Theory Of Mind In Children Research Articles

Neural correlates of preschoolers' passive-viewing false belief: Insights into continuity and change and the function of right temporoparietal activity in theory of mind development.

Behavioral research demonstrates a critical transition in preschooler's mental-state understanding (i.e., theory of mind; ToM), revealed most starkly in performance on tasks about a character's false belief (e.g., about an object's location). Questions remain regarding the neural and cognitive processes differentiating children who pass versus fail behavioral false-belief tasks and the extent to which there is continuity versus change in the ToM neural network. To address these questions, we analyzed event-related spectral power in the electroencephalogram (EEG) to investigate how preschoolers' neural activity during passive viewing of false-belief scenarios related to their explicit behavioral ToM performance. We found that neural activity during passive viewing of false-belief events (6-9Hz EEG 'alpha' suppression in right temporoparietal [RTP] electrodes) strongly related to children's explicit ToM. However, children's RTP alpha suppression differed depending on their explicit behavioral ToM performance: Children who did better on a broad battery of standard ToM tasks and who passed explicit behavioral false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression when the character's belief first became false (during the 'location-change' event); whereas children who did worse on the ToM battery and who failed explicit behavioral false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression only later when they could evaluate the character's behavior in the context of prior events (during the 'active-search' event). Findings shed light on what differentiates preschoolers who pass versus fail explicit false-belief tasks and raise questions about how to interpret existing neuroscience data from ToM tasks across infancy to adulthood. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Preschool children's neural activity (EEG 6-9Hz suppression in right temporoparietal [RTP] electrodes) during passive-viewing of false-belief events was related to their explicit behavioral theory-of-mind performance. Children who did better on a theory-of-mind (ToM) battery and passed explicit false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression when the character's belief first became false. Children who performed worse on the ToM battery and failed explicit false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression later when observing the character's search behavior. Findings reveal change in preschoolers' ToM neural correlates and suggest that the presence of RTP activity does not necessarily indicate 'mature' theory of mind.

The Effects of ‘Dialogic Reading’ on the Development of Mental State Vocabulary in Children with ASD

Objectives: Children with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulties in understanding thoughts, intentions, and beliefs of others, which are related to the development of theory of mind. The purpose of this study was to facilitate the production of mental state vocabulary related to theory of mind in these children through ‘Dialogic book-reading’ intervention and to verify the intervention and generalization effects.Methods: A “PEER” strategy was conducted with children with ASD. The pattern of mental state vocabulary production was analyzed through a picture task, and generalization effects were examined using a parent-report checklist.Methods: A “PEER” strategy was conducted with children with ASD. The pattern of mental state vocabulary production was analyzed through a picture task, and generalization effects were examined using a parent-report checklist.Conclusion: This study provides evidence for the intervention and generalization effects of the interactive book reading strategy on the production of mental state vocabulary in children with ASD, highlighting the significance of using this strategy in clinical settings for training theory of mind in children with ASD.

Measuring Theory of Mind: a preliminary analysis of a novel linguistically simple and tablet-based measure for children

This study introduces a novel linguistically simple, tablet-based, behavioral Theory of Mind (ToM) measure, designed for neurotypical (NT) and autistic children aged 4–10 years. A synthesis of five comprehensive reviews of existing ToM measures revealed significant gaps in their designs; the weaknesses include a mismatch between the operational and conceptual definition of ToM, high verbal demands in most measures, materials that are minimally interesting for children, and often a lack of psychometric evaluations. These findings call into question the suitability of most of the currently available ToM measures used in children, both with and without developmental disorders, such as children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). For example, the assessment of ToM in children with ASD may require reduced reliance on complex language or social interaction that can be part of the diagnostic criteria of the condition. This newly designed ToM measure, developed in line with the “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing” of the American Educational Research Association, is linguistically simple, tablet-based, suitable for children with ASD, and is available in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. With a sample of 234 participants, including 152 NT children and 82 children with ASD between 4 and 10 years of age, the new ToM measure's psychometric properties were preliminarily evaluated. Descriptive statistics, measures of internal consistency, inter-item correlation, and validity checks were conducted in both groups. Further inspections of the measure's scale- and item-level characteristics were conducted with the help of exploratory factor analyses (EFA), and item response theory (IRT) within the NT children's group. These preliminary evaluations suggest that the newly developed ToM measure possesses good psychometric properties and is both accessible and engaging for children. Further investigation with a larger group of participants is necessary to reinforce these initial results. This will allow item- and scale-level assessments within a wider range of autistic children. For this purpose, the task will be made freely available to the scientific community.

Early relational origins of Theory of Mind: A two-study replication.

Research implies early relational factors - parental appropriate mind-mindedness (MM) and mutually responsive orientation (MRO) - as antecedents of children's Theory of Mind (ToM), yet the longitudinal path is unclear. Furthermore, little is known about the process in father-child relationships. In two studies of community families in a Midwestern state in United States, we tested a path from parental appropriate MM in infancy to parent-child MRO in toddlerhood to children's ToM at preschool age in mother- and father-child relationships, using comparable observational measures at parallel ages. In Children and Parents Study (CAPS) of children born in 2017 and 2018, we collected data at 8 months (N = 200, 96 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 175, 86 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 177, 86 girls). In Family Study (FS) of children born mostly in 2001, we collected data at 7 months (N = 102, 51 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 100, 50 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 99, 49 girls). Parental MM (verbal comments aligned with the infant's psychological state) was observed in infancy, MRO (parent and child responsiveness to each other and shared positive affect) at age 3, and ToM (false belief tasks) at age 4.5. The findings supported the proposed indirect effects of parents' MM on children's ToM, mediated by MRO, for fathers and children in both studies, and for mothers and children, in CAPS. In FS, mothers' MM predicted MRO and ToM, but there was no mediation. This investigation, testing a path from MM to MRO to ToM in both mother- and father-child relationships in two longitudinal studies, adds to the literature that has described relations among those constructs but rarely integrated those in one model.

Hot and cool executive function and theory of mind in children with and without specific learning disorders

Executive function (EF) in specific learning disorders (SLD) has been investigated using mainly cool EF tasks, whilst less is known about hot EF and theory of mind (ToM) in this population. The aim of this study was to examine group differences in hot and cool EF and ToM in school-aged children with SLD relative to typically developing peers. It also attempted to investigate whether EF measures are significant predictors of ToM in SLD and typical development. Cross-sectional data were collected from 135 school-aged children with and without SLD (8–10 years old), tested on measures of cool & hot EF and ToM. Significant group differences were observed in EFs inhibition (p= .04), working memory (p= .04) and delay of gratification (p < .001), as well as ToM mental state/emotion recognition (p = .019). Inhibition and planning contributed to 22% of the explained variance of ToM mental state/emotion recognition, but not false belief overall. Results suggest that cool EF may be a crucial predictor of ToM in children with and without SLD. Finally, stepwise logistic regression analysis identified specific hot EF and ToM measures contributing to group differentiation, specifically delay of gratification (odds ratio=.995, 95% CI [.993–.998]) and mental state/emotion recognition (odds ratio= .89, 95% CI [.796–.995]). This study contributes to our understanding of cognitive deficits and socio-cognitive impairment in children with SLD, which hold promise for informing interventions aimed at addressing these cognitive challenges.

Mothers' Mental State Talk and 3- to 5-Year-Old Children's Theory of Mind: Their Reciprocal Dynamic Impact.

The development of children's social function is influenced by the social environment, and children also play an active role in shaping and nurturing this environment. The present study investigated the potential reciprocal dynamic impact of mothers' mental state talk (MST) and the development of theory of mind (ToM) in children. Using a cross-sectional design, we explored the development of ToM in 3- to 5-year-old children using an unexpected location task, an unexpected content task, an appearance-reality task, and mothers' MST during mother-child reading. The results showed the following: (1) the mothers' MST exhibited a shift from a predilection for subjective terms (such as desires) to a preference for objective terms (such as cognitions) as their children matured; (2) the development of the children's ToM was closely related to their mothers' MST. The overall MST scores, as well as the different categories and referents used in MST, were closely associated with the children's ToM development. Notably, at the age of four, a critical period emerged where the correlation between maternal MST and ToM became significantly pronounced. These findings highlight the reciprocal nature of mother-child interactions as a two-way adaptive process.

Comparison of Executive Functions, Sensory Processing and Theory of Mind in Children from Divorced Families and Ordinary Children

Introduction: Divorce is not only an event but also a process that has short-term and long-term effects on children. Aim: The present study was conducted to compare executive functions, sensory processing and theory of mind in children from divorced families and ordinary children. Method: This is causal-comparative research. The statistical population included 180 male and female students between 9 and 12 years old in Districts 5 and 18 of Tehran in the academic year 2021-2022 selected by convenience sampling method and divided in two groups of children from divorced families and ordinary children (n=90 in each group). For data collection, Executive Function System (D-KEFS) (Delis, Kaplan, &amp; Kramer, 2001), Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999) and Theory of Mind (Hutchins et al., 2012) were used. The research data was analyzed by independent t-test and SPSS 24. Results: The results showed a significant difference in working memory (t=6.08, P&lt;0.05), mental flexibility (t=5.12, P&lt;0.05), inhibitory control (t=7.16, P&lt;0.05), sensory register (t=6.72, P&lt;0.05), sensation-seeking (t=4.65, P&lt;0.05) and sensory sensitivity (t=7.36, P&lt;0.05), and theory of mind levels including level 1 (t=7.12, P&lt;0.05), level 2 (t=7.14, P&lt;0.05), and level 3 (t=9.32, P&lt;0.05). The mean of ordinary children was higher than that of children from divorced families, but no significant difference was observed in the mean of sensory avoiding in both groups (P˃0.05). Conclusion: The status of executive functions, sensory processing and theory of mind in normal children was better than that of children from divorced families. Therefore, the use of educational programs to strengthen cognitive dimensions of the mind of children from divorced families with emphasis on executive functions, sensory processing and theory of mind can be effective on improving their cognitive performance.

Israel-Arab Muslim children's socioemotional functioning at kindergarten and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Relations with cognitive and socioemotional abilities, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Self-regulation (SR; emotion-related, and behavioral), executive function, and theory of mind (ToM) all play an important role in child socioemotional functioning (SEF). However, much remains unknown about the interplay among these abilities when facing various challenging situations. Additionally, the role of these abilities in child SEF has not yet been studied among minority children from an Eastern culture. Thus, we conducted one study with two models to examine the combined contribution of these core abilities, concurrently, to children's SEF during the transition to kindergarten, and longitudinally (about 3 years later) to children's SEF during COVID-19. Overall, 202 kindergarten children (aged 4.9-6.5 years) participated, of which 136 of them in the longitudinal follow-up (aged 8.83-10.6 years). We used behavioral tasks and teacher and maternal reports. Mothers also reported their own distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the transition to kindergarten, we found that emotion-related SR was positively related to children's SEF. We also found that emotion-related SR moderated the relation between inhibition and ToM. In the follow-up study, we found that emotion-related SR in kindergarten significantly predicted children's SEF during the COVID-19 crisis, directly and indirectly, through children's SEF in kindergarten and their maternal COVID-related distress. Moreover, emotion-related SR moderated the longitudinal association between children's ToM at kindergarten age and their SEF during the COVID-19 crisis. Our findings highlight the central role that emotion-related SR plays in children's ability to face different challenges. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of peers' theory of mind on children's own theory of mind development: A longitudinal study in middle childhood and early adolescence.

While there is considerable evidence that children's early ability to understand others' mental states, called "theory of mind," is shaped by family experiences, it remains unclear whether children's social interactions at school influence theory of mind (ToM) beyond early childhood. We tested whether the mean level ("quantity") and/or the diversity ("variety") of peers' ToM influenced children's own ToM. We also examined whether peer effects on ToM were independent of possible confounding variables (e.g., verbal ability, social isolation) and comparable across children with different initial levels of ToM and social status. Four hundred fifty-four 8-12-year-old children completed assessments of ToM and peer and friendship nominations at baseline and (for ToM only) 1 year later. The variety (but not the quantity) of peers' ToM predicted the development of children's ToM over and above control variables. The magnitude of the peer effect was comparable across different levels of children's ToM and between children indexed as socially isolated and those who were not. These findings fit with sociocultural models and highlight the importance of the school environment in the development of ToM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Social cognition in children with neurofibromatosis type 1

ABSTRACT Introduction Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic pathology that can lead to impaired social functioning that has a negative impact on patients’ quality of life. To date, although the hypothesis of impaired social cognition has been proposed as a potential explanation for these difficulties, very few studies have focused on theory of mind in children with NF1. Furthermore, other complex sociocognitive abilities have never been investigated. The aim of the present study was to assess theory of mind, moral reasoning, and social information processing in children with NF1 compared with a control group. Method We administered the Paediatric Evaluation of Emotions, Relationships and Socialization® to 38 children with NF1 aged between 8 years and 16 years 11 months (mean = 11.4, SD = 2.3) and 43 control children with comparable sociodemographic characteristics. Results Patients performed significantly worse than controls on moral reasoning and social information processing tests, but there was no significant difference on theory of mind. Conclusions These results seem to confirm the presence of social cognition difficulties in NF1 that could explain, at least in part, their social difficulties, although not all dimensions are concerned. The differences between the processes we assessed are discussed in relation to the methodologies used to measure them, and raises questions about the complementarity of traditional tools and more ecological assessments.

The longitudinal relations between mental state talk and theory of mind

BackgroundPrevious investigations of associations between children’s Theory of Mind (ToM) and parents’ use of words relating to mental states (or mental state talk; MST) have predominantly been performed using cross-sectional designs and false belief tasks as indicators of ToM.MethodsWe here report a longitudinal study of 3–5 year-olds (n = 80) investigating ToM development using the ToM scale and three different parental MST types: the absolute frequency of words, the proportions of words, and the vocabulary size.ResultsOur results revealed significant relations between all parental MST types and later child ToM. Proportions of parental MST were most often related to the children’s ToM at 4 years of age. However, the rate at which the children developed ToM from 3 to 5 years of age was associated with the other two parental MST type measures, namely, absolute frequency and vocabulary size. Additionally, our analyses revealed that parents’ use of cognitive MST words (e.g., think, or know) were most frequently associated with children’s ToM at 4 years of age compared to emotion and desire-related MST words.ConclusionsWe conclude that the parental ability to capture the thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge present in different scenarios is associated with children’s ability to understand other minds. Moreover, parents’ way of talking about the mental states of others is associated with their children’s ability to understand and further develop ToM.

BDIQA: A New Dataset for Video Question Answering to Explore Cognitive Reasoning through Theory of Mind

As a foundational component of cognitive intelligence, theory of mind (ToM) can make AI more closely resemble human thought processes, thereby enhancing their interaction and collaboration with human. In particular, it can significantly improve a model's comprehension of videos in complex scenes. However, current video question answer (VideoQA) datasets focus on studying causal reasoning within events, few of them genuinely incorporating human ToM. Consequently, there is a lack of development in ToM reasoning tasks within the area of VideoQA. This paper presents BDIQA, the first benchmark to explore the cognitive reasoning capabilities of VideoQA models in the context of ToM. BDIQA is inspired by the cognitive development of children's ToM and addresses the current deficiencies in machine ToM within datasets and tasks. Specifically, it offers tasks at two difficulty levels, assessing Belief, Desire and Intention (BDI) reasoning in both simple and complex scenarios. We conduct evaluations on several mainstream methods of VideoQA and diagnose their capabilities with zero-shot, few-shot and supervised learning. We find that the performance of pre-trained models on cognitive reasoning tasks remains unsatisfactory. To counter this challenge, we undertake thorough analysis and experimentation, ultimately presenting two guidelines to enhance cognitive reasoning derived from ablation analysis.

Autistic and Non-autistic Children's Pain Perception is Modulated by Their First-Hand Pain Sensitivity and Theory of Mind.

The current study examined whether autistic children's perception of others' pain could be modulated by their first-hand pain sensitivity and theory of mind (ToM). We measured the first-hand pain sensitivity, the rating of others' pain intensity, and the performance in the ToM tasks in 43 5- to 8-year-old autistic and 30 neurotypical children. Our results revealed hyposensitivity to first-hand pain, underestimation of others' pain intensity, as well as difficulties in the False Belief subtasks of ToM in autistic children. Furthermore, we detected an interaction between children's first-hand pain sensitivity and ToM in predicting their perception of others' pain. To be specific, for autistic and NT children with normal or hyper-sensitivity to first-hand pain, better performance on ToM predicted higher ratings for others' pain intensity; while for autistic and NT children with hyposensitivity to first-hand pain, ToM did not predict ratings for others' pain intensity. Our study contributes to the understanding of pain perception in young children and provides implications for clinical practices to improve social understanding in autistic children.

An assessment of dynamic facial emotion recognition and theory of mind in children with ADHD: An eye-tracking study.

Deficits in social cognition in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with difficulties in functioning. Since recognizing emotional facial expressions is essential for developing the perceptual components of the theory of mind (ToM), it is important to assess this relationship in children with ADHD. This study therefore compared the recognition of emotional stimuli and gaze patterns between children with ADHD and healthy children using eye-tracking with dynamic facial images. It also examined the relationship between facial emotion recognition accuracy, gaze patterns, ToM scores, and ADHD symptoms. Children with ADHD aged 8-13 (n = 47) and a control group (n = 38) completed a facial emotion recognition test, ToM tests, and the Conners' Parent Rating Scale. Participants' gaze patterns in response to dynamic facial emotion expressions were recorded using eye-tracking technology. Children with ADHD exhibited significantly lower accuracy in the recognition of the facial expressions of disgust and anger. The percentage fixation in the eye region was also significantly lower for happy, angry, sad, disgusted, and neutral emotions in the children with ADHD compared to the control group. No relationship was determined between the percentage of fixations on facial areas of interests and ADHD symptoms or ToM tests. This study provides evidence that children with ADHD experience deficits in visual attention to emotional cues. In addition, it suggests that facial emotion recognition deficits in children with ADHD represent a separate domain of social cognition that develops independently of ToM skills and core symptoms. Understanding and treating the social difficulties of individuals with ADHD may help improve their social functioning.

Association of verbal and non-verbal theory of mind abilities with non-coding variants of OXTR in youth with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing individuals: a case-control study

BackgroundThe ability to attribute mental states to others is called theory of mind (ToM) and is a substantial component of social cognition. This ability is abnormally developed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Several studies over the past decade have identified the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and its variants as promising components for explaining the molecular mechanisms underlying Theory of Mind (ToM). The main aim of this study is to examine the association between rs2268498 and rs53576, two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and verbal and non-verbal ToM in children and adolescents with ASD and a group of typically developing youth.MethodsThe study involved 44 children and adolescents with high-functioning ASD aged 8 to 18 years old and 44 TD individuals who were matched on age and sex. In all participants, blood samples were collected and rs2268498 and rs53576 were genotyped. Happe’s Strange Stories test and the moving shapes paradigm were used to measure verbal and non-verbal ToM in all participants.ResultsThe results of permutation tests and logistic regression suggested that in TD group, rs2268498 AA carriers showed significant higher scores in variables representing verbal ToM (ToM stories and appropriateness score) whereas, in ASD group, rs53576 AA carriers exhibited significant better performance in parameters related to non-verbal ToM (ToM general rule and intentionality score). The results of hierarchical clustering in both groups support the findings by distinguishing between language-related and language-independent aspects of ToM.ConclusionsIn the present study, we examined the association between rs2268498 and rs53576 and social functioning in individuals with ASD and TD group. We found preliminary evidence that rs2268498 and rs53576 are associated with ToM related abilities in healthy individuals as well as in autistic individuals. Accordingly, rs2268498 and rs53576 may play an important role in predicting ToM capabilities. It will be necessary to conduct further research to address the association of genetic variants with a deficit in ToM in individuals with ASD.

How word meaning structure relates to executive functioning and theory of mind in children with developmental language disorder: A multiple case study.

Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have difficulties in executive functioning (EF) and theory of mind (ToM). These difficulties might be explained by the theory that children's conceptual understanding changes over five stages of word meaning structure, from concrete and context-dependent to abstract and precise. We present a multiple case study examining how word meaning structure relates to EF and ToM in children with DLD. Participants were five children with DLD aged 9-12 and five typically developing children matched for age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence. Word meaning structure was assessed using new dynamic test. EF was assessed using the Zoo Map Task and Behavioral Rating Inventory for EF. ToM was assessed using the ToM test, Frith-Happé Animations, and Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist. Anamnestic interviews with the parents were conducted to describe the case histories. For the children with DLD, lower scores in the word meaning structure task were observed compared to those observed for their matched peers, with no statistical test applied. Word meaning structure related positively to EF and ToM, but not to behavioral problems. Instances in which word meaning structure dissociates from EF and ToM are discussed in individual case descriptions. By linking language to conceptual development, variations in word meaning structure may explain some EF and ToM difficulties in children with DLD. The present study offers a basis for future research on the relationships among word meaning structure, EF, and ToM.

Theory of mind in children with developmental language disorder: Developmental tendencies

Theory of mind in children with developmental language disorder: Developmental tendencies

21 Nonverbal Assessment of Theory of Mind in Children with Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Peers: An Examination of Group Differences and Associations with Structural Language Skills

Objective:Children with Down syndrome (DS) show marked differences in their early development when compared to typically developing (TD) peers. Major domains of challenge include intellectual abilities, executive functioning, and structural language. Children with DS have a unique profile of strengths and weaknesses that must be considered when comparing them to TD children, especially in terms of Theory of Mind (ToM). ToM encompasses the developmental milestones reached early in childhood when children develop the ability to conceptualize and understand others' thoughts, emotions, perspectives, and intentions. In TD children, these abilities typically begin to mature around 4-6 years of age, while in children with DS, delays are observed relative to chronological age expectations. Evidence shows that children with DS have impaired ToM abilities; however, these deficits might be more related to underlying delays in structural language, rather than a fundamental misunderstanding of social cues. The present study seeks to fill gaps in the literature by using a nonverbal assessment (The Penny Hiding Game; PHG) to evaluate a) ToM abilities in children with DS relative to younger TD peers of a similar mental ability level and b) relationships between ToM performance and structural language skills.Participants and Methods:25 children with DS (60% F, M=11.39 years) and 25 TD children (40% F, M = 5.37, range = 3 to 7) participated. Participants' structural language abilities were briefly assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test- III Listening Comprehension Test (Oral Discourse Comprehension subcomponent). ToM was assessed using the PHG.Results:Univariate analysis of covariance was used to explore differences in ToM performance between groups while controlling for mental ability level. Children with DS (M= 2.79, SD= 2.23) performed significantly worse than TD peers (M= 4.28, SD= 1.87) on the ToM task (F(1, 60)= 4.5, p= .038). Linear regression was used to assess associations between ToM and structural language abilities. When both groups were lumped together, there was a modest association between ToM and Listening Comprehension scores (R2 = .12, F (1, 55) = 7.29, p= .009). However, when groups were considered separately, significant associations were not observed (p&gt;.1).Conclusions:The DS group showed markedly diminished ToM performance compared to TD controls, as expected based on the literature. However, data did not suggest a clear association between ToM and structural language skills. While an association was observed when groups were lumped, this relationship was likely driven by group differences in both ToM and structural language skills. Future research should examine the relationship between ToM performance, different aspects of language functioning, and the cooccurrence of autistic traits among children with DS in order to augment our understanding of linguistic and social correlates of ToM performance in young children with DS.

Early bilingualism enhances theory of mind in children from low-income households via executive function skills

The study focuses on children in poverty and investigates whether early bilingualism enhances economically disadvantaged children’s Theory of Mind (ToM), and what role Executive Function plays in the relation between bilingualism and ToM. Sixty-eight preschool-aged children (35 English monolinguals, 51.4% boys, and 33 English-Spanish bilingual children, 57.5% boys) from low-income backgrounds completed standardized language assessments, three executive function tasks, and a five-task ToM battery. Results showed that after controlling for children’s age, income-to-needs ratio, and English proficiency, bilingual children demonstrated greater ToM competence compared to monolingual children. A higher degree of bilingualism was associated with better ToM performance in bilingual children. Mediation analyses showed that children’s working memory and attention shifting accounted for the links between bilingualism and ToM. The findings suggest that an early bilingual learning experience may facilitate preschool children’s ToM development in economically disadvantaged environments, and this relation was differentially impacted by executive function components.

Prospective associations between maternal mind-mindedness, child theory of mind, and brain morphology in school-aged children

ABSTRACT Mentalizing is defined as the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. In the context of parental behavior, parents’ tendency to comment on their child’s mental activities refers to the concept of mind-mindedness (MM). MM has been positively associated with various developmental outcomes in children, notably their own ability to mentalize, known as theory of mind (ToM). Although parental (MM) and child (ToM) mentalizing have important implications during childhood, their associations with children’s neural structures are largely unknown. Among 62 mother-child dyads, maternal MM was rated from free-play sequences when children were aged 1 year, child ToM was assessed using a first-order false-belief task at 4 years of age, and structural MRI images were acquired at 10 years of age. Maternal MM was positively associated with gray matter volumes (GMV) in the dorsal prefrontal cortex and the superior temporal pole. Child ToM abilities were positively associated with GMV in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Though cortical regions associated with MM and ToM showed no anatomical overlap, many are functionally connected through a neural network highly involved in self-referential strategies for mentalizing. These findings suggest that MM and ToM may contribute to distinct sub-processes that collectively support social cognition development.