The theory of mind test

Researcher Kadria Simons explains how the Theory of Mind test helps young children begin to understand other people's thoughts and feelings. This was one of our mid-year visits during the year-long Kindergarten Diaries series.

Reporter - Kate Hammer
Videographer - Anne-Marie Jackson
Editor - Douglas Perez

The Globe and Mail April 2011

[jecubowo]

The camera lookback that Kadri gave us after one of the Kids did something expected is everything

[ms.iglesia]

I absolutely love this video and love to show this to my Development class. The look on these kids is so awesome when they just get it!

[puffthemagicdragon]

very good. don't know how i ended up here but very good.

[dorito]

Do you guys happen to have a video on the responses made by younger children, or at least ones who haven't developed mental-state inference?

[TheAngiepangie]

What a great illustration of the theory. Thank you for sharing!

[cortexeducacao]

Would have been good to show an example where the child fails the test!

[irmagedden]

The more I study these tasks, the more it seems to me the younger children simply do not understand the task. That is, they do not have the linguistic capability to perform the task well.

[smaakjeks]

These are tasks we take completely for granted. Yet, when you think about it, it's actually pretty neat that we can simulate minds like that. And from such an early age!

[mikefraumeni]

Interesting that ToM is now being studied as well in adults with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and frontotemporal disorders. See:

1. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2019 Feb 20;15:557-573. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S158996.
eCollection 2019.

Neurocognitive mechanisms of theory of mind impairment in neurodegeneration: a
transdiagnostic approach.

Strikwerda-Brown C(1)(2)(3), Ramanan S(1)(2)(3), Irish M(1)(2)(3).

Much of human interaction is predicated upon our innate capacity to infer the
thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and perspectives of others, in short, to possess a
"theory of mind" (ToM). While the term has evolved considerably since its
inception, ToM encompasses our unique ability to apprehend the mental states of
others, enabling us to anticipate and predict subsequent behavior. From a
developmental perspective, ToM has been a topic of keen research interest, with
numerous studies seeking to explicate the origins of this fundamental capacity
and its disruption in developmental disorders such as autism. The study of ToM at
the opposite end of the lifespan, however, is paradoxically new born, emerging as
a topic of interest in its own right comparatively recently. Here, we consider
the unique insights afforded by studying ToM capacity in neurodegenerative
disorders. Arguing from a novel, transdiagnostic perspective, we consider how ToM
vulnerability reflects the progressive degradation of neural circuits specialized
for an array of higher-order cognitive processes. This mechanistic approach
enables us to consider the common and unique neurocognitive mechanisms that
underpin ToM dysfunction across neurodegenerative disorders and for the first
time examine its relation to behavioral disturbances across social, intimate,
legal, and criminal settings. As such, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview
of ToM research in neurodegeneration, the resultant challenges for family
members, clinicians, and the legal profession, and future directions worthy of
exploration.

DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S158996
PMCID: PMC6388953
PMID: 30863078

[michelromero]

This video es great, but I feel tricked, I came here to see kids getting it wrong.

[FromtheMindofJake]

Perhaps infants are professional trollers.

[archanadesai]

Who here knows that jim from the office has a good theory of mind?

[immabeamazing]

the background music is kind of creepy imo

[eleanorcb]

Please add closed captions if you can. Thank you!

[brokeneyes]

Is this basically testing a child’s ability to “put themselves in another’s shoe” or thr child assuming because they had an initial belief that others will come to the same conclusion?

In short is the test testing empathy or belief?

[justinkesner]

The questions associated with establishing the degree that someone experiences a 'theory of mind' are vague. To Autists in particular, the questions like the Sally/Anne scenario don't provide enough information to give a definitive answer. Autists need details: Is Sally the type of person to watch her belongings? Did Sally see Anne move the ball? Will Sally confront Anne directly, or would she act as though she doesn't know to see if Anne is a trustworthy person? These questions determine the most reasonable place to look. Asking these types of questions express that there's empathy and an even more extreme acknowledgement and understanding that these individuals (if they were real) have their own subjective experiences and a separate mind from our own. Many people just believe the test is ridiculous in the first place, because these are not real people, therefore do not experience in the first place. Refusing to ask these types of questions in a scenario that's lacking detailed information suggests that the person lacks an understanding of complexities in situations and is actually indicative of a more autonomous response based on what's reasonable to that specific individual; their answer is based on their own experiences and not an idea of others experiencing, yet they still pass. Theory of mind is a misguided concept thought up by those who have a deficit in this very area. The presumption that there's a lack of awareness of others' experiences can't actually be concluded in the first place, because those who make such a determination cannot experience the experiences of others, and so those who assume such a thing actually lack theory of mind themselves.

[thuanhuynh]

You try to give the video more brightness it will be great if you do

[terapiasomatica]

I would like to see one of then failing in the teste

[alihamdani]

for me this is mindblowing, it feels like a revelation

[MegaSakaura]

The last kid is also in the marshmellow test's video xD