Child and Animal Learning Development

Superior Frontal Gyrus Cortical Thickness Mediates the Association Between Openness to Experience and Theory of Mind: Evidence from the Human Connectome Project

Perceived social value is more strongly linked to gossip decisions with age in adolescence

The paper shows that adolescents' gossip decisions become more linked to perceived social value with age, particularly in interest valuation and sharing with close friends.

I err, therefore I am: Neural signature of error-monitoring predicts self-awareness in infants

The paper shows that neural error-monitoring in 12-month-old infants predicts later self-recognition, suggesting early metacognition contributes to self-awareness development.

Theory of mind predicts conversational success in early right hemisphere stroke recovery

This study links theory of mind (ToM) abilities to conversational success in early right hemisphere stroke recovery, showing ToM predicts conversational performance independently of cognitive and demographic factors.

Pretend Comprehension Enhances Social and Exploratory Behaviors in Human Toddlers and Adults

This study shows that toddlers and adults look more at faces and show more exploratory gaze patterns when watching pretend actions compared to real actions.

The cerebellum supports two systems for understanding others in early childhood

This study identifies distinct cerebellar regions associated with explicit ToM and nonverbal action prediction in young children.

Egocentric belief attribution enables higher level Theory of Mind computation in group interactions.

This study shows that egocentric belief attribution supports adaptive decision-making in complex social interactions by enabling strategic alternation in group decision-making tasks.

Eye movements reveal the intuitive understanding of materials and their behavior

This study uses anticipatory eye movements to investigate dynamic predictions of material behavior and finds that intuitive expectations influence these predictions even when they conflict with learned information.

Inferential reasoning in non-humans: a critical analysis of experimental evidence

This paper challenges the interpretation of animal behavior as inferential reasoning, arguing that correct choices in experimental tasks can result from stimulus-response associations rather than logical reasoning.

BELIEFS: A Hierarchical Theory of Mind Model based on StrategyInference

BELIEFS is a probabilistic ToM model that infers latent strategies and beliefs from behavior, outperforming WSLS-based models in predicting opponent choices across games.

Head before heart? Cognitive empathy may emerge before affective empathy in the developing brain

This study investigates whether cognitive empathy emerges before affective empathy in toddlers using fNIRS and heart rate monitoring, finding stronger cognitive empathy activation in younger children.

Computational neurodevelopment: infant decision-making in changing environments

This paper develops a novel paradigm to study infant decision-making and applies computational models to identify subtypes with distinct cognitive profiles.

Mother-child dyadic interactions shape children's social brain and theory of mind

The paper examines how age and parental caregiving influence social brain development and Theory of Mind in children through naturalistic fMRI studies of mother-child dyads.

Perspective taking activates one's own perceptual object processing in infants and adults

The paper shows that when others see objects, participants' own neural object processing persists, indicating shared perceptual representation in infants and adults.

A dorsal versus ventral network for understanding others in the developing brain

The paper identifies distinct neural networks for non-verbal action prediction and verbal Theory of Mind in 3- to 4-year-old children, showing different maturation patterns.

Predicting Theory of Mind in children from the infant connectome

The paper predicts Theory of Mind development in children using early brain connectivity patterns from resting-state fMRI data of infants.

Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum supports the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood

The paper shows that children with emerging Theory of Mind activate cerebellar regions similar to adults and exhibit distinct functional connectivity patterns related to ToM development.

Objective assessment of visual attention in toddlerhood

This study assesses visual attention in toddlers using eye-tracking data from 350 participants and introduces a shared data resource for research.

Peer presence elicits task-independent changes within and beyond the mentalizing network across children and adults

The paper investigates how peer presence affects brain activity during different tasks in children and adults, finding task-independent neural changes in social cognition networks.

Late maturation of semantic control promotes conceptual development

The paper shows that delayed maturation of semantic control in the prefrontal cortex supports conceptual learning by allowing flexible use of conceptual knowledge during development.

Heterogeneity of social cognition in temporo-parietal junction: Overlapping yet distinct representation between visual perspective-taking and theory of mind

This study compares neural activation patterns in the temporo-parietal junction during visual perspective taking and theory of mind tasks, finding overlapping yet distinct representations.

Cognitive and affective Theory of Mind double dissociation after parietal and temporal lobe tumors

This study examines ToM deficits in brain tumor patients, finding a double dissociation between parietal and temporal lobe damage affecting cognitive and affective ToM components.

Right Temporoparietal Junction Encodes Mental Experience of Others More Than Evaluating False Versus True Belief

The paper investigates how the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) encodes mental states during theory of mind tasks, finding it reflects the cartoon character's perspective rather than the truth of beliefs.

Understanding Others Requires Right Temporoparietal and Inferior Frontal Regions

This study shows that right temporoparietal and inferior frontal brain regions are necessary for understanding others' knowledge and beliefs.

The Cognitive Mechanisms That Drive Social Belief Updates During Adolescence

This study identifies three cognitive mechanisms—prior beliefs, prior uncertainty, and uncertainty tolerance—that drive age-related changes in belief updates about peer trustworthiness during adolescence.

Pragmatic Language Processing in the Adolescent Brain

This study uses fMRI to examine brain networks involved in pragmatic language processing in adolescents, finding stronger activation for indirect affective replies compared to other types.

Defining the neural correlates of spontaneous theory of mind (ToM): An fMRI mega-analytic investigation

This study investigates the neural correlates of spontaneous theory of mind using fMRI mega-analysis, finding activation in posterior parietal cortex and visuospatial regions, but not medial prefrontal cortex.