Krendl Anne C
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.
Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2025 Mar 14:1-22. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2025.2476586.
Theory of mind is a core social cognitive ability, and declines over the lifespan. Prior work examining the mechanisms underlying older adults' theory of mind deficits has yielded heterogenous results. One reason for this might be a general reliance on static, rather than dynamic, stimuli. Because dynamic measures may best capture everyday theory of mind engagement, the current study examined whether executive function and/or episodic memory - the primary mechanisms examined in prior work - predicted older adults' static and dynamic theory of mind performance. In Study 1, 153 older adults completed traditional static measures of theory of mind (false belief task, Reading the Mind in the Eyes) and a dynamic theory of mind measure that captured multiple domains of theory of mind (e.g. inferring beliefs, understanding emotions). They also completed comprehensive measures of executive function and episodic memory. Episodic memory, but not executive function, predicted theory of mind performance across tasks. In Study 2, 124 different older adults completed two novel dynamic tasks, and the same cognitive measures from Study 1. The first dynamic task was similar to the Study 1, but was relatively unfamiliar. In the second task, older adults made continuous (e.g. dynamic) awkwardness ratings while watching a video. This task reduces ceiling effects, a frequent limitation of theory of mind research. Replicating the results in Study 1, episodic memory, but not executive function, predicted older adults' performance on both tasks. Together, these findings suggest that episodic memory ability predicts older adults' static and dynamic theory of mind performance.
心理理论是一种核心的社会认知能力，且会随着寿命增长而衰退。先前研究老年人心理理论缺陷背后机制的工作产生了不同的结果。造成这种情况的一个原因可能是普遍依赖静态而非动态刺激。由于动态测量可能最能反映日常心理理论的参与情况，因此本研究考察了执行功能和/或情景记忆（先前研究中考察的主要机制）是否能预测老年人的静态和动态心理理论表现。在研究1中，153名老年人完成了心理理论的传统静态测量（错误信念任务、读心术）以及一项涵盖心理理论多个领域（如推断信念、理解情绪）的动态心理理论测量。他们还完成了执行功能和情景记忆的综合测量。情景记忆而非执行功能预测了各项任务中的心理理论表现。在研究2中，124名不同的老年人完成了两项新颖的动态任务，以及研究1中相同的认知测量。第一个动态任务与研究1类似，但相对不那么熟悉。在第二个任务中，老年人在观看视频时进行连续（如动态）尴尬程度评分。这项任务减少了心理理论研究中常见的天花板效应。重复研究1的结果，情景记忆而非执行功能预测了老年人在两项任务中的表现。总之，这些发现表明情景记忆能力可预测老年人的静态和动态心理理论表现。
