From self to social cognition: Theory of Mind mechanisms and their relation to Executive Functioning

Abstract

'Theory of Mind' refers to the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and other people (Premack & Woodruff, 1978). This study examined the extent to which 'Self' and 'Other' belief-attribution processes within the Theory of Mind (ToM) mechanism could be distinguished behaviourally, and whether these separable components differentially related to Executive Functioning (EF) abilities. A computerized false-belief task, utilizing a matched-design to allow direct comparison of self-oriented vs. other-oriented belief-attribution, was used to assess ToM, and a face-image Stroop task was employed to assess EF, within a population of typically-developed adults. Results revealed significantly longer reaction times when attributing beliefs to other people as opposed to recognizing and attributing beliefs to oneself. Intriguingly, results revealed that 'perspective-shift' requirements (i.e. changing from adoption of the 'self' perspective to the perspective of the 'other', or vice versa) across false-belief trials influenced reaction times. Reaction times were significantly longer when the perspective shift was from self-to-other than from other-to-self. It is suggested that the 'self' forms the stem of understanding the 'other', and is therefore processed regardless of ultimate task demands; in contrast, the 'other' perspective is only processed when explicitly required. We conclude that adopting another person's perspective, even when their belief state is matched to one's own, requires more cognitive effort than recalling and reflecting on self-oriented belief-states.

Belief‐attribution in adults with and without autistic spectrum disorders

“…Previous research has indicated that even in TD adults, who possess fully developed ToM capacities, an egocentric bias can be seen during interactions, with a failure to spontaneously consider the perspective of another person unless explicitly prompted to do so [e.g., Apperly, ; Birch & Bloom, ; Keysar, Barr, Balin, & Brauner, ; Royzman, Cassidy, & Baron, ; Samson, Apperly, Braithwaite, & Andrews, ]. Results from Bradford et al's [] study using the Self/Other Differentiation task demonstrated that TD individuals were faster and more accurate at responding from their own perspective than another person's perspective, suggesting an egocentric bias in processing of scenarios, even though answers from both the “Self” and “Other” perspective were identical (i.e., both believe there to be Smarties in the tube, before seeing inside). Moreover, there was a significant role of perspective‐shifting, with participants finding it harder (taking longer and making more errors) when shifting from their own to someone else's perspective, compared to when shifting from someone else's perspective to one's own.…”

Cognitive Correlates of Different Mentalizing Abilities in Individuals with High and Low Trait Schizotypy: Findings from an Extreme-Group Design

“…The knowledge of the self (Gallagher, 2000), the understanding of one’s own perspective and the ability to distinguish one’s own perspective from that of others are all prerequisites of successful mentalizing (Decety and Jackson, 2004; Bradford et al, 2015). Self-disturbances are well-known in schizophrenia (Mishara et al, 2014; Moe and Docherty, 2014), and deficits of self-perception and self-agency have been shown in the prodromal phase (Sass and Parnas, 2003) as well as in schizotypy (Platek and Gallup, 2002; Barnacz et al, 2004; Asai and Tanno, 2008).…”

Working memory network alterations in high‐functioning adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder

“…This information is needed to predict another person's behavior and adjust one's own behavior accordingly. The ability to impute and understand the mental states of others, and recognize that these states may differ from your own is called ‘mentalizing’ or having a theory of mind . The ability to mentalize depends on a range of both lower‐level mechanisms, such as face and emotion processing, gaze direction and the detection of animacy, as well as higher executive function mechanisms, such as attention and working memory (WM).…”