摘要:The current study assessed deictic relational responding in people with schizophrenia. A perspective-taking task and a mental states attribution task were employed with a sample of 15 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 15 age-matched controls. Results revealed poorer performance of participants with schizophrenia in responding in accordance with deictic frames at the highest levels of relational complexity, while no difference appeared between the two groups on simple perspective taking. In addition, a significant deficit emerged on the mental states attribution task. Group effects remained significant after controlling for IQ. Furthermore, performance on complex deictic responding was a strong predictor of accuracy on the mental states attribution task in both groups, thus supporting the RFT approach to theory of mind. These findings suggest the relevance of conceptualizing mental states attribution in terms of relational responding for the understanding and remediation of deficits linked to schizophrenia.
关键词:deictic relational responding; perspective taking; RFT; theory of mind; schizophrenia