Whereas it is generally accepted that theory of mind and language are related constructs, the nature of the relation remains unclear. Past research has suggested that two related, but distinct, components of theory of mind are differentially related to language. The present study attempted to clarify the relation between theory of mind and…

Multidimensional theory of mind assessments should include items assessing both explicit theory of mind (theory of mind knowledge) and applied theory of mind (application of theory of mind knowledge in real-life contexts). However, the two theory of mind scores cannot be interpreted collectively to identify children having mismatched explicit and…

The present study aimed to examine whether Mandarin-speaking children on the autism spectrum showed differences in comprehending spatial demonstratives ("this" and "that", and "here" and "there"), as compared to typically developing (TD) children. Another aim of this study was to investigate the roles of…

Including robots in children's lives calls for reflection on the psychological and moral aspects of such relationships, especially with respect to children's ability to differentiate intentional from unintentional false statements, that is, lies from mistakes. This ability calls for an understanding of an interlocutor's intentions. This study…

Autism spectrum condition (ASC) is characterized by atypical attention to eyes and faces, but the onset and impact of these atypicalities remain unclear. This prospective longitudinal study examined face perception in infants who develop ASC (N = 22, female = 5, 100% White) compared with typically developing infants (N = 131, female = 65, 55.6%…

Successful social interactions are assumed to depend on theory of mind--the ability to represent others' mental states--yet most studies of the relation between theory of mind and social-interactive success rely on non-interactive tasks that do not adequately capture the "spontaneous" engagement of theory of mind, a crucial component of…

Self-conscious emotions arise from evaluating the self through the eyes of others. Given that children with autistic traits may experience difficulties with understanding others' minds, they might show less attuned self-conscious emotions. Two-to-five-year-old children's (N = 98, M[subscript age] = 48.54 months, 50% girls, 92% White)…

Our behavior is frequently influenced by those around us. However, the majority of social cognition research is conducted using socially isolated paradigms, without the presence of real people (i.e., without a "social presence"). The current study aimed to test the influence of social presence upon a measure of mentalizing behavior in…

Background: Research with children shows that theory of mind predicts reading comprehension both concurrently and longitudinally, while research with adults shows increased print-exposure relates to theory of mind understanding. However, until now whether reading and theory of mind have a mutually reinforcing relationship in which they promote one…

What happens when an observer takes an agent's visual perspective of a scene? We conducted a series of experiments designed to measure what proportion of adults take a "stimulus-centered" rather than "agent-centered" approach to a visual perspective taking task. Adults were presented with images of an agent looking at a number…

Some studies report delayed theory of mind (ToM) development in children with specific language impairment (SLI), while others do not. A ToM delay is acknowledged in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), while whether these children also display a deficit is still under debate. In the current study, we drew on a developmental trajectory…

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability understand that other people's mental states may be different from one's own. Psychometric models have shown that individual differences in ToM can largely be attributed to general intelligence ("g") (Coyle et al. 2018). Most psychometric models specify "g" as a reflective latent variable,…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is strongly associated with socio-cognitive impairments that may result in vulnerability to other mental health conditions, particularly anxiety disorders. This study examined the relationship between anxiety disorders and two key socio-cognitive impairments (cognitive empathy, affective empathy) in 60 adolescents…

Cultural comparisons suggest that an understanding of other minds may develop sooner in independent versus interdependent settings, and vice versa for inhibitory control. From a western lens, this pattern might be considered paradoxical, since there is a robust positive relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and inhibitory control in western…

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is a purported theory of mind measure and one that reliably differentiates autistic and non-autistic individuals. However, concerns have been raised about the validity of the measure, with some researchers suggesting that the multiple-choice format of the RMET makes it susceptible to the undue influence…