Krendl Anne C, Hughes Colleen S
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Aging Ment Health. 2025 Mar;29(3):462-470. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2024.2399091. Epub 2024 Sep 8.
Aging is associated with declines in theory of mind - the ability to infer the mental states of others. We examined whether priming theory of mind mindsets actively (Study 1) and passively (Study 2) improved older adults' performance.
Across two studies, participants completed a novel question-and-answer theory of mind task using the television show in a mindset or no mindset condition. In Study 1, participants ( = 324, 18-84 years) completed a similar task related to a different show prior to the task (active mindset). In Study 2, young ( = 235; = 20.47) and older ( = 193, = 74.48) adults made continuous ratings of awkwardness of different episodes of before completing the question-and-answer task (passive mindset). We also measured executive function and episodic memory. In both studies, the same tasks were performed in reverse order for the control conditions (no mindset).
Mindsets were associated with small-to-medium increases in theory of mind performance. Cognitive ability did not explain these improvements.
These findings suggest that theory of mind performance can be improved through motivation (e.g. mindsets); cognitive function (e.g. ability) does not moderate this relationship.
衰老与心理理论（即推断他人心理状态的能力）的衰退有关。我们研究了主动启动心理理论思维定式（研究1）和被动启动心理理论思维定式（研究2）是否能提高老年人的表现。
在两项研究中，参与者在有思维定式或无思维定式的条件下，使用电视节目完成一项新颖的问答心理理论任务。在研究1中，参与者（n = 324，年龄18 - 84岁）在进行《》任务之前，先完成一项与另一部不同节目的类似任务（主动思维定式）。在研究2中，年轻人（n = 235；平均年龄 = 20.47）和老年人（n = 193，平均年龄 = 74.48）在完成问答任务之前，对《》不同剧集的尴尬程度进行连续评分（被动思维定式）。我们还测量了执行功能和情景记忆。在两项研究中，控制条件（无思维定式）下的相同任务以相反顺序进行。
思维定式与心理理论表现的中小幅度提升有关。认知能力并不能解释这些改善。
这些发现表明，心理理论表现可以通过动机（如思维定式）得到改善；认知功能（如能力）并不会调节这种关系。
