A meta-analytic review of age differences in theory of mind.

Abstract

Age-related difficulties in understanding basic emotional signals are now well established, but less clear is how aging affects theory of mind (ToM), which refers to the understanding of more complex emotions and mental states. A meta-analysis of 23 datasets involving 1462 (790 younger and 672 older) participants was conducted in which six basic types of ToM task were identified (Stories, Eyes, Videos, False belief-video, False belief-other, and Faux pas). Each ToM task was also categorized according to domain (affective, cognitive, or mixed) and modality (verbal, visual-static, visual-dynamic, verbal and visual-static, or verbal and visual-dynamic). Overall, collapsed across all types of task, older adults were found to perform more poorly than younger adults, with the degree of ToM difficulty they experienced moderate in magnitude (r = -.41). The results also provide evidence for increased ToM difficulties in late adulthood regardless of specific task parameters, with deficits evident across all task types, domains, and modalities. With few exceptions, age deficits for ToM tasks were larger in magnitude compared with matched control tasks. These data have implications for our understanding of mental state attribution processes in late adulthood, suggesting that ToM difficulties are not simply secondary to non-ToM related task demands.

Cognitive and affective associations with an ecologically valid test of theory of mind across the lifespan.

“…recognizing the difference between irony and lying) continues to develop through childhood (Dumontheil, Apperly, & Blakemore, 2010). ToM is thought to be stable in adulthood but it has seldom been examined across the adult lifespan, although a greater number of studies have examined ToM in later life (see Henry, Phillips, Ruffman, & Bailey, 2013 for a review). ToM underlies successful social interactions and decline in this ability may impact social functioning giving rise to social isolation and loneliness.…”

Aging enhances cognitive biases to friends but not the self

“…The reasons for these changes are unclear, however. For example, performance in ToM tasks is known to be influenced by executive capacity (Apperly, Samson, Chiavarino, & Humphreys, 2004), so the reduced ToM performance in older adults may reflect less executive control (Cavallini et al, 2015;Gutchess, Kensinger, & Schacter, 2010;Henry, Phillips, Ruffman, & Bailey, 2013;ShamayTsoory & Aharon-Peretz, 2007). Alternatively, problems on ToM tasks may be due to the increased saliency of selfrelated knowledge, which is often pitted against the information held by the other person in ToM tasks (e.g., in the Sally-Anne task, in which the observer has knowledge of where an object has been moved to, after a stooge has walked out of a room; cf.…”

Age differences in conscious versus subconscious social perception: The influence of face age and valence on gaze following.

“…The primary means of establishing joint attention with others is by following their gaze (Driver et al, 1999). Indeed, those with reduced capacity for emotion recognition and theory of mind, such as older adults (for reviews see, Henry, Phillips, Ruffman, & Bailey, 2013;Moran, 2013;Ruffman, Henry, Livingstone, & Phillips, 2008), are also less adept at following gaze-cues (Slessor, Laird, Phillips, Bull, & Filippou, 2010;Slessor, Phillips, & Bull, 2008). While both young and older adults successfully follow the gaze of others, demonstrating a gaze-congruity effect (i.e., responding more quickly to target locations that are predicted by gaze direction compared to those that are incongruent with gaze-cues; Driver et al, 1999), this congruity effect is smaller among older adults.…”