openIn the field of social cognition, the lack of ecological validity for the assessment procedures used in clinical practice is a recurrent obstacle. The classical static materials commonly used do not seem to accurately reflect the dynamic behavioural interchange occurring between people in the real-world, complex contexts that characterize social cognition. Consequently, researchers are now acknowledging the need for stimuli that are more dynamic, multimodal, context-embedded, and socially interactive.
On this basis, the present study aimed to design a novel assessment tool that incorporates real-life scenarios and dynamic interactions between the subject and the researcher: The Breakfast for You (B4U) Task. We particularly sought to obtain preliminary evidence from a group of healthy young participants to initiate the validation process of the task, which framed social cognition in the context of daily life activities. By incorporating innovative variables tapping into components of social cognition (emotional recognition, ToM, and perspective taking), the study successfully demonstrated the convergent validity of B4U when compared to more traditional measures of social cognition. Furthermore, we achieved divergent validity by obtaining a genuine measure of pure social cognition disentangled from broader cognitive functions. Finally, we obtained evidence for ecological validity for a specific subcomponent of the ones assessed.
Even if we lacked the appropriate statistical power to generalize our findings, the B4U task holds promise as a valid and ecologically sound assessment tool for social cognition if further implemented and refined with larger samples and extended to diverse clinical populations.In the field of social cognition, the lack of ecological validity for the assessment procedures used in clinical practice is a recurrent obstacle. The classical static materials commonly used do not seem to accurately reflect the dynamic behavioural interchange occurring between people in the real-world, complex contexts that characterize social cognition. Consequently, researchers are now acknowledging the need for stimuli that are more dynamic, multimodal, context-embedded, and socially interactive.
On this basis, the present study aimed to design a novel assessment tool that incorporates real-life scenarios and dynamic interactions between the subject and the researcher: The Breakfast for You (B4U) Task. We particularly sought to obtain preliminary evidence from a group of healthy young participants to initiate the validation process of the task, which framed social cognition in the context of daily life activities. By incorporating innovative variables tapping into components of social cognition (emotional recognition, ToM, and perspective taking), the study successfully demonstrated the convergent validity of B4U when compared to more traditional measures of social cognition. Furthermore, we achieved divergent validity by obtaining a genuine measure of pure social cognition disentangled from broader cognitive functions. Finally, we obtained evidence for ecological validity for a specific subcomponent of the ones assessed.
Even if we lacked the appropriate statistical power to generalize our findings, the B4U task holds promise as a valid and ecologically sound assessment tool for social cognition if further implemented and refined with larger samples and extended to diverse clinical populations
