Reduced neural selectivity for mental states in deaf children with delayed exposure to sign language

Abstract

Language provides a rich source of information about other people's thoughts and feelings. Consequently, delayed access to language may influence conceptual development in Theory of Mind (ToM). We use functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral tasks to study ToM development in child (n = 33, 4-12 years old) and adult (n = 36) fluent signers of American Sign Language (ASL), and characterize neural ToM responses during ASL and movie-viewing tasks. Participants include deaf children whose first exposure to ASL was delayed up to 7 years (n = 12). Neural responses to ToM stories (specifically, selectivity of the right temporo-parietal junction) in these children resembles responses previously observed in young children, who have similar linguistic experience, rather than those in agematched native-signing children, who have similar biological maturation. Early linguistic experience may facilitate ToM development, via the development of a selective brain region for ToM.

Altered Functional Network in Infants With Profound Bilateral Congenital Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Graph Theory Analysis

“…It is involved in multiple high-order cognitive functions, including self-related cognition, working memory, and emotion processing (Buckner et al, 2008;Anticevic et al, 2012;Chai et al, 2014). Moreover, the development of theory of mind, which is considered to be correlated with the functional connectivity strength of DMN regions, was found to be affected by the loss of linguistic experience caused by hearing loss (Hughes et al, 2019;Richardson et al, 2020). Decreased functional connectivity within the DMN was found in a previous ICA study by our team (Wang et al, 2021).…”

Knowledge prior to belief: Is extended better than enacted?

“…This continued development reflects genuine conceptual change in theory of mind representations, rather than a gradual unmasking of competence as language and executive functions improve. Childhood theory of mind reasoning is predicted by earlier theory of mind capacities over and above these other skills (Peterson & Wellman, 2019;Richardson et al, unpublished data;Wellman, Fang, & Peterson, 2011) and is mirrored by continued development in brain regions that support social cognition (Richardson, Lisandrelli, Riobueno-Naylor, & Saxe, 2018), including specialization of the right temporoparietal junction for reasoning about mental states (beliefs, desires, and emotions; Richardson et al, 2020). The capacity to reason about beliefsdeliberately, with slow and gradual improvement during childhood, and with consequences for populations for whom this is challengingis intrinsic to human-unique accumulation and transmission of cultural knowledge.…”

Measuring Theory of Mind in Adolescents With Language and Communication Problems: An Ecological Perspective

“…Theory of Mind development is closely intertwined with language development ( Milligan et al, 2007 ; Ebert, 2020 ; Richardson et al, 2020 ). Longitudinal studies show that communication about the mental representations of the inner world contributes to the proper development of ToM (e.g., Lohmann and Tomasello, 2003 ; Milligan et al, 2007 ; Nilsson and de López, 2016 ; Ebert et al, 2017 ; Ebert, 2020 ).…”