Theory of Mind in deaf adults

Abstract

Purpose: The present study analyzed the social-cognitive and social-perceptual components of Theory of Mind (ToM) comparing three groups of deaf adults to three matched hearing groups. The influence of verbal IQ was also investigated. Methods: The participants were 15 native signers, 15 late signers, 17 oral deaf adults paired by gender, age and mental age to 47 hearing adults. All participants completed the assessment of the two components of ToM and of the verbal IQ. Results: Late signers and oral deaf adults showed lower scores then hearing peers both in the social-perceptual and social-cognitive components of ToM. Native signers showed lower scores then hearing peers in the social-perceptual component. Verbal IQ was the predictor of the social-cognitive component for late signers and oral deaf adults, while it was not significant for the social-perceptual component. Conclusions: The findings yielded support for the two components of TOM and contributed to the extent of the existing literature on ToM in deafness.

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