Center for Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, USA.
Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA.
Dev Sci. 2024 Nov;27(6):e13530. doi: 10.1111/desc.13530. Epub 2024 Jun 21.
Behavioral research demonstrates a critical transition in preschooler's mental-state understanding (i.e., theory of mind; ToM), revealed most starkly in performance on tasks about a character's false belief (e.g., about an object's location). Questions remain regarding the neural and cognitive processes differentiating children who pass versus fail behavioral false-belief tasks and the extent to which there is continuity versus change in the ToM neural network. To address these questions, we analyzed event-related spectral power in the electroencephalogram (EEG) to investigate how preschoolers' neural activity during passive viewing of false-belief scenarios related to their explicit behavioral ToM performance. We found that neural activity during passive viewing of false-belief events (6-9 Hz EEG 'alpha' suppression in right temporoparietal [RTP] electrodes) strongly related to children's explicit ToM. However, children's RTP alpha suppression differed depending on their explicit behavioral ToM performance: Children who did better on a broad battery of standard ToM tasks and who passed explicit behavioral false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression when the character's belief first became false (during the 'location-change' event); whereas children who did worse on the ToM battery and who failed explicit behavioral false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression only later when they could evaluate the character's behavior in the context of prior events (during the 'active-search' event). Findings shed light on what differentiates preschoolers who pass versus fail explicit false-belief tasks and raise questions about how to interpret existing neuroscience data from ToM tasks across infancy to adulthood. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Preschool children's neural activity (EEG 6-9 Hz suppression in right temporoparietal [RTP] electrodes) during passive-viewing of false-belief events was related to their explicit behavioral theory-of-mind performance. Children who did better on a theory-of-mind (ToM) battery and passed explicit false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression when the character's belief first became false. Children who performed worse on the ToM battery and failed explicit false-belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression later when observing the character's search behavior. Findings reveal change in preschoolers' ToM neural correlates and suggest that the presence of RTP activity does not necessarily indicate 'mature' theory of mind.
行为研究表明，学龄前儿童的心理状态理解（即心理理论；ToM）发生了关键转变，这在关于角色错误信念（例如关于物体位置的信念）的任务表现中最为明显。关于区分通过和未通过行为错误信念任务的儿童的神经和认知过程的问题仍然存在，以及心理理论神经网络中是否存在连续性或变化的问题。为了解决这些问题，我们分析了脑电图（EEG）中的事件相关频谱功率，以研究学龄前儿童在被动观看错误信念情景时的神经活动如何与其明确的心理理论行为表现相关。我们发现，在被动观看错误信念事件时的神经活动（右颞顶区 [RTP] 电极的 6-9 Hz EEG“alpha”抑制）与儿童的明确心理理论密切相关。然而，儿童的 RTP alpha 抑制取决于他们明确的行为心理理论表现：在广泛的标准心理理论任务中表现更好且通过明确行为错误信念任务的儿童，当角色的信念首次变得错误时（在“位置变化”事件中），他们的 RTP alpha 抑制更大；而在心理理论电池中表现较差且未通过明确行为错误信念任务的儿童，只有当他们可以根据先前事件评估角色的行为时（在“主动搜索”事件中），他们的 RTP alpha 抑制才更大。研究结果揭示了区分通过和未通过明确错误信念任务的学龄前儿童的区别，并提出了如何解释从婴儿期到成年期的心理理论任务中的现有神经科学数据的问题。研究亮点：学龄前儿童在被动观看错误信念事件时的神经活动（右颞顶区 [RTP] 电极的 6-9 Hz 抑制）与他们的明确行为心理理论表现相关。在心理理论（ToM）电池上表现更好且通过明确错误信念任务的儿童，当角色的信念首次变得错误时，RTP alpha 抑制更大。在心理理论电池上表现较差且未通过明确错误信念任务的儿童，当观察到角色的搜索行为时，RTP alpha 抑制更大。研究结果揭示了学龄前儿童心理理论神经相关性的变化，并表明 RTP 活动的存在不一定表示“成熟”的心理理论。
