Brüne Martin, Brüne-Cohrs Ute
Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bochum, Alexandrinenstr. 1-3, 44791 Bochum, Germany.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(4):437-55. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.08.001. Epub 2005 Oct 18.
The ability to infer other persons' mental states and emotions has been termed 'theory of mind'. It represents an evolved psychological capacity most highly developed in humans. The evolutionary origins of theory of mind can be traced back in extant non-human primates; theory of mind probably emerged as an adaptive response to increasingly complex primate social interaction. This sophisticated 'metacognitive' ability comes, however, at an evolutionary cost, reflected in a broad spectrum of psychopathological conditions. Extensive research into autistic spectrum disorders has revealed that theory of mind may be selectively impaired, leaving other cognitive faculties intact. Recent studies have shown that observed deficits in theory of mind task performance are part of a broad range of symptoms in schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, some forms of dementia, 'psychopathy' and in other psychiatric disorders. This article reviews the evolutionary psychology of theory of mind including its ontogeny and representation in the central nervous system, and studies of theory of mind in psychopathological conditions.
推断他人心理状态和情绪的能力被称为“心理理论”。它代表了一种进化而来的心理能力，在人类中最为发达。心理理论的进化起源可以追溯到现存的非人类灵长类动物；心理理论可能是作为对日益复杂的灵长类动物社会互动的一种适应性反应而出现的。然而，这种复杂的“元认知”能力是以进化成本为代价的，这反映在广泛的精神病理状况中。对自闭症谱系障碍的广泛研究表明，心理理论可能会受到选择性损害，而其他认知能力则保持完好。最近的研究表明，在心理理论任务表现中观察到的缺陷是精神分裂症、双相情感障碍、某些形式的痴呆症、“心理变态”和其他精神疾病中广泛症状的一部分。本文回顾了心理理论的进化心理学，包括其个体发生以及在中枢神经系统中的表现，以及对精神病理状况下心理理论的研究。
