Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind was first coined in 1978 by Premack and Woodruff through their research article, "Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?" Since then, it has expanded to include multiple applications and implications for various populations, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Schizophrenia, Alcohol use, Depression, and others, even seeing significant research using imaging tools.

Theory of Mind is a concept that describes the ability for a person to understand and recognize others' mental states. In other words, can a person consciously recognize that others may have a differing opinion or experience than their own? Sir Simon Baron-Cohen also conducted extensive research on Theory of Mind through his experience with mind-blindness, and he discovered that some important precursors to the development of Theory of Mind include an understanding of others' attention, intentions, and imitative ability. These factors combined contribute toward the development of ToM.

### Development

Children as early as four years old are believed to be capable of possessing ToM.  Leslie, Frideman & German reported ToM appears to develop as a part of the core architecture of the brain, and develop "analogously to the way color concepts are introduced by the mechanisms of color vision."  They further reported that it is in this way that children develop mental representations of other people and the world, and exercise empathy in understanding another person's point of view.

### Neuroimaging

Theory of mind (or more accurately, neural functions which are thought to be responsible for producing the phenomenon) has been studied over brain scans. Functional imaging shows activity in the anterior paracingulate, the STS and the temporal poles . During one imaging, participants were asked to consider a social scenario and then explain the behavior or motivation of the person in the story. Scans were then taken as participants retroactively described these actions, which showed increased neural activity in these regions .

### Interpersonal ramifications of ToM

Having ToM is helpful when interacting with others, as it allows people to understand that others may have different perspectives. ToM also aides in interpersonal strategy and at times, manipulation or deception.  *Current Biology Journal* used the example of a person A seeing a scorpion behind the rock person B is sitting on. If person A likes person B, they will tell them "there is a scorpion next to you" so person B is not bitten. If person B is not liked, person A may allow them to be bitten by the scorpion, knowing person B did not see the scorpion, nor could they prove person A ever saw the scorpion themselves.

1. ↑ Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? *Behavioral and Brain Sciences,* *1*(4), 515-526. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00076512
2. ↑ Baron-Cohen, S. (1997). *Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind*. MIT press.
3. ↑ Pijnenborg, G.H., Spikman, J., Jeronimus, B.F., & Aleman, A. (2012). Insight in schizophrenia: associations with empathy. *European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 263*, 299-307.
4. ↑ A.M. Leslie,

Theory of Mind,

Editor(s): Neil J. Smelser, Paul B. Baltes,

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences,

Pergamon,

2001,

Pages 15652-15656,

ISBN 9780080430768,

https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/01640-5.
5. ↑ Gallagher, H.L., & Frith, C.D. (2003). Functional imaging of ‘theory of mind’. *Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7*, 77-83.
6. ↑ Frith, C., & Frith, U. (2005). Theory of mind. *Current biology*, *15*(17), R644-R645.
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8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.511.9865&rep=rep1&type=pdf
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.441.546&rep=rep1&type=pdf
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(05)00960-7.pdf
Discussion Questions:

1. What are some of the implications Premack and Woodruff's article lead to?
2. Do you feel that some people can recognize other's mental states while other people cannot?
3. What are some limitations to the theory of the mind?