Does the way we read others' mind change over the lifespan? Insights from a massive web poll of cognitive skills from childhood to late adulthood
Does the way we read others' mind change over the lifespan? Insights from a massive web poll of cognitive skills from childhood to late adulthood
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cortex.2016.09.009
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发表时间：
2017-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Daunizeau, Jean
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Klindt, David;Devaine, Marie;Daunizeau, Jean
心灵化或心理理论(Tom)，即识别人们所想或所感的能力，是人类社会智力的重要组成部分。最近有人提出，心理理论可以分解为自动的和受控的神经认知成分，只有后者参与执行功能(如工作记忆、抑制控制和任务切换)。这里的关键是这样一个概念，即这种双重过程预计将遵循不同的发展动态。在这项工作中，我们为这一概念提供了新的实验证据。我们报告了从大约3万名参与者那里收集的数据，这项大规模的网络民意调查涉及人们的认知技能，其中包括心理理论和执行功能。我们发现，尽管执行功能的成熟是同步发生的(大约20岁)，但不同的心智能力并非如此，不同的心智能力要么在成熟之前(对于初级TOM成分)，要么在之后(对于较高水平的TOM成分)。此外，我们还发现，执行功能的个体间差异预测了从成年期开始，即执行功能完全成熟之后，较高水平的TOM技能的变异性。综上所述，这些结果表明，TOM的受控成分的相对贡献随着年龄的增加而显著变化。特别是，这意味着，在人的一生中，当人们阅读他人的思想时，可能依赖于不同的认知架构。(C)2016爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。
Mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to recognize what people think or feel, is a crucial component of human social intelligence. It has been recently proposed that ToM can be decomposed into automatic and controlled neurocognitive components, where only the latter engage executive functions (e.g., working memory, inhibitory control and task switching). Critical here is the notion that such dual processes are expected to follow different developmental dynamics. In this work, we provide novel experimental evidence for this notion. We report data gathered from about thirty thousand participants of a massive web poll of peoples cognitive skills, which included ToM and executive functions. We show that although the maturation of executive functions occurs in synchrony (around 20 years of age), this is not the case for different mentalizing competences, which either mature before (for elementary ToM constituents) or after (for higher-level ToM). In addition, we show that inter-individual differences in executive functions predict variability in higher-level ToM skills from the onset of adulthood onwards, i.e., after the complete maturation of executive functions. Taken together, these results indicate that the relative contribution of ToM's controlled component significantly changes with age. In particular, this implies that, over the lifespan, people may rely upon distinct cognitive architectures when reading others' minds. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.