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  • 學位論文

正常老年人在心智理論、執行功能與社會智力關係的探討

The Relationships between Theory of Mind,Executive Functions and Social Intelligences in Normal Aging

指導教授 : 花茂棽

摘要


個體具有預測行動者心中的想法、感受、需求與信念的能力,稱之為「心智理論」,在神經科學方面的研究顯示心智理論不受其他認知功能如語言、智力、記憶及執行功能的影響,研究認為大腦內腹側額葉在心智理論的運作扮演重要的角色,而且與人類的社會行為有關。雖然過去有關心智理論的研究大部分均集中在兒童發展階段,但是近年來,已經開始對老年人在心智理論作業的表現有所探討,然而此部分的結果卻呈現相當大的差異。本研究的目的在於 (1) 以具有信效度且適合國內版本的心智理論題目評估正常老年人在心智理論作業的表現是否有退化現象? (2) 探討正常老年人心智理論與執行功能的關係?及 (3) 正常老年人的心智理論能力是否能預測其社會智力?以38位中老年人(平均年齡為70.55),32位老年人(平均年齡為80.13)及在教育程度、語文理解指標、記憶能力及MMSE分數均一致的38位年輕人(平均年齡為22.77)進行心智理論、執行功能及社會智力量表的評估,在中老年及老年組均以臨床神經心理測驗排除了罹患失智症的可能性後,以共變數分析排除社會地位指數或執行功能影響,結果顯示不論中老年組或老年組在心智理論作業的表現與年輕組沒有差異,而執行功能則隨著年齡有退化的趨勢,支持大腦背外側前額葉與內腹側前額葉有不同的退化速度。此外,本研究以結構方程模式進行心智理論、執行功能與社會智力間的預測模式分析,發現心智理論可以預測老年人的社會智力,而非執行功能。此外,心智理論能力並未因執行功能的退化而受到影響,因此,本論文支持執行功能在心智理論的發展過程扮演建構性的角色。

並列摘要


Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to represent mental states, such as beliefs, and intentions, and is distinct from the ability to represent ‘real’ states of affairs. It enables us to make attribution and to reason about mental states and, in doing so, to understand and predict the behavior of other people. Researches have suggested that Theory of Mind may represent a dissociable, modular brain system that is related to, but separable, from other brain functions including memory, language and executive functions. Studies of neuroimaging provide further evidence that the ventromedial regions of the prefrontal cortex are associated with ToM. Although the majority of research in ToM focused on young children or individuals with autism, only some recent studies have investigated ToM throughout the lifespan, especially in normal aging. However, the results have been controversial. The specific aims of the present study were to: (1) examine whether healthy elderly people are impaired on those tasks including the well-established ToM ones, (2) explore the relationship between ToM and executive functions in elder people, and (3) examine whether social intelligence is correlated more with ToM than with executive functions. Thirty-eight young-old (mean age = 70.55), thirty-two old-old (mean age = 80.13) and thirty-eight young (mean age = 22.77) age groups, matched on education, memory function and MMSE scores, and each subject received well-established ToM tasks, executive function tests and social intelligence scales. The results revealed that there were no age effects on ToM tasks even after taking account of measures of social-economic status and executive function. However, executive functions were impaired both in the young-old and old-old groups when compared with the young group. ToM performances, but not executive function, were strongly correlated with social intelligence among elderly individuals. Base on the present results, it is thus suggested that ToM might play an important role in social intelligence.

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