Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK.
Dev Sci. 2010 Mar;13(2):331-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00888.x.
The development of theory of mind use was investigated by giving a computerized task to 177 female participants divided into five age groups: Child I (7.3-9.7 years); Child II (9.8-11.4); Adolescent I (11.5-13.9); Adolescent II (14.0-17.7); Adults (19.1-27.5). Participants viewed a set of shelves containing objects, which they were instructed to move by a 'director' who could see some but not all of the objects. Correct interpretation of critical instructions required participants to use the director's perspective and only move objects that the director could see. In a control condition, participants were asked to ignore objects in slots with a grey background. Accuracy improved similarly in both conditions between Child I and Adolescent II. However, while performance of the Adolescent II and Adult groups did not differ in the control condition, the Adolescent II group made more errors than the adults in the experimental condition. These results suggest that theory of mind use improves between late adolescence and adulthood. Thus, while theory of mind tasks are passed by age 4, these data indicate that the interaction between theory of mind and executive functions continues to develop in late adolescence.
采用计算机任务对 177 名女性参与者进行了心理理论使用的发展研究，这些参与者被分为五个年龄组：儿童 I 组（7.3-9.7 岁）；儿童 II 组（9.8-11.4 岁）；青少年 I 组（11.5-13.9 岁）；青少年 II 组（14.0-17.7 岁）；成年组（19.1-27.5 岁）。参与者观看了一组架子，架子上有一些物体，他们被指示由一个“导演”移动这些物体，而“导演”只能看到一些物体而不是所有物体。正确解释关键指令需要参与者使用导演的视角，只能移动导演能看到的物体。在控制条件下，参与者被要求忽略灰色背景插槽中的物体。在儿童 I 组和青少年 II 组之间，两种条件下的准确性都相似地提高了。然而，在控制条件下，青少年 II 组和成年组的表现没有差异，而在实验条件下，青少年 II 组比成年组犯的错误更多。这些结果表明，心理理论的使用在青少年晚期到成年期之间有所提高。因此，虽然心理理论任务在 4 岁时通过，但这些数据表明，心理理论和执行功能之间的相互作用在青少年晚期仍在继续发展。
