Abstract

The theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to others and is extremely important for social functioning. It has been widely examined in both behavioral and neuroimaging research, usually with the use of the many versions of the false-belief (FB) task. However, there is still not enough evidence from studies on the neurodevelopmental mechanisms of ToM mostly because of methodological limitations: lack of selectivity, mismatch of experimental and control tasks, and focusing on participants older than 6 years old. In the current study, we attempted to develop a computerized tool for ToM assessment suitable for both behavioral and neuriomaging testing in preschoolers. We designed a version of the classic change-of-location task with custom visuals and three fine-tuned conditions: FB, true-belief, and no-belief (NB). The usability of the task for further application in neurodevelopmental research was tested with three methods: first, behaviorally, with the use of a touch screen on a group of 75 children, followed by a functional MRI (fMRI) study on 13 adults, and a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study on 19 preschool children. In line with our expectations, on the behavioral level, our task elicited the all-or-none performance in preschoolers. There was also a progression of performance with age in the FB condition. On the neural level, we observed the activation of structures involved in the ToM brain network in response to our task in both adults and children. The results therefore suggest that our task can be a useful tool for studying ToM development and its neural underpinnings.

Highlights

  • The theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to infer mental states such as beliefs, intentions, or desires; it is crucial for understanding the behavior of others and adapting to social situations

  • The contrast of the FB relative to the NB condition revealed activity in regions implicated in belief attribution: the posterior parts of medial and superior temporal sulcus bilaterally, precuneus, middle frontal gyrus bilaterally, left inferior frontal gyrus, as well as regions associated with visual perception and face perception: inferior occipital gyrus and right fusiform gyrus

  • The preliminary results, obtained to serve as an example, reveal that the temporal and parietal regions which show the strongest activation in the FB condition partially overlaps with those observed in the functional MRI (fMRI) study in adults

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Summary

Introduction

The theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to infer mental states such as beliefs, intentions, or desires; it is crucial for understanding the behavior of others and adapting to social situations. In the classic FB paradigm, the participant is familiarized with a scenario in which the protagonist has incomplete knowledge about the situation she/he is involved in. Passing the FBT requires understanding that the mental states guiding the protagonist’s behavior may be inconsistent with reality or conflicting with the true beliefs (TBs) held by the participant as an independent observer. The participant must give an explicit verbal answer to the question of how the protagonist will behave, i.e., ‘‘Where would Sally look for the toy?’’ (Baron-Cohen et al, 1985). The verbal version of this task is believed to engage purposeful reasoning about others’ mental states, referred to as explicit ToM

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