Department of Psychology, Sunway University, Malaysia.
Aging Health and Well-being Research Centre, Sunway University, Malaysia.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Feb 3;77(2):332-340. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbab093.
Older adults tend to have poorer Theory of Mind (ToM) than their younger counterparts, and this has been shown in both Western and Asian cultures. We examined the role of working memory (WM) in age differences in ToM, and whether this was moderated by education and culture (the United Kingdom vs. Malaysia).
We used 2 ToM tests with differing demands on updating multiple mental states (false belief) and applying social rules to mental state processing (faux pas). We also looked at the role of education, socioeconomic status, and WM. A total of 298 participants from the United Kingdom and Malaysia completed faux pas, false belief, and WM tasks.
Age effects on some aspects of ToM were greater in the Malaysian compared to the UK sample. Malaysian older adults were poorer at faux pas detection, aspects of false belief, and WM compared to young adults. In subsequent moderated mediation analyses, we found that, specifically in the Malaysian sample, the mediating effects of WM on the age and ToM relationship occurred at the lowest levels of education.
This pattern of results may reflect changes in the familiarity and cognitive load of explicit mental state attribution, along with cultural differences in the pace and nature of cognitive aging. Cultural differences in education and WM should be considered when researching age differences in ToM.
老年人的心理理论（Theory of Mind，ToM）通常不如年轻人，这在西方和亚洲文化中都有体现。我们研究了工作记忆（working memory，WM）在 ToM 年龄差异中的作用，以及教育和文化（英国与马来西亚）是否对此有调节作用。
我们使用了 2 种 ToM 测试，它们对更新多个心理状态（错误信念）和将社会规则应用于心理状态处理（ faux pas）的要求不同。我们还研究了教育、社会经济地位和 WM 的作用。来自英国和马来西亚的 298 名参与者完成了 faux pas、false belief 和 WM 任务。
与英国样本相比，马来西亚样本中 ToM 的某些方面的年龄效应更大。与年轻人相比，马来西亚的老年人在 faux pas 检测、错误信念的某些方面和 WM 方面表现更差。在随后的中介调节分析中，我们发现，特别是在马来西亚样本中，WM 对年龄和 ToM 关系的中介效应仅在最低教育水平上发生。
这种结果模式可能反映了明确心理状态归因的熟悉度和认知负荷的变化，以及认知老化在速度和性质上的文化差异。在研究 ToM 的年龄差异时，应考虑教育和 WM 方面的文化差异。
