ToM Development Research Articles

Developing Theory of Mind in social domains: A cross‐sequential study of Chinese rural preschoolers

AbstractTheory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand others' thoughts and emotions, is crucial for social interaction. However, few longitudinal studies have explored ToM development within different social domains, particularly among rural populations. To address this gap, we conducted a study with 113 preschoolers aged 3–5 years from rural China. We assessed ToM development in different social domains using false belief tasks at three different time points with semester intervals, and we evaluated their performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and inhibitory control (IC). Results showed that ToM development trajectories differ across domains, with moral and social‐conventional domains developing earlier than the personal domain. Additionally, while general cognitive skills such as language and IC are associated with ToM development across these domains, they do not significantly predict it. This study enhances our understanding of ToM development by emphasizing the importance of including rural samples in developmental research.

O QUE SABEMOS SOBRE A MENTE DOS BEBÊS? UMA REVISÃO DA LITERATURA

ABSTRACT Theory of Mind, (ToM), designates the socio-cognitive ability that develops in human beings during the first years of life, which allows them to attribute mental states to other people through inferences regarding their beliefs, desires and intentions, and thus predict or explain the behavior of others in everyday social relations. In this sense, the objective of this research was to carry out a literature review regarding the emergence and development of ToM in babies. The search was carried out in the Science Direct, Scielo and PsycInfo databases and obtained 399 results, of which 26 articles were analyzed referring to the development of ToM before expressive language. The results suggest that babies’ mental abilities are more sophisticated than previously believed. However, the reason for this success is contradictory and has been conceptualized and interpreted in different ways by researchers.

Enhancing 3–4-year-old rural Chinese children’s theory of mind: a randomized control trial to evaluate a parent-involved school-based dialogic reading intervention programme

ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of dialogic reading intervention on improving the theory of mind of rural Chinese children. A 12-week-randomized controlled trial design with two intervention groups, i.e. school practice intervention (SPI), parent-involved intervention (PII), and one control group with traditional reading intervention (TRI) that provided data at pre-, mid-, post-test, and follow-up tests, was adopted. Seventy-five children participated in the study, with twenty-five participants in each group. Results indicated the gain scores of ToM score from pre to mid-tests and pre- to post-tests of the two intervention groups were higher than the control group. The PII group showed higher gain scores in the mid- and post-test than the SPI group. The intervention effects were well maintained in the SPI and PII groups during the two-month follow-up assessment. The findings indicated school-based dialogic reading can effectively promote ToM development and has a maintenance effect, especially when parents are engaged.

The promotion of mature theory of mind skills in educational settings: a mini-review.

After formal school entry, theory of mind development encounters a blooming period of growth intertwined with social and academic achievements and challenges. Within this framework, in last years researchers have proposed training programs to foster mature ToM skills, but also, to test causal pathways for the role that ToM development may have in broader cognitive and social outcomes. In the current mini-review we examine which training programs have been developed so far to enhance three key aspects of mature ToM skills: second-order false belief reasoning, the ability to put one's own ToM knowledge into use, and the mentalization of thoughts and emotions. We also illustrate effects of these activities on intra- and inter- personal competence. In its conclusion the paper provides considerations of both first achievements of research in this area and gaps to be addressed in future works.

Neural Correlates of Theory of Mind Development in Young Children

The development of the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others (Theory of Mind, ToM) in young children is a major research focus in Cognitive Science as well as in Neuroscience. There is evidence from a limited number of studies for similarities of adults and ToM-competent children with respect to the activation of the “mentalizing” network in the brain, but very little research has addressed the processes underlying ToM development before the age of 5 years on the neural level. This review aims to synthesize the currently available neurocognitive evidence on ToM development in young children.

Perceptual Access Reasoning: What are the alternatives?

Karen Bartsch (2021), Charlie Lewis (2021), and Beate Sodian (2021) provided thoughtful commentaries on our Society for Research in Child Development Monograph, “Perceptual Access Reasoning (PAR) in Developing a Representational Theory of Mind” (Fabricius et al., 2021). The commentators suggested alternative accounts of our empirical findings, an alternative approach to studying ToM development more generally, and alternative ways to test PAR theory specifically. Here we provide an in-depth response to the various alternatives, as well as a brief overview of the theory and a discussion of two recent alternative accounts that challenge the theory’s counter-intuitive prediction that PAR-users will fail true belief tasks.

Development and use of theory of mind in social and cultural context

AbstractTheory of mind (ToM) is a key social‐cognitive skill that allows individuals to understand and attribute mental states to others; it facilitates relationships and helps individuals navigate the social world. Thus, it is likely influenced by social and cultural contexts. In this article, we review studies that examine the potential ways through which sociocultural context interacts with the development and use of ToM in Western and non‐Western societies. First, we summarize findings documenting the link between culture and timing of ToM acquisition. Second, we examine cross‐cultural studies on how culture can be related to the sequential development of different dimensions of ToM. Third, we discuss when and how cultural group membership of the targets influences the use of ToM. Finally, we suggest avenues for research so the field can understand more comprehensively the dynamic interactions between sociocultural context and the development and use of ToM.

Theory of mind in children with cochlear implants: Comparison with age- and sex-matched children with normal hearing

Objectives/hypothesisTheory of mind (ToM) is a crucial ability for maintaining normal social interaction and is directly related to language ability. This study was performed to compare ToM between children with congenital hearing loss who have received cochlear implantation (CI) and those with normal hearing (NH). Study designCase–control study design. MethodsOne hundred children, aged 2–12 years, participated: 50 children who received CI before 36 months of age (CI group) and one-to-one age- and sex-matched children with normal hearing (NH group). All children underwent tests to examine receptive language ability and ToM. Receptive language was measured using the Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test, and ToM was measured using the Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToM-TB). The scores of the two tests were compared between the CI and NH groups. ResultsThe ToM-TB score in the CI group correlated positively with age and receptive language score. ToM-TB scores did not differ significantly between children in the CI group who achieved normal receptive language and the NH group. However, these children in the CI group scored lower than those in the NH group on some advanced ToM tasks that require the ability to understand second-order emotion, message–desire discrepancy, or second-order false belief. ConclusionsThis case–control study found that children with CI who achieve normal receptive language ability have ToM that is similar to that in children with NH. However, these children exhibited weakness in advanced ToM skills. Interventions to facilitate the development of advanced ToM are needed for children with CI.

Development of cool and hot theory of mind and cool and hot inhibitory control abilities from 3.5 to 6.5 years of age.

Attributing affectively neutral mental states such as thoughts (i.e., cool theory of mind, cool ToM) to others appears to be rooted in different processes than the ones involved in attributing affectively charged mental states such as emotions (i.e., hot ToM) to others. However, no study has investigated the developmental pattern of hot and cool ToM abilities using a similar task and the relative contribution of cool and hot inhibitory control (IC) to cool and hot ToM development. To do so, we tested 112 children aged 3.5 to 6.5 years on a cool and a hot version of a ToM task and on a cool and hot version of an IC task. We found that hot ToM abilities developed more rapidly than cool ToM. Importantly, we found that hot IC abilities mediated the relation between age and hot ToM abilities. Taken together, our results suggest that the ability to attribute emotions to others develops more rapidly than the ability to attribute thoughts and that the growing efficiency of hot ToM with age is specifically rooted in the growing efficiency of hot IC abilities.

Development of theory of mind: importance of nurturance

PurposeTheory of mind (ToM) is essential in understanding and predicting human behaviour. Parenting plays a significant role in the overall cognitive development of children. This study aims to understand the development of ToM among children in need of care and protection and then to compare the data with children living under parental care and children living in boarding schools. Further, it explores the extent of physical abuse experienced by children in the study and their relation to the development of ToM.Design/methodology/approachToM Test developed by Muris et al. (1999) was used to measure ToM. Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire was used to understand the children’s relationship with parents and experience of physical abuse. The study used an ex post facto design with a purposive sampling method.FindingsFindings suggest a significant impact of parental care on the ToM among children. Also, the type of care received mediated the relationship between parental care and the development of ToM. Finally, children living in institutions run by the Child Welfare Department reported that they have received harsher physical punishment from their parents than the other two groups of children.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are a significant theoretical contribution to the ToM development in children, especially in the Indian context.Social implicationsFindings demand more legal and psychological support to vulnerable children living in institutions run by the Child Welfare Department and boarding schools.Originality/valueThe study explores care and abuse from the child’s perspective. Findings are of value to the existing child care system in India.

Minds in action: Evidence that linguistic diversity helps children build a theory of mind

AbstractReports suggest that the development of a child's understanding of the mind (ToM) is enhanced in bilingual children. This is usually ascribed to different features of executive functioning (EF), though there is not a lot of empirical support for that position. Instead, published studies suggest an association between linguistic processes such as sociolinguistic sensitivity, metalinguistic awareness, language proficiency, and bilinguals’ ToM development. Coupled with evidence that bilinguals rely more on person-intention cues and show enhanced abilities to repair breakdowns in communication compared to monolinguals, this paper presents the argument that navigating sociolinguistic environments with agents differing in linguistic knowledge helps bilingual children develop an enhanced ToM. Additionally, this review includes relevant literature on deaf children and cultural variations and ToM, which are indicative of other situations in which contextual variants, especially those that are linguistically mediated, have an impact on the development of ToM that is independent of EF.

Theory of mind development in impoverished U.S. children and six cross-cultural comparisons

Prior literature demonstrates a reliable progression of ToM development during early childhood; however, cross-cultural studies have found a different progression of ToM development, and few studies have investigated whether this progression is generalizable to children in poverty. The current study examined ToM development in 106 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in urban, low-income preschool programs in the U.S. Children completed a 5-task ToM battery. Parents provided family demographic information. Results demonstrated that economically disadvantaged preschool children do not develop ToM capacities in the same sequence as their affluent peers. Comparisons were then made with six samples reported in previous studies; children here showed a difference in age of mastery for some, but not all, aspects of ToM, compared with affluent U.S. children, and moreover show greater similarity with low-income children worldwide. These findings add to our understanding of specific environmental influences on ToM development in early childhood.

Theory of Mind From Observation in Cognitive Models and Humans.

A major challenge for research in artificial intelligence is to develop systems that can infer the goals, beliefs, and intentions of others (i.e., systems that have theory of mind, ToM). In this research, we propose a cognitive ToM framework that uses a well-known theory of decisions from experience to construct a computational representation of ToM. Instance-based learning theory (IBLT) is used to construct a cognitive model that generates ToM from the observation of other agents' behavior. The IBL model of the observer distinguishes itself from previous models of ToM that make unreasonable assumptions about human cognition, are hand-crafted for particular settings, complex, or unable to explain a cognitive development of ToM compared to human's ToM. The IBL model learns from the observation of goal-directed agents' behavior in a gridworld navigation task, and it infers and predicts the behaviors of the agents in new gridworlds across different degrees of decision complexity in similar ways to the way human observers do. We provide evidence for the alignment of the IBL observer's predictions under various levels of decision complexity. We also advance the demonstration of the IBL predictions using a classic test of false beliefs (the Sally-Anne test), which is commonly used to test ToM in humans. We discuss our results and the potential of the IBL observer model to improve human-machine interactions.

Do educators matter? Associations between caregivers’ mentalization and preschoolers’ attachment, social emotional development and theory of mind

ABSTRACT Caregivers’ mentalization has gained importance in recent years, but most studies only include parental figures. Given empirical evidence showing the importance of educators in the development of preschoolers, this paper aims to assess how the mentalization and stress levels of parents and educational staff are related to attachment, ToM and social emotional development of children aged 3–4 years (M = 44.69 months, SD = 3.68, Gender = 53% girls) who attend preschool. A total of 146 preschoolers, their parents and 18 teachers are included in the sample. The results show higher levels of mentalization in educational staff compared to parents and positive relationship between the mentalization of both adults and ToM development in preschoolers. It was found a greater predictive weight of educational staff mentalization but this relation was mediated by family caregivers’ mentalization and its contribution loses strength in those cases where the parent shows low mentalization level.

Validation of the ToMas-child Scale for the Assessment of the Theory of Mind in a Group of Spanish Speaking Children Aged 3 to 7 Years from Spain

ABSTRACT This study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Theory of Mind assessment scale in children (ToMas-child). Two hundred and fifty-two Spanish children from 3 to 7 years were assessed in school settings. Rasch analysis showed the ToMas-child is a unidimensional scale valid for the assessment of the main components of the ToM in children. Data of hierarchical distribution of six items (seven tasks) are discussed as milestones in the latent construct of ToM development in childhood, and construct validity of the scale is examined. A reliability index of PSI = 0.7 indicated the usefulness of the scale as a screening tool.

Writing in Role: Developing Theory of Mind in the Written Language of Deaf Children.

While there is an emerging body of research investigating the associations between Theory of Mind and reading in both hearing and deaf children, little attention has been given to the connections between ToM and writing, and the potential for developing ToM through the process of writing. In a descriptive study, the authors focused on investigating the use of writing in role as a means not only of looking for evidence of ToM understandings in text, but of considering the utility of writing in role as a possible strategy for the development of ToM. The written samples of 43 deaf children (aged 7;2 years-11;11 years) were examined, and evidence of ToM was found in the writing of 81% (n = 35), with children demonstrating abilities across the spectrum of development. Implications for both research and pedagogical practice are discussed.

Children's theory of mind development: Cultural perspectives

We focus our review on the cross-cultural studies on the development of theory of mind. We present evidence that the acquisition and development of theory of mind is cultural-universal as well as cultural-specific. Although children from different cultural backgrounds pass false belief task at about 4 years old, they show significant difference in timing and sequence in understanding of different mental states. To explore influential factors in the development of children’s theory of mind, more researchers begin to focus on the effect of macroscopic cultural backgrounds. This paper review the cultural differences between East and West in parent-child talk, parental rearing pattern, pedagogical experience and development of executive function, and their relations with children’s theory of mind to understand cultural specificity of Eastern children’s theory of mind acquisition and development. In family parenting practices, Western parents talk more about mental-state terms, and tend to adopt authoritative parenting style. In contrast, Eastern parents refer more actions and its consequences in parent-child talking, and tend to adopt authoritarian parenting style. Mental-state talking can promote children’s attention and cognition to mental state of themselves and others, and thus directly facilitate theory of mind development of Western children. Action-consequence talking, which needs children to infer themselves or others’ mental state, could indirectly facilitate Eastern children’s mental-state understanding. Comparing with authoritarian parents, authoritative parents encourage their children more to question, discuss and argue, which offer more opportunities for Western children to be exposed to mental-state terms, thus promote theory of mind development of Western children. In contrast, authoritarian parenting style chosen by Eastern parents has negative effects on the development of their children’s mental understanding. As for pedagogical experience, Western schools adopt inquiry-teaching model, which characterized by encouraging students to express their views and cooperative learning that facilitated Eastern children’s mental understanding. On the contrary, eastern schools adopt traditional teaching model, which characterized by behavior control and unconditional rule-following that impede the theory of mind development of the Eastern children. Executive function of Oriental children is significantly better than that of the Western peers, but this advantage has not been transformed into the of the theory of mind development. We hypothesize that the combination of executive function and social experience about mental understanding together promote the development of theory of mind. In conclusion, we hold the opinion that “every road leads to Rome”, the Eastern and Western children’s theory of mind may have undergone different development paths. This article, based on the existing literature, presented a cultural model of children’s theory of mind development. Furthermore, some issues arising from this review that we hope will be addressed in future studies. Firstly, there are needs to explore the cross-cultural differences of theory of mind from the developmental perspective. Secondly, we should conduct cross-cultural study to explore the path and effect size of these influential factors of theory of mind. Thirdly, what the impact of cultural exchanges has on the development of children’s theory of mind is an issue that is worth studying. Fourthly, there are needs to explore the indirect effects of social changes on children’s ToM development.

Development of the social brain from age three to twelve years

Human adults recruit distinct networks of brain regions to think about the bodies and minds of others. This study characterizes the development of these networks, and tests for relationships between neural development and behavioral changes in reasoning about others’ minds (‘theory of mind’, ToM). A large sample of children (n = 122, 3–12 years), and adults (n = 33), watched a short movie while undergoing fMRI. The movie highlights the characters’ bodily sensations (often pain) and mental states (beliefs, desires, emotions), and is a feasible experiment for young children. Here we report three main findings: (1) ToM and pain networks are functionally distinct by age 3 years, (2) functional specialization increases throughout childhood, and (3) functional maturity of each network is related to increasingly anti-correlated responses between the networks. Furthermore, the most studied milestone in ToM development, passing explicit false-belief tasks, does not correspond to discontinuities in the development of the social brain.

How are parental reactions to children’s emotions linked with Theory of Mind in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

BackgroundBased on the model of ‘Parental Socialization of Emotions’ (Eisenberg, Cumberland, & Spinrad, 1998), these studies examined the profiles of parental reactions to their children’s emotions and the relation between these reactions and their ASD children’s ToM abilities. They could help identify protective versus risk factors in their ToM development. MethodThe participants in Study 1 included 29 mothers and 29 fathers of ASD children (26 boys and 3 girls). In Study 2, 39 mothers and 31 fathers and their ASD children participated. In both studies, mothers and fathers independently completed a questionnaire about their reactions to their children’s emotions. In Study 2 only, children’s ToM abilities were assessed by means of direct measures and a questionnaire completed by parents. ResultsThe results indicated that mothers displayed more encouragement and less minimizing responses to their ASD children’s negative emotions than fathers. For both maternal and paternal model analysed by stepwise regressions, the results highlighted specific links between each parent’s reactions and children’s ToM abilities that varied according to mental states. These findings suggested that parental reactions which help the children to understand how they can solve problems are protective factors, while parental reactions which deprive children of an opportunity to explore their feelings are risk factors. ConclusionThese studies provide new information about how parental reactions to children’s emotions could socialise ASD children’s ToM abilities better; this could be useful for adapting parental support programmes.

Sex differences in the neural basis of theory of mind during development

IntroductionTheory of mind (ToM) is the ability to predict behaviors of others in terms of their underlying mental states. It is carried out in order to make sense of and predict behavior. Impairments in ToM have been found in many psychiatric/neurological disorders including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. Previous research has indicated sex difference in ToM development. Previous research has also found some differences in the neural basis of ToM.Objectives/aimsAn objective/aim of the present study was to examine possible sex differences in the neural mechanism associated with ToM development. Another objective was to examine the neural basis of ToM that is shared by both sexes throughout development.MethodsThirty-two adults (16 women) and 24 children (12 girls) were assessed with fMRI while performing a false belief (FB) task.ResultsDuring the ToM relative to non-ToM condition, adults and children of both sexes showed increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Both boys and girls recruited more brain regions than adults. Moreover, children employed structures involved in the human mirror neuron system (hMNS) more than adults. More specifically, boys recruited the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) more than men, while girls recruited the precentral gyrus more than women.ConclusionsThese results suggest that boys/men and girls/women employ different brain regions for ToM during development.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.