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Theory of Mind

This shows a child, an MRI machine, and a brain.

·June 25, 2025·4 min read

Cerebellum Shapes Children’s Empathy and Theory of Mind

Understanding others’ beliefs—especially false ones—is key to human communication and begins to develop between ages three and five. In a new study, researchers observed children’s brain activity while they watched movies in an MRI scanner to investigate the neurological roots of Theory of Mind (ToM).

This shows a little girl reading a book, surrounded by cute animals.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 22, 2024·5 min read

Animal Characters in Children’s Books Boost Theory of Mind

Animal characters in children's books can significantly boost their theory of mind skills, which are essential for understanding social cues. The research showed that children exposed to animal characters performed better in theory of mind tests than those with human characters, with younger children scoring similarly to older peers.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·March 27, 2024·5 min read

Empathy Begins in Infancy

Children as young as 18 months display empathic concern towards others, marking a significant milestone in early emotional and cognitive development. The research found that children's capacity for empathic concern grows in environments where caregivers respond sensitively to their needs, highlighting the importance of social interactions in acquiring empathy.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 13, 2023·4 min read

Better ‘Mind Reading’ Skills Linked to Enhanced Cooperation

A new study reveals that individuals with stronger 'mindreading' abilities, or the capacity to understand others' feelings and intentions, are more successful in cooperative tasks. This trait, also known as 'theory of mind,' is not directly tied to intelligence and can potentially be improved through training programs.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 26, 2022·4 min read

Females on Average Perform Better Than Males on a ‘Theory of Mind’ Test Across 57 Countries

A new study of over 300,000 people that spans 57 countries reveals women are, on average, more empathetic than males. Consistent across all age groups and most nationalities, women tend to score higher on tests of cognitive empathy, or "theory of mind" than males.

This shows a boy and girl playing outdoors

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 17, 2022·5 min read

What Pretend Play Tells Us About Social Cognition

By the age of two, most children are able to embark on pretend play and adopt a perspective that does not fit reality. This enables children to develop the ability to attribute perspective to others that they don't share. Findings suggest the ability to adopt perspectives, an important aspect of developing social cognition and the attribution of mental state, is already present in young children.

Autism Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 8, 2022·4 min read

The Idea That Mind and Body Are Separate Is Natural, for Neurotypical People

Those on the autism spectrum are more likely to consider the body and mind to be one, while those not on the autism spectrum are more likely to believe the body and the mind are separate entities.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 8, 2021·3 min read

Ways to Help Children Learn Forgiveness

Children are more likely to forgive wrongdoers who apologize, especially if the offender is in their "in-group", and the upset child possesses advanced Theory of Mind skills.

This diagram shows how the brain processes visual information.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·November 1, 2021·4 min read

Recognizing Familiar Faces Relies on a Neural Code Shared Across Brains

Researchers report that within the visual processing areas, information about a personally familiar or visually familiar face is shared across the brains of those with the same friends or acquaintances. Additionally, shared information about personally familiar faces extends to areas of the brain implicated in social processing, suggesting there is shared social information across the brain.

This shows a little girl with three different colored boxes

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 28, 2021·8 min read

Children Do Not Understand Concept of Others Having False Beliefs Until Age 6 or 7

Young children do not understand true or false belief, instead, they rely on perceptual access reasoning. The findings upend the longstanding belief that theory of mind is acquired by age four.

This shows a gorgeous wolf laying in the grass

Featured Psychology

·July 12, 2021·6 min read

You Can Snuggle Wolf Pups All You Want, They Still Won’t ‘Get’ You Quite Like Your Dog

After 14,000 years of domestication, dogs have an edge in both cognition and people-reading skills over wolves.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 19, 2021·5 min read

A Father’s Parenting Style Could Be Predicted in Advance of His Child’s Birth

Expectant fathers with higher levels of brain activation and oxytocin later endorsed a more "child-led" empathetic style of parenting once their child was born.