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.
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“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
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“, 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
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An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment
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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?
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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
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
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