摘要目的 考察老年人使用心理理论的能力,并探讨抑制控制对老年人心理理论使用的影响.方法 选择30名65～74岁老人、30名75岁及以上老人、30名青年人为被试,分别采用指示性交流任务和Hayling Test测评被试使用心理理论的能力和抑制控制能力,并采用相关分析和回归分析,探讨二者的关系.结果 75岁及以上老人在指示性交流任务中的正确率(0.43±0.32)显著低于青年人(0.77±0.25,P＜0.01)及65～74岁老人(0.69±0.24,P＜0.01).偏相关分析显示,Hayling Test-B错误数与指示性交流任务的正确率呈负相关(r=-0.442,P＜0.01);分层回归显示,在控制年龄变量后,Hayling Test-B错误数能独立解释心理理论能力使用的16.8%(β=-0.451,P＜0.01,△R2=0.168,△F=19.359,P＜0.01).结论 年龄较长的老年人使用心理理论的能力出现下降,抑制控制能力下降是老年人心理理论使用能力下降的部分原因.

abstractsObjective To investigate the ability of theory of mind use in elders,and determine the role of inhibitory control in the use of theory of mind. Methods The participants included 30 young-old people ,30 oldold people and 30 young people. Their ability of theory of mind use and inhibitory control were examined with The Referential Communication Task and Hayling Sentence Completion Test,respectively. Results The correct rate of referential communication task was significantly lower in old-old people (0.43 ± 0.32) than those of young-old people (0.69 ±0.24, P=0. 001 ) and young people (0. 77 ±0. 25, P＜0. 001 ). Partial correlation analysis showed that the total errors in Hayling Test-B was negatively correlated with the correct rate of Referential Communication Task ( r= -0.442, P＜0.001 ). Hiberarchy regression analysis showed that the total errors in Hayling Test-B entered the equation ( β = -0.451, P＜0. 001 ) and could independently explained 16.8% of the variance (△R2 = 0. 168, △F = 19.359, P ＜ 0.001 ) after controlling for age. Conclusion Old-old people show worse performance in the use of theory of mind. The impairment of inhibitory control can partly explain the decline of theory of mind use in old-old people.