Spanish adaptation of four instruments to asses Theory of Mind in Children and adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Theory of Mind (ToM) is one of the most important dimensions of Social Cognition (SC); it is of great interest for research in Development Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Social Neuroscience as well as for clinical practice. It has stimulated the creation and validation of instruments to asses this dimension as a cognitive process, but there are few instruments like these in Spanish and less to evaluating children and adolescents. Objective: This paper reports the adaptation into Spanish of four instruments to asses ToM: The Theory of Mind Battery, The Theory of Mind Inventory-2, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes and the Faux Pas Test. Method: The adaptation process was made in two steps first, translation and, second, cultural adaptation. To verify the results a pilot testing was carried out in two groups, one with children between 4 and 13 years old and other with children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old. Results: Instruments adapted into Spanish are presented as results highlighting the main adjustments made to each tool. Discussion: The importance of creating a protocol with statistical validation to asses ToM are discussed.