RESEARCH ARTICLE Theory of Mind and Emotional Functioning in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: An Investigation of the Relationship between Social Cognition and Executive Function

Background Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome primarily characterised by chronic, widespread musculo-skeletal pain. In the aetiology of this syndrome a crucial role is played by complex interac-tions among biological, genetic, psychological, and socio-cultural factors. Recently, researchers have started to explore emotional functioning in FM, with their attention focused on alexithymia, a personality construct that affects the regulation of a person’s own emo-tions. On the other hand, the detection and experience of emotional signals from other peo-ple have only been sparsely investigated in FM syndrome and no studies have investigated the ability to represent other people’s mental states (i.e. Theory of Mind, ToM) in these pa-tients. Here we present the first study investigating a large set of social-cognitive abilities, and the possible relationships between these abilities and the performance on executive-function tasks, in a homogenous sample of patients with FM. Methodology Forty women with FM and forty-one healthy women matched for education and age were in