Storytelling: A tool to test the cognitive empathy

If Storytelling has been used as a form of entertainment along the years, it has also been treated as a relevant technique to evaluate the Theory of Mind ( TOM) Skills in children with Asperger´s.

This Theory was proposed by Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan Leslie y Uta Frith (1985), and it is known like the capacity to establish an internal representation of our mental status and the other one’s status ( like desires, beliefs, and intentions). It explains the difficulties that children with Asperger Syndrome experience in not being able to understand that the others might have desires and beliefs about some topics or things different to theirs. ( Atwood,2015)

The emotional reciprocity and the sensitivity to social signs are low due to a capacity disorder to “ read or understand the mind”. ( Cobo, Morán, 2017)

This was shown in such research as “The Strange Stories” by Francesca Happé( 2003); “ the“ Stories from Everyday Life” by Nils Kaland and The Social Attribution Task ( SAT), originally developed by Heider and Simmel ( 1944) and used by Ami Kim (2000).

This last test consisted of a cartoon animated film with a cast of geometrical forms “ characters”. A group of neurotypical children and another composed of children with Asperger were asked about the story and the characters´ personalities.

The comments and narratives of the control subjects were more sophisticated, with more elaborate social plots and complex attributions; whereas the narrations of individuals with Asperger´s tended to focus more on the physical aspects. ( Atwood, 2015)

Another popular test to measure a person’s social cognitive ability and attribute false beliefs to others was the classic “task of Sally- Anne”, in which puppets represented tangible characters in a story.

In the test process, after introducing two dolls: Sally and Anne; the child was asked the control question of recalling their names (the Naming Question).

Then, a short skit was enacted:

-Sally takes a marble and hides it in her basket.

-She “leaves” the room and goes for a walk. -While she is away, Anne takes the marble out of Sally’s basket and puts it in her own box.

Sally was then reintroduced and the child was asked the key question, the Belief Question: " Where will Sally look for her ball?"

The majority of the answers were: “In Anne´s basket”.

The original Sally-Anne cartoon used in the test by Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1985). Through this test Baron- Cohen, Leslie and Frith and ( 1985), found out that 80% of the children with autism were not able to appreciate the false belief of Sally by indicating that Sally believed the marble was moved and it was not in her own basket.

This data showed that the participant could not take an alternative perspective, that is the core requirement of the Theory of Mind. This has a direct relationship with the cognitive empathy; which is a component of the empathy structured and regulated in the areas of the cerebral cortex (ventromedial prefrontal cortex and cingulate gyrus) where the imitation behaviours would be involved, and mediated by the mirror neurons.

Conversely, the affective component of empathy is organized in the limbic system, within the deep brain areas involved in the regulation of emotions, especially in the insula, the post-superior temporal rotation and the supplementary motor area. (Krzanaric,2014)

The natural empathetic capabilities may become, therefore, impaired if any of these regions get damaged or do not develop properly. ( Knarzic, 2015)