CERITOM
Research Center on
Theory of Mind
Tools
Yoni Task
The Yoni Task is a test that evaluates Theory of Mind (ToM), an essential component of the neurocognitive domain of social cognition. The tool was designed and implemented at the University of Haifa (Israel) Shamay-Tsoory et al. (2007) to study the neural correlates of affective and cognitive Theory of Mind and to explore the neural mechanisms involved in specific social cognition deficits in atypical conditions. The Yoni Task has been adapted into the Italian version and administered to people with Parkinson's Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment (Rossetto et al., 2018), and Multiple Sclerosis (Rossetto et al., 2024). The 98-item version of the task was validated and normative data were published (see Isernia et al., 2022). Subsequently, for clinical practice use, two shorter versions of the test were introduced and validated: a 48-item version (Isernia et al., 2023) and a 36-item version (Isernia et al., 2024a). The computerized administration of the test allows for obtaining performance scores on first and second-order ToM in terms of both accuracy and response time. For longitudinal evaluation of ToM changes over time, the Minimal Detectable Change (MDC, Isernia et al., 2024b) is also available for the Yoni Task.
For more information, contact infocaditer@DONGNOCCHI.IT
The two Italian versions of the Yoni Task can be used, reproduced, and distributed free of charge for research purposes only (not for commercial purposes). When using the Italian versions of the Yoni Task, it is essential to cite the original articles in any study presenting results derived from, or influenced by, this work. To discover more on how to use the tool, look at the following website
Reference
Rossetto, F., Castelli, I., Baglio, F., Massaro, D., Alberoni, M., Nemni, R., Shamay-Tsoory, S., & Marchetti, A. (2018). Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Parkinson's Disease: Preliminary Evidence from the Italian Version of the Yoni Task. Developmental neuropsychology, 43(8), 764–780.
Rossetto, F., Isernia, S., Smecca, G., Rovaris, M., & Baglio, F. (2024). Time efficiency in mental state reasoning of people with multiple sclerosis: The double-sided affective and cognitive Theory of Mind disturbances. The Clinical neuropsychologist, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2024.2446026 https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2018.15
Isernia, S., Rossetto, F., Blasi, V., Massaro, D., Castelli, I., Ricci, C., ... & Baglio, F. (2022). Measuring cognitive and affective theory of mind with the Italian Yoni task: normative data and short versions. Current Psychology, 42(27), 23519-23530. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03457-5
Isernia S, Rossetto F, Shamay-Tsoory S, Marchetti A and Baglio F (2023) Standardization and normative data of the 48-item Yoni short version for the assessment of theory of mind in typical and atypical conditions.Front. Aging Neurosci. 14:1048599. Doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.1048599.
Isernia, S., Rossetto, F., Marchetti, A., & Baglio, F. (2024). The 36-Item Yoni Task: Normative Data for the Clinical Assessment of Theory of Mind. Journal of clinical medicine, 13(21), 6334. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13216334.
Isernia, S., Cacciatore, D. M., Rossetto, F., Ricci, C., & Baglio, F. (2024). Reliability and minimal detectable change of the Yoni task for the theory of mind assessment. Frontiers in psychology, 15, 1412560. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1412560
Thoughts in mind project
The training course called “Thoughts in Mind Project” or more recently “The Resilience Programme” was created by Prof. Poul Lundgaard Bak (Aarhus University, Denmark) with the aim of implementing the mentalization skills of adults who are part of an educational context, primarily teachers, in order to create a so-called “mentalizing context”.
The term mentalization refers to the ability to “Keep in mind the mind” of others during moments of interaction and communication, that is, always remembering that in these moments both one’s own point of view, thoughts and emotions are involved, as well as those of others: only in this way is it possible to start adequate and effective communications, but above all to build positive and supportive relationships.
The idea of Prof. Bak is twofold: on the one hand, he believes that training adults' mentalization skills contributes to building a community in which children learn this skill almost automatically (if everyone believes it is important to keep each other's minds at bay, children will also learn to do so), on the other hand, according to the author, training one's own mentalization means being able to use it to deal with difficult or particularly stressful moments, thus becoming more resilient.
The pages made available on this site are the translation of the contents of the original website (available in Danish and English) and are the result of the collaboration between the Research Unit on the Theory of Mind and Prof. Bak: they contain theoretical food for thought, real "training for the mind", stories and tales that can be used both in adult education and adapted to be applied directly with children in educational contexts.
Download the Italian version of the tool, the translation is by Edoardo Bracaglia and Valentina Cornetti.
Research field
Attribution of Mental States (AMS)
The AMS stimulates children's mental representation of the states of the other in a way that is comparable between different entities [...]. The construction of the content of the questionnaire is inspired by the theoretical model of Slaughter and colleagues (Slaughter, Peterson and Carpenter, 2009) on the categorization of the child's mental verbs deriving from the communicative exchanges between mother and child. This classification divides the mental verbs into 4 categories: perceptive, volitional, cognitive and dispositional. For the creation of the AMS questionnaire, a further category relating to imaginative verbs was added [...]. The AMS therefore consists of 5 dimensions: perceptive, emotional, desires and intentionality, imagination, epistemic.
(Description from: Cinzia Di Dio, Federico Manzi, Giulia Peretti, Angelo Cangelosi, Paul L. Harris, Davide Massaro, Antonella Marchetti, How children think about the robot's mind. The role of attachment and Theory of Mind in attributing mental states to a robotic agent, in "Intelligent Systems, Quarterly Journal of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence" 1/2020, pp. 41-56, doi: 10.1422/96279).
