Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

Psychology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Yingying Yang

Committee Member

Laura Lakusta

Committee Member

Erin Kang

Committee Member

Edward Merrill

Abstract

Delays and impairments in social functioning are common in Down syndrome (DS), creating significant challenges for these individuals as they navigate social environments and relationships. Two fundamental components of social cognition and functioning are Theory of Mind (ToM), comprised of cognitive and affective ToM, and emotion recognition. While previous research has documented broad deficits within ToM and emotion recognition in DS, the current body of work does not provide a comprehensive account of how these two abilities develop, interrelate, or influence social functioning in this population. The current study investigated ToM and emotion recognition in a sample of 24 participants with DS, aged 10 to 25, and a comparison group of 35 typically developing (TD) participants. Participants completed four tasks examining ToM, using the NEPSY-II ToM subtest and Yoni task, and emotion recognition, through an emotion identification and emotion matching task. Findings revealed overall deficits in ToM and emotion recognition within DS participants with group differences indicating lower DS performance compared to TD performance across measures of ToM and emotion recognition. Developmental trajectories analyses were then conducted to examine how the development of these abilities differ between individuals with DS and TD children. Results showed delayed development models for individuals with DS: while their development follows a trajectory slope similar to that of TD peers, both emotion recognition and ToM present with delayed onset in individuals with DS. Social skills were examined in relation to ToM and emotion recognition, with ToM and emotion matching emerging as key predictors of everyday social functioning in DS. Future social skill-based interventions for this population should prioritize enhancing emotion recognition (i.e., emotion matching) and ToM abilities.

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