Mind what mother says: narrative input and theory of mind in typical children and those on the autism spectrum

In 2 studies mothers read wordless storybooks to their preschool-aged children; narratives were analyzed for mental state language. Children's theory-of-mind understanding (ToM) was concurrently assessed. In Study 1, children's (N=30; M age 3 years 9 months) ToM task performance was significantly correlated with mothers' explanatory, causal, and contrastive talk about cognition, but not with mothers' simple mentions of cognition. In Study 2, the same pattern was found in an older sample of typically developing children (N=24; M age 4 years 7 months), whereas for children on the autism spectrum (N=24; M age 6 years 7.5 months), ToM task performance was uniquely correlated with mothers' explanatory, causal, and contrastive talk about emotions.     

Theory of mind,attention, and executive function in kindergarten boys

The present study explored the relationship between theory of mind (ToM), attention, and executive function in 66 kindergarten boys drawn from four rural school districts. Three stories designed to test understanding of first and second order mental states were administered. Executive function and attention were assessed, respectively, by scores on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Behavior Assessment Scales for Children, Second Edition (BASC‐2). Analyses indicated that children identified by teachers as evidencing attention difficulties scored lower on false belief measures and were more likely to be identified as exhibiting behavioral difficulties associated with executive dysfunction than children identified as evidencing fewer attention difficulties. Attention and executive function were predictive of total ToM scores.     

Steps in theory-of-mind development for children with deafness or autism

Prior research demonstrates that understanding theory of mind (ToM) is seriously and similarly delayed in late-signing deaf children and children with autism. Are these children simply delayed in timing relative to typical children, or do they demonstrate different patterns of development? The current research addressed this question by testing 145 children (ranging from 3 to 13 years) with deafness, autism, or typical development using a ToM scale. Results indicate that all groups followed the same sequence of steps, up to a point, but that children with autism showed an importantly different sequence of understandings (in the later steps of the progression) relative to all other groups.     

Acquisition of the concept of teaching and its relationship with theory of mind in French 3- to 6-year olds

Little is known about how and when preschoolers master the concept of teaching, particularly in relation to the acquisition of theory of mind (ToM). We investigated the relationship between the two in children aged 3-6 years old. One hundred and seventeen French preschool pupils answered questions about different teaching situations illustrated in ten stories involving knowledge differences and/or false belief. Four change-of-location ToM stories were also administered. Our results indicate a developmental progression from understanding teaching situations to grasping the notion of knowledge gaps. Moreover, they confirm that ToM seems to be involved in understanding more complex teaching situations.     

Signposts to development: theory of mind in deaf children

Possession of a "theory of mind" (ToM)--as demonstrated by an understanding of the false beliefs of others--is fundamental in children's cognitive development. A key question for debate concerns the effect of language input on ToM. In this respect, comparisons of deaf native-signing children who are raised by deaf signing parents with deaf late-signing children who are raised by hearing parents provide a critical test. This article reports on two studies (N = 100 and N = 39) using "thought picture" measures of ToM that minimize verbal task-performance requirements. These studies demonstrated that even when factors such as syntax ability, mental age in spatial ability, and executive functioning were considered, deaf late signers still showed deficits in ToM understanding relative to deaf native signers or hearing controls. Even though the native signers were significantly younger than a sample of late signers matched for spatial mental age and scores on a test of receptive sign language ability, native signers outperformed late signers on pictorial ToM tasks. The results are discussed in terms of access to conversation and extralinguistic influences on development such as the presence of sibling relationships, and suggest that the expression of a ToM is the end result of social understanding mediated by early conversational experience.     

Seriation, Conservation, and Theory of Mind Abilities in Individuals with Autism, Individuals with Mental Retardation, and Normally Developing Children

Seriation, conservation, and theory of mind abilities were examined in individuals with autism ( N = 16), mental retardation ( N = 16), and in normally developing children ( N = 16). Seriation tasks included seriation of tubes, blocks, and flat squares. Conservation tasks included conservation of area, number, substance, quantity, and weight. Theory of mind tasks involved predicting false belief and understanding value and fact beliefs. Participants with autism performed better than participants with mental retardation on seriation, while no differences emerged between these groups on conservation and false belief. Individuals with autism performed less well than individuals with mental retardation on the value and fact belief tasks; however, when verbal ability was held as a covariant, the difference was no longer significant. Normally developing children performed better than the other two groups on all tasks. These results suggest that autism does not involve a specific impairment in theory of mind and that theory of mind deficits are not unique to autism.     

Relations between maternal input and theory of mind understanding in deaf children

This study investigates the relationship between theory of mind (ToM) skills in deaf children and input from their hearing mothers. Twenty-two hearing mothers and their deaf children (ages 4-10 years) participated in tasks designed to elicit talk about the mind. The mothers' mental state talk was compared with that of 26 mothers with hearing children (ages 4-6 years). The frequency of mothers' mental talk was correlated with deaf children's performance on ToM tasks, after controlling for effects of child language and age. Maternal sign proficiency was correlated with child language, false belief, and mothers' talk about the mind. Findings are discussed in relation to experiential accounts of ToM development and roles of maternal talk in children's social understanding.     

Preschool teachers' reference to theory of mind topics in three storybook contexts: Reading,reconstruction and telling

The study investigated preschool teachers' references to Theory of Mind (ToM) topics in three storybook contexts: reading, reconstruction, and telling. One hundred teachers introduced and discussed three picture books with groups of five children. The findings indicate that teachers used more mental-state utterances, especially cognitive mental states, during telling compared to the two other contexts, and more during reconstruction than during reading. They referred to false belief more during reconstruction and telling than during reading. The findings can assist in guiding teachers how to read and tell stories with children while integrating ToM topics.     

Theory of Mind and Language in Childhood Epilepsy

We examined theory of mind (ToM; mental state understanding) and language in children with epilepsy (EP; n = 10; mean age = 9.92, SD = 2.34) and with typical development (TD; n = 20; mean age = 10.05, SD = 2.08). The EP group demonstrated worse ToM compared to the TD group (t(28) = ?1.11, p = .28, d = .44) but differences did not persist when controlling for language. Syntactic language was correlated with ToM in the EP group (rho (10) = .79, p < .01). This study confirms language is important for ToM in a group of children with a neurological disorder and indicates that children with epilepsy are at risk for difficulties in understanding the mental states of others due to their language deficits. This may help to explain the social difficulties these children have with their peers.     

Longitudinal Theory of Mind (ToM) Development From Preschool to Adolescence With and Without ToM Delay

Longitudinal tracking of 107 three- to-thirteen-year-olds in a cross-sequential design showed a 6-step theory of mind (ToM) sequence identified by a few past cross-sectional studies validly depicted longitudinal ToM development from early to middle childhood for typically developing (TD) children and those with ToM delays owing to deafness or autism. Substantively, all groups showed ToM progress throughout middle childhood. Atypical development was more extended and began and ended at lower levels than for TD children. Yet most children in all groups progressed over the study's mean 1.5 years. Findings help resolve theoretical debates about ToM development for children with and without delay and gain strength and weight via their applicability to three disparate groups varying in ToM timing and sequencing.     

Siblings and theory of mind in deaf native signing children

We report a study designed to examine the basis of "theory of mind" (ToM) reasoning in deaf children who are native signers of British Sign Language. The participants were 20 native signers (aged 4-8 years) and their siblings. The children were given a measure of the quality of sibling relations together with a referential communication test concerning physical representations of objects and people. Sibling quality as perceived by siblings predicted children's ToM scores over and above age and referential communication. We conclude that the process of ToM understanding is linked to positive sibling relations that may permit access to knowledge about the inner worlds of beliefs and other mental states.     

The mind behind the message: advancing theory-of-mind scales for typically developing children, and those with deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome

Children aged 3-12 years (n = 184) with typical development, deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome took a series of theory-of-mind (ToM) tasks to confirm and extend previous developmental scaling evidence. A new sarcasm task, in the format of H. M. Wellman and D. Liu's (2004) 5-step ToM Scale, added a statistically reliable 6th step to the scale for all diagnostic groups. A key previous finding, divergence in task sequencing for children with autism, was confirmed. Comparisons among diagnostic groups, controlling age, and language ability, showed that typical developers mastered the 6 ToM steps ahead of each of the 3 disabled groups, with implications for ToM theories. The final (sarcasm) task challenged even nondisabled 9-year-olds, demonstrating the new scale's sensitivity to post-preschool ToM growth.     

Sociocultural input facilitates children's developing understanding of extraordinary minds

Three- to 5-year-old (N = 61) religiously schooled preschoolers received theory-of-mind (ToM) tasks about the mental states of ordinary humans and agents with exceptional perceptual or mental capacities. Consistent with an anthropomorphism hypothesis, children beginning to appreciate limitations of human minds (e.g., ignorance) attributed those limits to God. Only 5-year-olds differentiated between humans' fallible minds and God's less fallible mind. Unlike secularly schooled children, religiously schooled 4-year-olds did appreciate another agent's less fallible mental abilities when instructed and reminded about those abilities. Among children who understood ordinary humans' mental fallibilities, knowledge of God predicted attributions of correct epistemic states to extraordinary agents. Results suggest that, at a certain point in ToM development, sociocultural input can facilitate an appreciation for extraordinary minds.     

Theory of mind in children with severe speech and physical impairment (SSPI): a longitudinal study

Six children with cerebral palsy and severe speech impairment took part in a two‐phase longitudinal study of development of social cognition. The children ranged in age from 5 to 7 years old at data collection time 1 and from nine to 11 years old at data collection time 2. Using a model of normal development of Theory of Mind (ToM) suggested by Gopnik and Slaughter (1991), the children were tested on a number of tasks requiring (ToM). The findings suggest that the children with speech impairment follow a normal pattern of development, but with a severe delay compared with children without disability. The results are discussed in relation to problems in early social and communicative experience for the group of children with cerebral palsy and severe speech impairment.     

Hearing mothers and oral deaf children: an atypical relational context for theory of mind

The study assessed Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in a group of oral deaf children and in their hearing mothers using a battery of ToM tasks. It also investigated the connection between mother and child in ToM performance. Participants were: 17 oral deaf children (aged 5 to 14 years) were paired by gender, age, and mental age with 17 hearing children; 17 hearing mothers of deaf children and 17 hearing mothers of hearing children. Compared to the hearing children, the deaf children faced difficulties in all ToM tests, and the hearing mothers of the deaf children were less capable than the mothers of the hearing children in all the ToM tests. Further, a specific ToM interaction model was found between the hearing mothers and the deaf children. The results confirmed ToM poor performance faced by the oral deaf children, showed the ToM level of hearing mothers of deaf children, and the ToM style of hearing mothers–deaf children dyads. Also, findings underline some educational implications related to the socio-relational origin of the ToM deficit in oral deaf children.     

Specific language impairment, theory of mind, and visual perspective taking: evidence for simulation theory and the developmental role of language

Recent research has found that the acquisition of theory of mind (ToM) is delayed in children with specific language impairment (SLI). The present study used a battery of ToM and visual perspective taking (VPT) tasks to investigate whether the delayed acquisition of ToM in children with SLI is associated with delayed VPT development. Harris' (1992, 1996) simulation theory predicts that the development of VPT will be delayed. Participants were 20 children with SLI (M=62.9 months) and 20 typically developing children (M=61.2 months) who were matched for nonverbal ability, gender, and age. The results supported Harris' theory and a role for language in ToM and VPT development.     

孤独症儿童在欺骗情境中的行为判断及意图理解

研究采用动画形式呈现欺骗故事情境(欺骗他人/欺骗自我) ,考察孤独症儿童对欺骗行为及意图的理解。结果表明,在欺骗行为判断的问题上,孤独症和匹配组儿童的表现没有差异。孤独症儿童对于欺骗他人的意图理解差于正常儿童,也不如他们自己对欺骗自我的意图理解。两组儿童在欺骗任务上的表现提示,孤独症儿童通过错误信念任务并不等于达到与正常儿童一样的心理理解水平,欺骗他人与欺骗自我的意图理解可能基于不同的机制。     

儿童同伴冲突解决策略与其心理理论发展的关系

本研究通过问卷调查与故事情景测查,对114名47.85～71.09个月的儿童在同伴冲突场景中使用的解决策略及其心理理论水平进行了研究.通过分析和对比,本研究发现使用协商、猜拳等策略的儿童心理理论水平较高,而使用控制和求助第三者策略的儿童心理理论水平较低.儿童对谦让策略的使用与其心理理论水平不相一致;无论是从同伴冲突解决策略家长问卷还是从对儿童的实际冲突解决策略测查来看,在解决冲突时,家长和儿童都倾向于选择"谦让""协商"策略;在儿童同伴冲突解决策略研究中,使用家长问卷调查的方法和通过故事场景对儿童进行实际测查的方法会得到不同的结果.     

无语言的孤独症和智力残疾儿童自发手势的发展研究

自发手势及其分类研究有助于公众更好地理解其意,从而增加相互交流的可能性。本文对20名无语言的孤独症和智力残疾儿童在语言沟通有障碍时利用自发手势进行沟通的情况进行了观察研究,研究结果表明两者在发生频率上没有区别,但在表达内容、目的性、动作姿势等方面存在一定差异。     

Individual differences in inhibitory control and children's theory of mind

This research examined the relation between individual differences in inhibitory control (IC; a central component of executive functioning) and theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in preschool-age children. Across two sessions, 3- and 4-year-old children (N = 107) were given multitask batteries measuring IC and ToM. Inhibitory control was strongly related to ToM, r = .66, p < .001. This relation remained significant controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, motor sequencing, family size, and performance on pretend-action and mental state control tasks. Inhibitory tasks requiring a novel response in the face of a conflicting prepotent response (Conflict scale) and those requiring the delay of a prepotent response (Delay scale) were significantly related to ToM. The Conflict scale, however, significantly predicted ToM performance over and above the Delay scale and control measures, whereas the Delay scale was not significant in a corresponding analysis. These findings suggest that IC may be a crucial enabling factor for ToM development, possibly affecting both the emergence and expression of mental state knowledge. The implications of the findings for a variety of executive accounts of ToM are discussed.