Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2018 , Vol 21, Issue 2
THEORY OF MIND IN AMNESTIC MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH LANGUAGE AND MEMORY FUNCTIONS
Ferdane Özlem AKARSU2, Ferdi KÖŞGER1, Altan EŞSİZOĞLU1, Belgin Demet ÖZBABALIK ADAPINAR3
1EskiÅŸehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, EskiÅŸehir, Turkey
2EskiÅŸehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, EskiÅŸehir, Turkey
3Eskişehir Acıbadem Hospital, Neurology Clinic, Eskişehir, Turkey
DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2018240421 Introduction:<7b> Although it has been proven that theory of mind functions is deteriorated in amnestic type mild cognitive impairment, the relationship between this deterioration and cognitive functions has not been researched. The aim of this study is to compare amnestic type mild cognitive impairment patients with healthy individuals in terms of theory of mind functions and to determine the relationship between theory of mind functions and the functions of language and memory in amnestic type mild cognitive impairment patients.

Materials and Method: Thirty-eight patients with amnestic type mild cognitive impairment were compared with 34 healthy individuals in this study. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Hinting Test, Boston Naming Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Vocabulary Test Score, Öktem Verbal Memory Process Test, and Clock Drawing Test were used for evaluation.

Results: The scores of the amnestic type mild cognitive impairment group in the tests evaluating theory of mind functions and the functions of language, memory and Clock Drawing Test were lower than those of the control group. The scores of the amnestic type mild cognitive impairment group in the tests evaluating the theory of mind functions were not associate with the tests evaluating the functions of language and memory.

Conclusion: Amnestic type mild cognitive impairment patients perform worse in terms of affective and cognitive theory of mind functions compared with healthy aging individuals. The impairment of theory of mind functions in amnestic type mild cognitive impairment patients is thought to be independent of the deterioration of language and memory functions. Keywords : Cognitive dysfunction; Theory of mind; Memory; Language