas test. Only impaired self-awareness patients tended to obtain lower scores in first-order false-belief detection. Impaired self-awareness patients also performed significantly worse than both healthy controls and adequate self-awareness patients on the faux pas tasks. The analysis suggests a causal relationship between low self-awareness and perspective-taking difficulties in this population of patients.
AB - Aims of this study were (i) to verify whether a deficit or a lack of self-awareness can lead to difficulties in assuming another person's perspective after a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI); (ii) to verify whether perspective-taking deficits emerge more from performance-based tasks than self-reports; and (iii) to evaluate the possible relationships between perspective-taking difficulties and some clinical, neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, and neuroimaging variables. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Empathy Quotient, first-order false-belief, and faux pas written stories were administered to 28 patients with severe TBI and 28 healthy controls. The Awareness Questionnaire was also administered to TBI patients and their caregivers. Patients were split into 2 groups (impaired self-awareness vs adequate self-awareness) on the basis of the discrepancy Awareness Questionnaire score. Both TBI groups obtained lower scores than healthy controls on the Fantasy subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the reality question of the false-belief stories, and the memory questions of the faux pas test. Only impaired self-awareness patients tended to obtain lower scores in first-order false-belief detection. Impaired self-awareness patients also performed significantly worse than both healthy controls and adequate self-awareness patients on the faux pas tasks. The analysis suggests a causal relationship between low self-awareness and perspective-taking difficulties in this population of patients.
KW - empathy
KW - self-awareness
KW - Theory of Mind
KW - traumatic brain injury
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84896403063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84896403063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/HTR.0b013e3182864f0b
DO - 10.1097/HTR.0b013e3182864f0b
M3 - Article
C2 - 23524876
AN - SCOPUS:84896403063
VL - 29
SP - 157
EP - 171
JO - Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation
JF - Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation
SN - 0885-9701
IS - 2
ER -