Nonverbal components of Theory of Mind in typical and atypical development

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

To successfully navigate the human social world one needs to realize that behavior is guided by mental states such as goals and beliefs. Humans are highly proficient in using mental states to explain and predict their conspecific's behavior, which enables adjusting one's own behavior in online social interactions. Whereas according to recent studies even young infants seem to integrate others' beliefs into their own behavior, it is unclear what processes contribute to such competencies and how they may develop. Here we analyze a set of possible nonverbal components of theory of mind that may be involved in taking into account others' mental states, and discuss findings from typical and atypical development. To track an agent's belief one needs to (i) pay attention to agents that might be potential belief holders, and identify their focus of attention and their potential belief contents; (ii) keep track of their different experiences and their consequent beliefs, and (iii) to make behavioral predictions based on such beliefs. If an individual fails to predict an agent's behavior depending on the agent's beliefs, this may be due to a problem at any stage in the above processes. An analysis of the possible nonverbal processes contributing to belief tracking and their functioning in typical and atypical development aims to provide new insights into the possible mechanisms that make human social interactions uniquely rich. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
JournalInfant Behavior and Development
Volume48
Pages (from-to)54-62
Number of pages9
ISSN0163-6383
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2017
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Theory of mind, Processes of mentalization, Social cognition, Typical and atypical development, Autism, VISUAL PERSPECTIVE-TAKING, WILLIAMS-SYNDROME, BIOLOGICAL MOTION, FALSE-BELIEF, OTHERS BELIEFS, IDENTITY RECOGNITION, ACTION ANTICIPATION, UNDERLYING FACE, SOCIAL ANXIETY, EYE CONTACT

ID: 255397933