ArticleMolecular autism2025
A transdiagnostic study of theory of mind in children and youth with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Article in Molecular autism, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTheory of mind (ToM) is fundamental for social interactions, allowing individuals to appreciate that others have their own mental states. Children and youth with neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)) often show differences in ToM abilities compared to their neurotypical (NT) peers. Given the phenotypic heterogeneity and overlap associated with these conditions, this motivates a transdiagnostic investigation of ToM across neurodevelopmental conditions.
methodsFive hundred and fifty-five participants (5-22 years; 193 ADHD, 189 autism, 33 OCD, and 140 NT) were recruited via the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders network. To measure ToM, participants completed the Social Attribution Task (SAT), where participants attribute social stories to videos of moving shapes. The Animation Index (ability to attribute social stories to the videos) and Pertinence Index (how pertinent the attributions are) were calculated from the descriptions. Three analyses were performed: (1) a case-control analysis, comparing the SAT indices amongst the diagnostic groups, (2) a univariate dimensional analysis, examining associations with phenotypic variables (e.g., full-scale IQ, verbal IQ, and social communication difficulties), (3) and a multivariate analysis (partial least squares) that identifies a latent space that describes the associations between the SAT and phenotypic measures.
resultsThere were no between-group differences in the Animation Index, but the Pertinence Index was significantly lower in autism compared to the other diagnostic categories. Phenotypic variables (full-scale IQ, verbal IQ, and social communication difficulties) were found to be significantly associated with SAT performance across groups, and explained more variance than the diagnostic categories. In the multivariate analysis, the phenotypic variables contributed more strongly to the identified latent component compared to the diagnostic categories. LIMITATIONS: The verbal requirement of the SAT limited the inclusion of non-verbal participants, while the overall cognitive demand limited the participation of those with lower IQs. Additionally, our OCD group was significantly smaller than the other groups, which may have limited our ability to detect OCD-specific effects.
conclusionsIn a large sample, we found that transdiagnostic measures, such as IQ and social communication difficulties, are related to SAT abilities across neurodivergent and neurotypical children and youth and better describe differences in SAT performance compared to the individual diagnostic categories. Although poorer performance on ToM tasks has been classically associated with autism, this study highlights that transdiagnostic, phenotypic variables are a stronger predictor of SAT performance than diagnostic group.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.