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This study explores the longitudinal association between Theory of Mind (ToM) and reading comprehension (RC) in middle childhood, focusing on three advanced ToM (AToM) components: social reasoning, reasoning about ambiguity and recognition of social norm transgressions. Over the course of a year, 112 nine-year-olds (61 girls, 51 boys; M age  = 9; 0 years, ±4 months at wave 1) were followed from Grade 3 to Grade 4 and assessed for AToM predictors of Grade-4 RC. Findings show that only social reasoning predicts RC, independent of general intelligence and prior RC performance. In turn, RC did not predict any AToM component. These findings contribute to understanding cognitive development in educational contexts, emphasizing the significance of AToM, particularly social reasoning, in RC., (© 2024 The Author(s). British Journal of Developmental Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

This study examined the link between classroom ethnic diversity, cross-ethnic friendships, and children's theory of mind. In total, 730 children in the United Kingdom (54.7% girls, 51.5% White) aged 8 to 13 years completed measures of theory of mind in 2019/2020. Controlling for verbal ability, executive function, peer social preference, and teacher-reported demographic characteristics, greater classroom ethnic diversity provided opportunities for cross-ethnic friendships, and children with cross-ethnic friendships performed better than peers without cross-ethnic friendships on theory of mind. These results extend accounts of intergroup contact by using direct assessments of children's theory of mind and advance social accounts of theory of mind by demonstrating how experiences outside the family are linked with theory of mind., (© 2024 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.)

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).

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer one's own and others' mental states. Growing research indicates that ToM is impaired in Chronic Migraine with Medication Overuse (CM + MO). However, the research in this field has been conducted using static scenario-based tasks, often failing to test mentalization in everyday situations and measuring only performance accuracy. We filled this gap by administering the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) to subjects with CM + MO compared to episodic migraine (EM). This test allows us to assess both affective and cognitive ToM and which, in addition to being accurate, also analyzes the type of error in attribution of mental states, distinguishing between hypo-mentalization and hyper-mentalization. Thirty patients suffering from CM + MO and 42 from EM were enrolled. Results showed that CM + MO patients were less accurate in mental state attribution than EM. In addition, compared to EM, CM + MO individuals were more impaired in the affective ToM dimensions and committed more errors of hypo-mentalization. In conclusion, the application of MASC in patients with CM + MO allowed for the detection of an alteration in their ability to correctly draw conclusions about other people's mental states. This latter contributes critically to appropriate social reactions and also, possibly, to satisfactory social interactions., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Theoretical pragmatics in the post-Gricean tradition argued that metaphor requires understanding of how another person sees the world. Yet, it is unclear what role mindreading plays in developing metaphor skills. Here we examined the relationship between metaphor and Theory of Mind (ToM) in middle childhood by using two different tasks. In addition to the Physical and Mental Metaphors task (PMM), based on the verbal explanation of physical and mental metaphors, we revived the Referential Metaphors task for children (Noveck, Bianco, & Castry, 2001), where metaphorical and literal referents are presented in a narrative context. The sample included 169 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old children, assessed also for ToM (via the Strange Stories) and other linguistic and cognitive skills as control variables. In the PMM, ToM supported the understanding of mental (but not physical) metaphors in 9-year-olds only, whereas in the Referential Metaphors task ToM supported accuracy of understanding metaphors (but not literal items) in younger children as well. At age 10, ToM effects were negligible in both tasks. These findings suggest that ToM has a task-specific role in metaphor, linked to the characteristics of the items in the task at stake, being for instance greater for metaphors with mental (compared to physical) content and for non-literal (compared to literal) referents. The findings also suggest that the relationship between ToM and metaphor skills is developmental sensitive, as children start to capitalize on ToM earlier in development when the metaphor context is richer, and these effects fade with age. Theoretically, these data argue in favor of the relevance-theoretic account of metaphor, spelling out different ways in which ToM might support metaphor resolution across tasks, for instance by providing better access to the psychological lexicon (i.e., terms referring to mental states) and better context processing, serving as a springboard to achieve sophisticated pragmatic skills in middle childhood., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although long-term memory and Theory of Mind (ToM) are closely related across the whole lifespan, little is known about the relationship between ToM and semantic memory. Clinical studies have documented the co-occurrence of ToM impairments and semantic memory abnormalities in individuals with autism or semantic dementia. However, to date, no study has directly investigated the existence of a relationship between ToM and semantic memory in the typical population. We addressed this gap on a sample of 103 healthy adults ( M age = 22.96 years; age range = 19-35 years). Participants completed a classical false memory task tapping on semantic processes, the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task, and two ToM tasks, the Triangles and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. They also completed the vocabulary scale from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Results showed that participants' semantic performance in the DRM task was significantly related to that in the Triangles task. Specifically, the higher participants' ToM in the Triangles task, the higher participants' reliance on semantic memory while making false memories in the DRM task. Our findings are consistent with the Fuzzy Trace Theory and the Weak Central Coherence account and suggest that a (partially) common cognitive process responsible for global versus detailed-focus information processing could underlie these two abilities.

Narcolepsy type 1 is a central disorder of hypersomnolence characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, rapid eye movement sleep-related manifestations, and cataplexy. In the current literature there is general agreement regarding neural correlates of Narcolepsy type 1 that appear to be related to anatomical and functional abnormalities in the hypothalamic region. In the last two decades, researchers shed light on the neurological bases of cataplexy by focusing on the neurobiological correlates of emotions. Although the results of these studies differ, they all point to an impairment in the amygdala and hypothalamus functions that are known to be involved in emotional processing, suggesting an impairment in this domain in narcoleptic patients. Indeed, despite heterogeneous results, several studies showed that narcoleptic patients differed from healthy controls in processing emotional stimuli. From a behavioral point of view, these findings suggest that alterations in emotional processing may be driven, at least in part, by compensatory strategies to avoid or reduce the frequency of cataplexy attacks. Surprisingly, the only study exploring in NT1 the behavioural performances in emotional facial recognition found no differences between NT1 adults and controls. We hypothesize that narcoleptic patients may present an alteration in a more complex socio-cognitive ability that is related to emotional processing, namely Theory of Mind. This review aims to investigate the literature supporting this hypothesis and to propose possible future developments on this topic., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Whether Theory of Mind (ToM) contributes to metaphor understanding has been largely investigated in language acquisition and decay. Yet we know very little about the role of ToM in real-time processing of metaphors in neurotypical adults. Here, we tested the relationship between ToM and metaphor through Event Related Potentials (ERPs) by capitalizing on the difference between metaphors inviting inferences on physical (Boxers are pandas) vs. mental aspects (Teachers are books). Physical metaphors involved a larger and sustained negativity compared to mental ones. This pattern resembled concreteness effects and suggests that physical metaphors may benefit from both verbal and perceptual information. Moreover, higher scores in the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), but not in the Animation task, were associated with a reduction of the N400 amplitude for both physical and mental metaphors. When exploring the ERP temporal trajectory with Generalized Additive Mixed Modeling, earlier differences between metaphors characterized individuals with higher RMET scores. Among the various ToM components, thus, emotion recognition seems to be involved in the processing of metaphors in general, with an earlier impact on the mental type. These findings highlight the multifaceted nature of metaphor, at the crossroad of language, social and perceptual experience., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Research in nursing homes mainly focused on interventions for residents affected by cognitive decline. Few studies have considered healthy older adults living in nursing homes, and this research targeted cognitive functioning., Aims: To evaluate whether socio-cognitive abilities can be improved by means of a theory of mind (ToM) training conducted by nursing home's operators., Methods: RESULTS: Results revealed that older adults benefitted from the ToM intervention in both practiced and non-practiced tasks, while the control group showed no change from pre- to post-test evaluation. Analyses on errors scores indicated that the ToM intervention led to a reduction of both excessive mentalizing and absence of mental states inference., Discussion: The conversation-based ToM intervention proved to be effective in improving socio-cognitive skills in cognitively healthy nursing home residents. Notably, older adults were able to transfer the skills acquired during the training to new material., Conclusions: Promoting healthy resident's ToM ability could positively impact on their social cognition, consequently increasing their quality of life. Our findings showed that the intervention can be feasibly managed by health care assistants within the residential context., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objectives: Older adults tend to exhibit more prosocial behavior than younger adults. However, little research has focused on understanding the factors that may explain such differences in the social decision-making process. The first aim was to examine if, and to what degree, the content of social information about a recipient has an impact on young vs. older adults' prosocial behavior. The second aim was to understand if empathic concern, Theory of Mind, and reasoning explain the (expected) age differences in prosociality., Design: Cross-sectional study., Setting: The study was conducted in northern Italy in a laboratory setting., Participants: Forty-eight younger adults (Mage = 23.29; SD = 2.20) and 48 older adults (Mage = 70.19; SD = 5.13)., Measurements: Prosocial behavior was measured using the Dictator Game in which participants split a sum of money with recipients presented with four levels of description: no information, physical description, positive psychological description, and negative psychological description. In addition, participants performed tasks on emphatic concern, Theory of Mind, and reasoning., Results: Results showed that older adults are more prosocial than younger adults in the Dictator Game. This finding was evident when the recipient was described with positive psychological and physical features. This pattern of results was statistically explained by the reduction in reasoning ability., Conclusion: These findings suggest a relationship between age-related reduction in reasoning ability and older adults' prosocial behavior. The theoretical and practical implication of the empirical findings are discussed.

Objectives: Previous research has shown a decline in Theory of mind (ToM) associated with normal aging. However, very few studies have investigated older people's ToM using an ecological approach. The present study was designed to fill this gap and examine older people's frequency of mental state talk (MST) in describing their best friend, together with their performance on a traditional ToM task. In addition, the study examined the association between these two ToM indices and relationships with friends and family members. Method: Seventy-two healthy older adults (age range 60-79) participated in the study. We measured ToM ability with a classic measure, the Faux Pas task, and selected the Describe-a-friend task to measure MST frequency; social relationships were investigated with the Lubben Social Network Scale. Correlation and regression analyses were performed. Results: No significant association between MST and scores on the Faux Pas task emerged. In addition, MST (but not Faux Pas scores) significantly predicted friendships (but not family relationships) over and above general cognitive functioning. Conclusion: These findings show the crucial distinction between possessing an ability and using it in daily life and suggest the need to move toward more ecological measures of older adults' abilities. In addition, the present results indicate that the spontaneous use of ToM ability, not the ability per se, impacts on older adults' social relationships.

Growing evidence indicates that Theory of Mind (ToM) declines in normal aging. However, the majority of this research has used classic and static verbal tasks that present scenarios, which are very different from real life. The present study was designed to fill this gap by administering the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) to young and older participants. It allows one to analyze not only the accuracy, but also the typology of error in mental states attribution distinguishing between iper-ToM (over-mentalization), ipo-ToM (insufficient mentalization), and no-ToM (lack of mentalization). We recruited 30 young (20-29 years), 39 young-old (65-74 years), and 31 old-old (75-86 years) participants. Along with the MASC, we administered a classic ToM task, the Strange Stories, and several measures of cognitive functioning. Results showed that older adults were less accurate in mental state attribution than young adults in the MASC, but not in the Strange Stories. In addition, compared to young adults, older adults committed more errors of both ipo- and no-ToM, while young adults committed more often iper-ToM errors. Additionally, older adults, but not young adults, did not show a difference between iper-ToM and ipo-ToM errors, which were equally frequent in this age group. Globally, results indicated that older adults' failure in classic ToM tasks may be due to both ipo- and iper-ToM and provide needed evidence for the MASC as a suitable measure of ToM in aging.

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others in order to explain and predict social behaviour. Meta-analytic results have shown a decline in ToM abilities in healthy older adults. Recent research has also highlighted the possibility of enhancing older adults' ToM performance through group conversations focused on mental states. Our aim was to determine whether the extent to which older people benefited from a ToM training was predicted by performance on a battery of executive functioning tasks, on baselines in ToM tasks, on verbal knowledge. Forty-three older adults (60-84 years) participated in a three-session ToM training programme that has previously shown to be effective in improving ToM ability. Results showed that verbal knowledge predicted training gains in practiced ToM tasks. In addition, age, executive functions and baseline performance predicted training gains in non-practiced ToM tasks. Results are discussed in light of the amplification model.

We investigated the association between individual differences in metaphor understanding and Theory of Mind (ToM) in typically developing children. We distinguished between two types of metaphors and created a Physical and Mental Metaphors task, echoing a similar distinction for ToM. Nine-year-olds scored lower than older age-groups in ToM as well as in the interpretation of mental, but not physical, metaphors. Moreover, nine-year-olds (but not older children) who are better in ToM are also better in interpreting mental, but not physical, metaphors. This suggests that the link between metaphor and ToM is stronger when metaphorical interpretation involves mental aspects, and it is more evident in early rather than later childhood.

Objective: Recently, motivation has been found to attenuate the age-related decline in Theory of Mind (ToM) performance (i.e. faux pas recognition). However, whether or not this effect could be generalized to other ToM tasks is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether and how motivation could enhance older adults' performance and reduce age differences in ToM tasks (Faux Pas vs. Animation task) that differ in familiarity., Method: Following a previous paradigm, 171 Chinese adults (87 younger adults and 84 older adults) were recruited, and we experimentally manipulated the level of perceived closeness between participants and the experimenter before administering the ToM tasks in order to enhance participants' motivation., Results: Results showed that, for the Faux Pas task, we replicated previous findings such that older adults under the enhanced motivation conditions performed equally well as younger adults. Conversely, for the Animation task, younger adults outperformed older adults, regardless of motivation., Discussion: These results indicate that motivation can enhance older adults' performance in ToM tasks, however, this beneficial effect cannot be generalized across ToM tasks.

Studies with preschool children have shown significant links between children's executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM), but few studies have examined these associations in primary school children. To address this gap, we designed a three-wave cross-lagged longitudinal study in which we followed a group of 113 children (61 boys) across three time points from age 9.5-10.5years (mean age at Time 1=112.3months, SD=4.18; mean age at Time 2=118.3months, SD=4.15; mean age at Time 3=124.7months, SD=4.06). At each time point, we measured EF (working memory and inhibitory control), ToM, and language. Our analyses showed (a) moderate rank-order stability of individual differences in both EF and ToM and (b) growth in ToM task performance across time. Cross-lagged longitudinal analyses revealed an asymmetric developmental relation between ToM and working memory. Early working memory predicted later ToM but not vice versa. Our results suggest a specific role for working memory in the ongoing development of ToM in middle childhood., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Previous research has shown that individual differences in Theory of Mind (ToM) are crucial for people's social relationships. However, very few studies have investigated this issue in ageing. The present study was designed to fill this gap and examine the associations between ToM and social relationships in elderly adults. In doing so, this study considered people's relationships with their relatives and friends, and examined the possible moderating role of social motivation., Method: The study involved 53 healthy older adults (age: M = 67.91; SD = 6.93; range: 60--85 years). All participants were tested collectively during a 2-hr session and completed a demographic questionnaire as well as a battery of tests assessing verbal ability (vocabulary and word fluency), ToM and social relationships. They also answered a social motivation question., Results: Results showed that individual differences in older people's ToM were overall significantly associated with those in relationships with friends, but not relatives. In addition, the Hayes moderating procedure showed that individual differences in ToM were related to those in friendships only for those people who had a high or medium level of social motivation., Conclusion: These findings underline the importance of motivation in guiding the use of ToM in everyday social interactions.

Background: Translating research findings into practice should be one of the objectives of developmental psychology. Recently, research demonstrated the existence of individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood that are crucial for children's academic and social adjustment., Aims: This study aims to transfer the results of recent experimental studies on ToM interventions into primary-school teachers' practices. It examines whether a ToM training programme, based on conversations about mental states, can be effective under real-world school conditions and if it can be translated in such a way that it becomes suitable for primary-school teachers., Sample: Seventy-two 8- to 9-year-old children took part in the study. A total of four classes were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental (34 children, 18 boys) or to the control condition (38 children, 18 boys)., Methods: The ToM group and the control group were matched at pre-test for age, ToM, socio-economic background, verbal ability, working memory, and planning. Teachers were trained in four teacher-training sessions; the classroom-training programme was delivered by teachers in four sessions (each 50 min long). Children were assessed before the intervention, after the end of the programme, and 2 months later., Results: The ToM group improved ToM skills significantly more than the control group both in the short and in the long term., Conclusions: Teachers can successfully promote their pupils' ToM development during their regular teaching hours. Results are discussed in the light of the importance of ToM promotion for children's school adjustment., (© 2016 The British Psychological Society.)

Despite 30years of productive research on theory of mind (ToM), we still know relatively little about variables that influence ToM development during middle childhood. Recent experimental studies have shown that conversations about the mind affect ToM abilities, but they have not explored the mechanisms underlying this developmental effect. In the current study, we examined two potential mechanisms through which conversations about mental states are likely to influence ToM: an increased frequency of references to mental states when explaining behavior and an increased accuracy of mental-state attributions. To this aim, we conducted a training study in which 101 children were assigned to either an intervention condition or a control condition. The conversation-based intervention was made up of four sessions scheduled over 2weeks. Children completed a battery of assessments before and after the intervention as well as 2months later. The groups were equivalent at Time 1 (T1) for age, family affluence, vocabulary, and executive functions. The ToM group showed an improvement in ToM skills (as evaluated on both the practiced tasks and a transfer task). Mediation analyses demonstrated that the accuracy of mental-state attributions, but not the mere frequency of mental-state references, mediated the positive effect of conversations about the mind on ToM development. Our results indicate that conversational experience can enhance mental-state reasoning not by simply drawing children's attention to mental states but rather by scaffolding a mature understanding of social situations., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Previous research on age-related changes in Theory of Mind (ToM) showed a decline in older adults, particularly pronounced over 75 years of age. Evidence that ToM may be enhanced in healthy aging people has been demonstrated, but no study has focused on the role of age on the effects of ToM training for elderly people. The present study was designed to examine the efficacy of a ToM training on practiced (ToM Strange Stories) and transfer tasks (ToM Animations) in both young and older adults., Method: The study involved 127 older adults belonging to two age groups: young-old (Mage = 64.41; SD = 2.49; range: 60-69 years) and old-old (Mage = 75.66; SD = 4.38; range: 70-85 years), randomly assigned to either a ToM group or a control group condition. All participants took part in two 2-hour testing sessions and four 2-hour training sessions., Results: Results showed that both young-old and old-old adults in the ToM group condition improved their ability to reason on complex-mental states significantly more than participants in the control group condition. This positive effect of the training was evident on practiced and transfer ToM tasks. Crucially, age did not moderate the effect of the ToM training., Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that young-old and old-old adults equally benefit from the ToM training. Implications for the positive effect of the ToM training in old-old adults are discussed.

Objectives: Theory of Mind (ToM) is a complex human ability that allows people to make inferences on others' mental states such as beliefs, emotions and desires. Previous studies on ToM in normal aging have provided heterogeneous findings. In the present study we examined whether a mixed calculation of different aspects of ToM may have contributed to these conflicting results. We had two aims. First, we explored the age-related changes in the performance of cognitive vs. affective ToM. Second, we investigated the extent to which the effect of aging on cognitive vs. affective ToM is mediated by age-related differences in executive functions., Method: To address these issues three age groups (young, young-old, and old-old adults) were compared on cognitive and affective ToM using the faux pas test. In addition, participants were tested using a battery of executive function tasks tapping on inhibition, working memory updating, and word fluency., Results: The analyses indicated that young adults outperform both young-old and old-old adults on cognitive ToM but not on affective ToM. Correlations showed that, whereas cognitive ToM was significantly associated with age, working memory updating, and inhibition, affective ToM was not. Finally, analyses revealed that individual differences in working memory updating (but not inhibition) mediated the effect of age on cognitive ToM., Conclusion: Our findings support the view of selective age-related differences on cognitive, but not affective, ToM in normal aging. The distinction between the two ToM components is further supported by a dissociable pattern of correlations with executive functions., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The relation between preschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) and declarative metamemory (DM) was investigated in two studies. The first study focused on 4-year-old children's (N=106) cognitive and affective ToM and their DM. The data showed a significant association between cognitive (but not affective) ToM and DM, independent of verbal ability, non-verbal ability, and working memory. The second study involved 83 children tested at 4 years 6 months of age (and 6 months later) for cognitive ToM and DM. Here, results showed that early cognitive ToM, in particular false-belief understanding, predicts later DM independent of early verbal ability. These data support a view considering cognitive ToM as a precursor of children's DM., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Research on aging has shown a significant decline in ToM after 65 years of age. Despite these age-related difficulties, no study has yet investigated the possibility to improve ToM in older adults. To address this gap we tested the efficacy of a conversation-based ToM training with age-appropriate ToM tasks and its transfer effects on metamemory., Method: We examined 72 older adults (Mage=67.61 years, SD=6.39 years) assigned to three training conditions: a ToM training, a physical-conversation training and a social-contact group. All participants took part in two 2-h testing and to two 2-h training sessions., Results: Results showed that after the intervention, older adults in the ToM training group improved their mental states' understanding significantly more than participants in the physical-conversation training and in the social-contact groups. Crucially, the positive effect of the ToM intervention generalized to metamemory knowledge., Conclusions: This is the first study investigating the efficacy of a ToM training and its transfer effect on metacognition in older adults. From a theoretical point of view, it supports the relation between ToM and metamemory. Practical implications of these data are discussed., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study investigated the relation between theory of mind (ToM) and metamemory knowledge using a training methodology. Sixty-two 4- to 5-year-old children were recruited and randomly assigned to one of two training conditions: A first-order false belief (ToM) and a control condition. Intervention and control groups were equivalent at pretest for age, parents' education, verbal ability, inhibition, and ToM. Results showed that after the intervention children in the ToM group improved in their first-order false belief understanding significantly more than children in the control condition. Crucially, the positive effect of the ToM intervention was stable over 2 months and generalized to more complex ToM tasks and metamemory., (© 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

Evidence that conversations about the mind foster improvements in theory of mind (ToM) is growing, but their efficacy in typically developing school-aged children has yet to be demonstrated. To address this gap, we designed a conversation-based training program for 9- and 10-year-olds and measured its effectiveness by pre- and post-test comparisons of performance on age-appropriate ToM tasks for two groups (matched at pre-test for gender, age, socioeconomic background, verbal ability, reading comprehension, executive functions, and ToM) who were assigned to either the intervention condition (n=45) or an active control condition (n=46). The intervention group showed significantly greater gains in ToM than the control group; this contrast was stable over 2 months, and (in a subsample) the improvement in ToM was independent of any changes in executive functions. Implications for the role of conversations about the mind in children's mental state reasoning are discussed., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to humans' ability to recognize the existence of mental states, such as beliefs, emotions, and desires. The literature on ToM in aging and on the relationship between ToM and other cognitive functions, like executive functions, is not homogenous. The aim of the present study was to explore the course of ToM and to investigate the role of working memory, inhibition, and language on the possible age differences in ToM. To address these issues, we examined ToM using the Strange Stories task and executive function task in three age groups. Results showed that young adults outperform both old groups on the ToM stories. This difference remains significant also when controlling for working memory and inhibitory control. Our findings suggest a specific impairment in inferring mental states starting from 60 years of age that seems to be independent of changes in executive functions.

Children's peer relations represent a key aspect of school adjustment. However, little is known about their social-cognitive precursors. To address this gap, the authors followed 70 children across the transition to primary school. At Time 1 (age 5), Time 2 (age 6), and Time 3 (age 7), children were assessed on their theory of mind, prosocial behavior, and verbal ability. In addition, at Time 2 and at Time 3, the authors gathered peer nominations. Results supported the authors' mediational hypothesis of indirect paths from early theory of mind to subsequently lower peer rejection and higher peer acceptance, via improvements in prosocial behavior. The authors discuss implications of these longitudinal effects for the understanding of the impact of social-cognitive achievements for children's developing social relations.

This study adds to the growing research on school outcomes associated with individual differences in preschoolers' theory of mind skills by considering whether "costs" of theory of mind (e.g., sensitivity to criticism) actually help to foster children's academic achievement. A group of 60 Italian children was tested during the last year of preschool (Time 1, mean age=5years 6months) and in their first year (Time 2, mean age=6years 5months) and second year (Time 3, mean age=7years 5months) of primary school. Children's theory of mind, verbal ability, and social skills were evaluated at each time point. In addition, children's sensitivity to teacher criticism was assessed at Time 2 and teachers' ratings of children's academic achievement were gathered at Time 3. Mediation analyses showed that, independent of verbal ability and social skills, sensitivity to criticism at Time 2 mediated the association between theory of mind at Time 1 and academic achievement at Time 3. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the educational consequences of individual differences in preschoolers' theory of mind., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The relation between children's mental state knowledge and metaknowledge about reading was examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, 196 children (mean age = 9 years) were tested for verbal ability (VA), metaknowledge about reading, and mental state words in a story task. In Study 2, the results of Study 1 were extended by using a cross-lagged design and by investigating older children (N = 71, mean ages = 10 years at Time 1 and 11 years at Time 2) for mental state knowledge, metaknowledge about reading, and VA. Results showed a significant relation between early cognitive (but not emotion) mental state knowledge and later metaknowledge about reading, controlling for VA. Results suggest close links between different aspects of children's knowledge about the mind., (© 2010 The Authors. Child Development © 2010 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

Cross-cultural research on theory of mind is relatively recent and largely restricted to comparisons of children from Western versus non-Western samples; much less is known about variation within Western cultures. This study compared 5- to 6-year-olds from Britain and Italy (matched for age, verbal age, gender, and maternal education; N = 140), on tests tapping children's understanding of 1st and 2nd order false belief and mixed emotions. Overall, British children outperformed Italian children; group differences were clearest for tests of false-belief understanding. These results are discussed in relation to contrasts in family talk about mental states, schooling, language comprehension, and cultural factors in Britain and Italy.

The recent expansion of research on children's understanding of others' minds (or 'theory of mind', ToM) into middle childhood provides fresh opportunities to consider its origins and consequences. In this paper, we propose that, in addition to supporting children's social interactions, individual differences in ToM benefit academic achievement, in particular, reading comprehension and scientific reasoning. Furthermore, we argue that the school and classroom context can influence individual differences in ToM and its ongoing development in middle childhood. We suggest future directions for research to test these claims, which will provide a new perspective on the consequences of ToM and test the developmental continuity of socio-cultural accounts of mindreading.

The present study evaluated: (1) the effects of two training programs designed for promoting Theory of Mind (ToM) skills in children aged 7/8; and (2) the relations between second-order recursive thinking (II-order-RT), advanced-ToM (Adv_ToM) and metacognition. Ninety-one 7- to 8-year-old children were assigned to one of three training conditions: a II-order-RT, an Adv_ToM, and a control condition. Groups were equivalent at pretest for SES, executive functions and reading comprehension. The main effect of time was significant on II-order-RT, but not on Adv_ToM and metacognition. Children of the II-order-RT group improved their performance on over the training period II-order-RT while children of the control group did not) and they also outperformed children of the control condition at posttest. This positive effect generalized to Adv_ToM. Children of the Adv_ToM group improved over the training period their performance on both Adv_ToM and II-order-RT (while children of the control group did not); moreover, they outperformed children of the control condition at posttest on Adv_ToM, but not on II-order-RT. The benefits of both ToM training programs extended to metacognitive knowledge. Our findings throw light upon generative mechanisms of acquisition that explain the relation between II-order-RT and Adv_ToM, and between these mature ToM skills and metacognition.

Recent evidence showed that it is possible to help children's Theory of Mind (ToM) development during preschool and middle childhood. This study aimed to promote advanced mentalizing skills in children attending Year 2 of primary school through a ToM training programme based on narratives followed by multiple-choice questions and conversations about mental states. Participants were 49 children, aged between 7 and 8 years (M[subscript age] = 7.6 years; SD = 3.98 months), assigned to the experimental (27 children, 11 boys) or to the control condition (22 children, 7 boys). The two groups were matched at pretest for age, ToM, socio-economic background, reading comprehension, and executive functioning. The classroom-training programme was delivered by an experimenter in four sessions (each 50 min long). The ToM group improved ToM skills significantly more than the control group both in the practiced and in the transfer ToM task. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Jokes understanding is an important part of people's social life, especially in aging. However, little is known about older adults' humor understanding and the role of the cognitive skills underpinning social communication, mainly pragmatics and theory of mind (ToM). To fill this gap, we created the Phonological and Mental Jokes (PMJ) task, a fine-grained task distinguishing two types of jokes based on the mentalistic load. The PMJ task was administered, together with the Assessment of Pragmatic Abilities and Cognitive Substrates (APACS) test for pragmatics and the Strange Stories for ToM, to 147 older adults (age-range 60-85). Through structural equation modeling (SEM), we analyzed: i) the latent structure of the PMJ task; ii) the relationships between humor comprehension, pragmatics, and ToM, controlling for other background variables (vocabulary, education, and age). Results revealed a two-latent-factor model for the PMJ task, which separated phonological from mental jokes. Furthermore, pragmatic skills predicted humor comprehension irrespective of the type of joke, whereas the relationship between humor understanding and ToM skills was specific, being significant for mental, but not for phonological, jokes. These results suggest that humor understanding is part of the larger pragmatic competence of older adults and that it may additionally tax ToM skills when reasoning about the mental states of the joke's characters is required. These findings pave the way to a lifespan consideration of humor in social communication and add to the debate over the relationship between pragmatics and ToM, showing the different role of these abilities in humor., Author(s): Luca Bischetti [sup.1] , Irene Ceccato [sup.2] , Serena Lecce [sup.2] , Elena Cavallini [sup.2] , Valentina Bambini [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.30420.35, 0000 0001 0724 054X, Center for [...]

Reciprocity is a fundamental element in social interactions and implies an adequate response to the previous actions of our interactant. It is thus crucial to detect if a person is cooperating, deceiving, or cheating, to properly respond. However, older adults have been shown to have a lower ability to detect reciprocity compared to younger adults, partially tying this decline to cognitive functions. Another likely association to reciprocity in literature is made with personality dispositions, i.e., agreeableness, altruism, and empathic concern, and Theory of Mind (ToM). Consequently, the present study investigated age-related differences in the detection of the different components of reciprocity, as well as examined the predictors of reciprocity, such as cognitive measures, personality dispositions, and true and false beliefs in young (n = 98; 20–39 years), middle-aged (n = 106; 40–64 years), and older adults (n = 103; 65–96 years). The Mind Picture Story-Theory of Mind Questionnaire was used to measure the reciprocity components and true and false beliefs in each group. This study reported a significant decline in reciprocity detection from adults aged 65 years old and over. Additionally, the ability to detect reciprocity was significantly linked to cognitive functioning and ToM across all age groups, especially in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving together in time affects human social affiliation and cognition. However, it is unclear whether these effects hold for on-line video meetings and whether they extend to empathy (understanding or sharing others' emotions) and theory ofmind (ToM; attribution of mental states to others). 126 young adult participants met through online video in unacquainted pairs. Participants either performed 3min of synchronous arm movements paced by sounds (n = 40), asynchronous movements (n = 46) or a small talk condition (n = 40). In a subsequent empathy task, participants engaged in a conversation. A video recording of this conversation was played back, and each participant rated, at predetermined time points, how they felt and how they thought their partner felt. From this we calculated empathic accuracy (accuracy of the estimation of the other's emotions) and emotional congruence (emotion sharing). ToM was measured by showing videos of geometrical shapes interacting and asking the participants to describe what happened, measuring the amount of intentionality. We found that participants in the synchrony condition rated feeling greater closeness and similarity to their partners relative to the asynchronous condition. Further, participants in the synchrony group tended to ascribe more intentionality to the abstract shapes than participants in asynchrony condition, suggesting greater ToM. Synchrony and asynchrony groups did not reliably differ in empathic accuracy nor emotional congruence. These results suggest that moving in synchrony has effects on social affiliation measures even in online encounters. These effects extend to ToM tendencies but not empathic accuracy or emotion sharing. These results highlight the potential of synchronous movement in online encounters to affect a subset of social cognition and affiliation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the link between theory of mind (ToM) in middle childhood and teachers' propensity for mental‐state language and self‐reported conversational‐instruction strategies. Multilevel analyses on 430 Italian children (221 girls, Mage = 9.34 years, SD =.63, Range: 7.95–11.43 years) from 27 primary‐school classrooms and their teachers showed that: (i) there were striking between‐classroom differences in children's ToM; (ii) teachers' propensity for mental‐state language (β =.14) and self‐reported conversational‐instruction strategies (β =.16) were uniquely associated with pupils' ToM even when child‐related (i.e., age, verbal ability, number of siblings and SES) and teacher‐related variables (i.e., ToM, verbal ability and years of experience) were controlled; and (iii) the association between self‐reported conversational‐instruction strategies and ToM was significant in older children and smaller classrooms. These findings extend socio‐cultural accounts of ToM by showing a developmental continuity of environmental effects on children's ToM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has shown that individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood are linked with individual differences in children's peer relationships. The present longitudinal study investigated this association more deeply, exploring the potential mediating role played by children's social anxiety. We tested a group of 66 children (11.5 years old at Time 1) three times over one year after their transition to secondary school. Over and above language, SES and stability in individual differences, ToM performance shortly after starting secondary school (Time 1) predicted higher peer acceptance, as well as lower peer rejection, one year later (Time 3) via lower levels of social anxiety over time (Time 2). This study extends our knowledge about the links between social understanding and interpersonal relations in middle childhood. The results suggest that ToM may play an important role in children's adjustment when confronting new social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study herein investigated the mechanisms that may account for the relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and metamemory, adopting a dynamic approach that combined a focus on individual differences with the rigorousness of a training design. Sixty-six 4- to 5-year-old children were recruited and assigned to one of two training conditions: a ToM and a control condition. Intervention and control groups were equivalent at pretest for age, verbal ability, working memory, ToM and metamemory. Results showed that following the intervention children in the ToM group were better than those in the control group in their first-order, second-order false belief understanding, and metamemory. Crucially, improvements in first-order false belief understanding, but not in second-order false belief understanding, mediated the positive effect of the training program on metamemory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, some authors have suggested that age-related impairments in social-cognitive abilities—emotion recognition (ER) and theory of mind (ToM)—may be explained in terms of reduced motivation and effort mobilization in older adults. We examined performance on ER and ToM tasks, as well as corresponding control tasks, experimentally manipulating self-involvement. Sixty-one older adults and 57 young adults were randomly assigned to either a High or Low self-involvement condition. In the first condition, self-involvement was raised by telling participants were told that good task performance was associated with a number of positive, personally relevant social outcomes. Motivation was measured with both subjective (self-report questionnaire) and objective (systolic blood pressure reactivity—SBP-R) indices. Results showed that the self-involvement manipulation did not increase self-reported motivation, SBP-R, or task performance. Further correlation analyses focusing on individual differences in motivation did not reveal any association with performance, in either young or older adults. Notably, we found age-related decline in both ER and ToM, despite older adults having higher motivation than young adults. Overall, the present results were not consistent with previous claims that motivation affects older adults’ social-cognitive performance, opening the route to potential alternative explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidence indicates that Theory of Mind (ToM) declines in normal aging. However, the majority of this research has used classic and static verbal tasks that present scenarios, which are very different from real life. The present study was designed to fill this gap by administering the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) to young and older participants. It allows one to analyze not only the accuracy, but also the typology of error in mental states attribution distinguishing between iper-ToM (over-mentalization), ipo-ToM (insufficient mentalization), and no-ToM (lack of mentalization). We recruited 30 young (20-29 years), 39 young-old (65-74 years), and 31 old-old (75-86 years) participants. Along with the MASC, we administered a classic ToM task, the Strange Stories, and several measures of cognitive functioning. Results showed that older adults were less accurate in mental state attribution than young adults in the MASC, but not in the Strange Stories. In addition, compared to young adults, older adults committed more errors of both ipo- and no-ToM, while young adults committed more often iper-ToM errors. Additionally, older adults, but not young adults, did not show a difference between iper-ToM and ipo-ToM errors, which were equally frequent in this age group. Globally, results indicated that older adults' failure in classic ToM tasks may be due to both ipo- and iper-ToM and provide needed evidence for the MASC as a suitable measure of ToM in aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the role of working memory (WM) in theory of mind (ToM) changes that occur in middle childhood using a training design. The main aim was to investigate whether the extent to which children benefited from ToM training was predicted by their WM. Eighty-six children ( M age = 9.67 years; SD  = 7.38 months) were assigned to either a ToM (N = 46) or a control condition (N = 40). The groups were equivalent at pre-test for age, family, socioeconomic background, vocabulary, reading comprehension, WM, and ToM. Findings indicated that: i) the training promotes ToM, and ii) individual differences in WM moderated improvement in children’s ToM. These results are consistent with the emergence account, according to which WM helps the development of ToM skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent findings have highlighted the importance of children’s social understanding – specifically their reasoning about beliefs and emotions – for school achievement. However, little is known about the processes that may account for such a relationship. In this longitudinal study we examined the role of children’s social competence (as indexed by peer relationships and social skills), using a multi-informant and multi-indicator approach. We followed 73 children during the transition to primary school, gathering data at three time points: Time 1 (age 5), Time 2 (age 7) and Time 3 (age 8). Structural equation modelling showed that Time 1 social understanding predicted Time 2 social competence, which in turn predicted Time 3 school achievement, independently of verbal ability. Moreover, social competence mediated the relationship between early social understanding and later school achievement. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent studies have shown cross-cultural differences in theory of mind (ToM) between children in Western and Eastern cultures, little is known about cross-cultural differences pertaining to social correlates. The present research investigated cultural variations in the relationship between sensitivity to criticism and ToM. Japanese (n = 76) and Italian (n = 76) 6-year-olds completed a sensitivity-to-criticism task (either the teacher condition or the peer condition), second-order false-belief tasks, and a verbal ability test. The results replicated previous findings of an association between ability rating after teacher criticism and ToM in both countries. Cultural variation was found in emotional response and motivation after teacher, but nor peer, criticism. Japanese children responded to teacher criticism more positively than did Italian children. Moreover, Japanese children who failed the second-order false-belief task were more motivated after teacher criticism than were Italian children. These results are discussed in relation to differences in cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between children's theory of mind (ToM) and their beliefs about learning. A sample of 63 children was tested for theory of mind and verbal ability at four time points: 5, 6, 7 and 8 years of age. In addition, at Time 4, children were administered a questionnaire investigating their beliefs about learning. Results showed longitudinal and concurrent relationships between ToM and constructivist, but not reproductive, beliefs about learning. Crucially, false-belief understanding at age 5 predicted unique variance in constructivist beliefs about learning at age 8, when controlling for subsequent levels of ToM. This relationship was not due to verbal ability. The authors discuss theoretical and practical implications of the longitudinal effect of theory of mind ability on constructivist beliefs about learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adds to the research on theory of mind (ToM) and school achievement by testing whether the mediating effect of sensitivity to criticism is significant when considered longitudinally and using an index of academic performance that incorporates both direct and indirect measures. A group of 49 children was tested during the last year of kindergarten (Time 1, mean age = 5 years and 6 months), in Year 1 (Time 2, mean age = 6 years and 5 months) and Year 5 (Time 3, mean age = 10 years and 2 months) of primary school. Children's ToM and verbal ability were tested at each time point, sensitivity to criticism at Time 2 and school achievement at Time 3. Results showed that sensitivity to criticism (as indexed by self-reported ability rating) mediates the relationship between Time 1 ToM and Time 3 school achievement. Practical implications of this pattern of associations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Theory of mind is related to reading comprehension. • Theory of mind is not related to mathematical ability. • The relationship between ToM and reading comprehension is bi-directional. We investigated the specificity and direction of the associations between Theory of Mind (ToM) and reading comprehension (RC) via two studies. In Study 1, measures of ToM and RC were gathered alongside measures of verbal ability (VA), working memory (WM) and family affluence in 157 children (mean age = 9;7 years). Results showed that the relationship between ToM and RC remained significant when more general effects of VA, WM and family affluence were taken into account. In Study 2, a new sample of 60 children (mean age = 9;8 years at T1) was followed over a 6-month period, with children completing tests of ToM, RC and mathematical ability at both timepoints. Individual differences in ToM were unrelated to variation in mathematical ability, but showed a bidirectional developmental association with variation in RC. These results extend the knowledge on the relation between ToM and academic achievement in older children and show the existence of a specific relationship between ToM and RC in middle childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]