The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 71 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Theory of Mind Performance in Children Correlates With Functional Specialization of a Brain Region for Thinking About Thoughts
Abstract
Thinking about other people's thoughts recruits a specific group of brain regions, including the temporo-parietal junctions (TPJ), precuneus (PC), and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). The same brain regions were recruited when children (N=20, 5-11 years) and adults (N=8) listened to descriptions of characters' mental states, compared to descriptions of physical events. Between ages 5 and 11 years, responses in the bilateral TPJ became increasingly specific to stories describing mental states as opposed to people's appearance and social relationships. Functional activity in the right TPJ was related to children's performance on a high level theory of mind task. These findings provide insights into the origin of neural mechanisms of theory of mind, and how behavioral and neural changes can be related in development.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Another emerging developmental pattern is a linear increase in TPJ responses during mentalizing (Gweon et al., 2012; van den Bos et al., 2011).”
From Risk-taking and social exclusion in adolescence: neural mechanisms underlying peer influences on decision-making (2013) · cites this paper as Gweon et al., 2012
Citations
Cites
Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models
Gelman, A., & Hill, J. (2006) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511790942 · Cited by 13,597
Wimmer, H. (1983) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5 · Cited by 6,305
Nonparametric permutation tests for functional neuroimaging: A primer with examples
Nichols, T. E., & Holmes, A. P. (2002) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.1058 · Cited by 6,256
Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood
Gogtay, N., Giedd, J. N., Lusk, L., Hayashi, K. M., Greenstein, D., Vaituzis, A. C., Nugent, T. F., Herman, D. H., Clasen, L. S., Toga, A. W., et al. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0402680101 · Cited by 5,604 · cited 3×
“, an increase followed by a decrease) during childhood, possibly reflecting early overproduction of synapses and later synaptic pruning (Giedd et al., 1999; Gogtay et al., 2004; Shaw et al., 2008; Sowell et al., 2004).”
BackgroundBrain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study
Giedd, J. N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, A., Paus, T., Evans, A. C., & Rapoport, J. L. (1999) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/13158 · Cited by 5,552
An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment
Greene, J. D., Sommerville, R. B., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1062872 · Cited by 4,561
Meta-Analysis of Theory-of-Mind Development: The Truth about False Belief
Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00304 · Cited by 4,476
Do 15-month-old infants understand false beliefs?
Onishi, K. H., & Baillargeon, R. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1107621 · Cited by 2,350
People thinking about thinking peopleThe role of the temporo-parietal junction in “theory of mind”
Saxe, R., & Kanwisher, N. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00230-1 · Cited by 2,316 · cited 4×
“Frith & Frith, 2003; Saxe & Kanwisher, 2003).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationDevelopment and neurophysiology of mentalizing
Frith, U., & Frith, C. D. (2003) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1218 · Cited by 2,306
Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data?
POLDRACK, R. (2006) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.12.004 · Cited by 2,249
Neurodevelopmental Trajectories of the Human Cerebral Cortex
Shaw, P., Kabani, N. J., Lerch, J. P., Eckstrand, K., Lenroot, R., Gogtay, N., Greenstein, D., Clasen, L., Evans, A., Rapoport, J. L., et al. (2008) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5309-07.2008 · Cited by 1,644
Finding the self? An event-related fMRI study
Kelley, W. M., Macrae, C. N., Wyland, C. L., Caglar, S., Inati, S., & Heatherton, T. F. (2002) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/08989290260138672 · Cited by 1,606 · cited 2×
“The MPFC is commonly implicated in thinking about self-relevant or emotionally significant people (Ferstl, Rinck, & Cramon, 2005; Kelley et al., 2002), and there is evidence for developmental change in that aspect of MPFC function in late childhood and adolescence (Pfeifer et al.”
BackgroundThe visual word form area: expertise for reading in the fusiform gyrus
McCandliss, B. D., Cohen, L., & Dehaene, S. (2003) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(03)00134-7 · Cited by 1,489
Longitudinal Mapping of Cortical Thickness and Brain Growth in Normal Children
Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Leonard, C. M., Welcome, S. E., Kan, E., & Toga, A. W. (2004) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1798-04.2004 · Cited by 1,481
Development of distinct control networks through segregation and integration
Fair, D. A., Dosenbach, N. U. F., Church, J. A., Cohen, A. L., Brahmbhatt, S., Miezin, F. M., Barch, D. M., Raichle, M. E., Petersen, S. E., & Schlaggar, B. L. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0705843104 · Cited by 1,244
Action Anticipation Through Attribution of False Belief by 2-Year-Olds
Southgate, V., Senju, A., & Csibra, G. (2007) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01944.x · Cited by 1,066
False-belief understanding in infants
Baillargeon, R., Scott, R. M., & He, Z. (2010) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.006 · Cited by 1,030
It's the Thought That Counts: Specific Brain Regions for One Component of Theory of Mind
Saxe, R., & Powell, L. J. (2006) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01768.x · Cited by 815
The Link between Social Cognition and Self-referential Thought in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex
Mitchell, J. P., Banaji, M. R., & Macrae, C. N. (2005) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/0898929055002418 · Cited by 806
Core mechanisms in ‘theory of mind’
Leslie, A. M., Friedman, O., & German, T. P. (2004) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.10.001 · Cited by 800
Online usage of theory of mind continues to develop in late adolescence
Dumontheil, I., Apperly, I. A., & Blakemore, S. (2010) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00888.x · Cited by 732
Understanding Other Minds: Linking Developmental Psychology and Functional Neuroimaging
Saxe, R., Carey, S., & Kanwisher, N. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142044 · Cited by 726
Posterior cingulate cortex activation by emotional words: fMRI evidence from a valence decision task
Maddock, R. J., Garrett, A. S., & Buonocore, M. H. (2003) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.10075 · Cited by 695
de Villiers, J. G., & Pyers, J. E. (2002) · Cognitive Development · doi:10.1016/s0885-2014(02)00073-4 · Cited by 661
Perspective taking in children and adults: equivalent egocentrism but differential correction
Epley, N., Morewedge, C. K., & Keysar, B. (2004) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2004.02.002 · Cited by 594
The neural correlates of direct and reflected self-knowledge
Ochsner, K. N., Beer, J. S., Robertson, E. R., Cooper, J. C., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Kihsltrom, J. F., & D'Esposito, M. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.06.069 · Cited by 562
Golarai, G., Ghahremani, D. G., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., Reiss, A., Eberhardt, J. L., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Grill-Spector, K. (2007) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1865 · Cited by 541
Steps in Theory-of-Mind Development for Children With Deafness or Autism
Peterson, C. C., Wellman, H. M., & Liu, D. S. (2005) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00859.x · Cited by 462
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Chandler, M. J. (1996) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01821.x · Cited by 440
Normal fMRI Brain Activation Patterns in Children Performing a Verb Generation Task
Holland, S. K., Plante, E., Byars, A. W., Strawsburg, R. H., Schmithorst, V. J., & Ball, W. S. (2001) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0875 · Cited by 434
Functional anatomy of cognitive development: fMRI of verbal fluency in children and adults
Gaillard, W. D., Hertz–Pannier, L., Mott, S. H., Barnett, A. S., LeBihan, D., & Theodore, W. H. (2000) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.54.1.180 · Cited by 423
Memory: brain systems and behavior
Squire, L. R., & Zola-Morgan, S. M. (1988) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/0166-2236(88)90144-0 · Cited by 416
Baker, C. I., Liu, J., Wald, L. L., Kwong, K. K., Benner, T., & Kanwisher, N. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0703300104 · Cited by 407
The role of precuneus and left inferior frontal cortex during source memory episodic retrieval
Lundstrom, B. N., Ingvar, M., & Petersson, K. M. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.05.008 · Cited by 374
Which Penguin Is This? Attributing False Beliefs About Object Identity at 18 Months
Scott, R. M., & Baillargeon, R. (2009) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01324.x · Cited by 352
Investigating the functional anatomy of empathy and forgiveness
Farrow, T. F. D., Zheng, Y., Wilkinson, I. D., Spence, S. A., Deakin, J. F. W., Tarrier, N., Griffiths, P. D., & Woodruff, P. W. R. (2001) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/00001756-200108080-00029 · Cited by 330
Apperly, I. A., Samson, D., Chiavarino, C., & Humphreys, G. W. (2004) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/0898929042947928 · Cited by 321
Ferstl, E. C., Rinck, M., & von Cramon, D. Y. (2005) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/0898929053747658 · Cited by 319
The relations between children’s communicative perspective-taking and executive functioning
Nilsen, E. S., & Graham, S. A. (2008) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2008.07.002 · Cited by 310
Damasio, A. R., & Geschwind, N. (1984) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.07.030184.001015 · Cited by 298
Pfeifer, J. H., Lieberman, M. D., & Dapretto, M. (2007) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2007.19.8.1323 · Cited by 294
Distinguishing irony from deception: Understanding the speaker's second‐order intention
Winner, E., & Leekam, S. R. (1991) · British Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1991.tb00875.x · Cited by 293
Pfeifer, J. H., Masten, C. L., Piero, L. B. D., Dapretto, M., Fuligni, A. J., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01314.x · Cited by 283
Combining voxel intensity and cluster extent with permutation test framework
Hayasaka, S., & Nichols, T. E. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.04.035 · Cited by 262
(1999) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198524465.001.0001 · Cited by 261
Adolescent development of the neural circuitry for thinking about intentions
Blakemore, S.-J., den Ouden, H., Choudhury, S., & Frith, C. (2007) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsm009 · Cited by 250
Thinking of mental and other representations: The roles of left and right temporo-parietal junction.
Perner, J., Aichhorn, M., Kronbichler, M., Staffen, W., & Ladurner, G. (2006) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470910600989896 · Cited by 245
Inferring False Beliefs from Actions and Reactions
Moses, L. J., & Flavell, J. H. (1990) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02832.x · Cited by 238
Brain regions for perceiving and reasoning about other people in school-aged children
Saxe, R. R., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., Scholz, J., & Pelphrey, K. A. (2009) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01325.x · Cited by 234
Developmental changes in the neural basis of interpreting communicative intent
Wang, A. T., Lee, S. S., Sigman, M., & Dapretto, M. (2006) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsl018 · Cited by 232
How Children Understand Sarcasm: The Role of Context and Intonation
Capelli, C. A., Nakagawa, N., & Madden, C. M. (1990) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1130840 · Cited by 210
Executive Accounts of Theory-of-Mind Development
Moses, L. J. (2001) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00306 · Cited by 209
The role of mental state understanding in the development of moral cognition and moral action
Baird, J. A., & Astington, J. W. (2004) · New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development · doi:10.1002/cd.96 · Cited by 197
Children's and adults’ neural bases of verbal and nonverbal ‘theory of mind’
Kobayashi, C., Glover, G. H., & Temple, E. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.11.017 · Cited by 187
Gaillard, W. D., Grandin, C. B. G., & Xu, B. (2001) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2000.0681 · Cited by 184
Jenkins, A. C., & Mitchell, J. P. (2010) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp109 · Cited by 183
Do infants really understand false belief?
Ruffman, T., & Perner, J. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.001 · Cited by 154
Developmental parallels in understanding minds and bodies
Leslie, A. M. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.002 · Cited by 149
Neurodevelopmental Correlates of Theory of Mind in Preschool Children
Sabbagh, M. A., Bowman, L. C., Evraire, L. E., & Ito, J. (2009) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01322.x · Cited by 149
Language and theory of mind: what are the developmental relationships?
de Villiers, J. (1999) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198524465.003.0005 · Cited by 141
Moriguchi, Y., Ohnishi, T., Mori, T., Matsuda, H., & Komaki, G. (2007) · Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences · doi:10.1111/j.1440-1819.2007.01687.x · Cited by 124
Perner, J., & Leekam, S. (2007) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470210701508756 · Cited by 111
Attribution of responsibility to the self and other in children and adults.
Fincham, F., & Jaspars, J. (1979) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.9.1589 · Cited by 83
Apperly, I. A., Samson, D., Chiavarino, C., Bickerton, W.-L., & Humphreys, G. W. (2007) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2006.04.012 · Cited by 68 · cited 2×
“Is intrinsic anatomical maturation of the neural regions necessary to support improved cognitive function of ToM, or is extensive practice in reasoning about people’s thoughts driving both improved performance and the specialization of brain regions? It is tempting to assume that biologically driven maturation of the…”
BackgroundCognitive and Neural Development of Individuated Self-Representation in Children
Ray, R., Shelton, A., Hollon, N., Michel, B. D., Frankel, C. B., Gross, J., & Gabrieli, J. (2009) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01327.x · Cited by 51
Beliefs about Truth and Beliefs about Rightness
Chandler, M. J., Sokol, B. W., & Wainryb, C. (2000) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00122 · Cited by 47
The Development of Children's Integration Rules for Making Moral Judgments
Grueneich, R. (1982) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129125 · Cited by 45
The Development of Children's Integration Rules for Making Moral Judgments
Grueneich, R. (1982) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1982.tb01350.x · Cited by 36
brglm : Bias reduction in binary-response GLMs
Kosmidis, I. (2010) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 36
Pillow, B. H., & Mash, C. (1999) · British Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1348/026151099165267 · Cited by 25
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Functional organization of social perception and cognition in the superior temporal sulcus
Deen, B., Koldewyn, K., Kanwisher, N., & Saxe, R. (2015) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhv111 · Cited by 443
“…al. 2000; Saxe and Kanwisher 2003; Saxe and Powell 2006; Ciaramidaro et al. 2007; Saxe et al. 2009; Dodell-Feder et al. 2011; Bruneau et al. 2012; Gweon et al. 2012), but some have also reportedmiddle and anterior STS regions like those observed in the present study (Dodell-Feder et al. 2011;…”
ResultInfluentialRe-evaluating the role of TPJ in attentional control: Contextual updating?
Geng, J. J., & Vossel, S. (2013) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.08.010 · Cited by 411
Navigating the Social Environment in Adolescence: The Role of Social Brain Development
Andrews, J. L., Ahmed, S. P., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2021) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.09.012 · Cited by 337
Development of the social brain from age three to twelve years
Richardson, H., Lisandrelli, G., Riobueno‐Naylor, A., & Saxe, R. R. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03399-2 · Cited by 366
The neurobiology of mentalizing.
Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2015) · Personality Disorders Theory Research and Treatment · doi:10.1037/per0000117 · Cited by 382
Metadata
- Authors
- Gweon, H., Dodell-Feder, D., Bedny, M., & Saxe, R.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-11-01
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1853-1868
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2113635677
- Cited by
- 206
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 27.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- theory of mind, children, temporoparietal junction, precuneus, medial prefrontal cortex, neural development, cognitive development, functional specialization, social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Brain, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Thinking, Young Adult, Theory of Mind
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
