Editorial: Theory of mind in relation to other cognitive abilities

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Ann Dowker¹  Douglas Frye²  Hiromi Tsuji³ 

[1] Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University;Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania;Department of Psychology, Osaka Shoin Women's University

关键词: Theory of Mind;    Child Development;    adults;    individual differences;    exexutive functioning;    Language;    schizotypy;    autism;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1123321

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Theory of mind and its development have been the subject of much research over the last 40 years. Theory of mind is generally thought to be very important in cognitive and social development. However, there is still much debate as to how it should be defined and even as to whether it is a single entity. In particular, there is controversy around the extent to which it should be seen as a specific cognitive function (Gopnik and Astington, 1988; Perner, 1991; Wellman, 2004), or rather as dependent on, or mutually developing with, other cognitive abilities and characteristics, such as language (Tager-Flusberg, 2000; Milligan et al., 2007; Ebert, 2020), metacognition (Kuhn, 2000), executive function (Frye et al., 1995; Carlson and Moses, 2001; Sabbagh et al., 2006; Pellicano, 2010; Devine and Hughes, 2014), and cognitive and perceptual styles that emphasize gist vs. detail (“strong” vs. “weak” central coherence) (Jarrold et al., 2000; Happé and Frith, 2006). It is also possible that theory of mind itself has several different components, which may be related to different degrees of different cognitive abilities and characteristics. Relationships between theory of mind and other cognitive characteristics may also vary with age and may differ between typically developing children and those with autism and other atypical conditions. Gaining a greater understanding of these issues is important to increasing our understanding of theory of mind itself, the nature of cognitive development, the similarities and differences between typically and atypically developing children, and whether it may be possible to devise interventions to improve theory of mind, either directly or by improving other abilities. The goal of the current Research Topic is to bring together articles on various aspects of theory of mind and any concurrent and longitudinal relationships with other cognitive abilities and characteristics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY