Neurocognitive Mechanisms Underlying Children's Theory of Mind Development

儿童心理理论发展的神经认知机制

• 批准号: 8106222
• 负责人: David Liu
• 金额: $ 7.42万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-10 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8106222
• 关键词: 4 year old; 5 year old; Age; Autistic Disorder; Belief; Child; Cognitive; Communication; Communication impairment; Conceptions; Data; Development; Elderly; Electroencephalography; Emotions; Goals; Growth; Human; Impaired cognition; Impairment; Individual; Infant; Knowledge; Learning; Life; Measures; Mind; Nature; Neurocognitive; Nursery Schools; Process; Psychology; Research; Social Functioning; Social Interaction; Staging; System; Toddler; insight; mental state; neural circuit; neurodevelopment; neuroimaging; neurophysiology; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; social; theories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As social beings, developing the capacity to communicate and interact with others, to acquire cultural knowledge, and to form relationships is essential for successful human growth. Central to these social- cognitive capabilities is the development of theory of mind - the understanding that the actions of self and others are attributable to internal mental states, such as beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions. The importance of understanding mental states for social functioning is underscored in the case of autism; individuals with autism appear to have specific impairments in their understanding mental states, which results in profound deficits in communication, social interactions, and forming relationships. To understand the neural substrates of such impairments, research must first investigate the neural substrates of how theory of mind typically develops. Although numerous functional neuroimaging studies have examined theory of mind in adults and older children, there are almost no data on the neural correlates of theory of mind in young children. Research has shown that core aspects of theory of mind develop during the preschool years. One consistent feature of theory of mind development is that children's understanding of desires precedes their understanding of beliefs. In addition, to the extent that much older children with autism answer theory-of-mind questions correctly, they do so for questions about desires at an earlier age than for questions about beliefs. However, little is know about why there is this age lag in the development of belief reasoning versus desire reasoning. The main hypothesis of the proposed studies is that the developmental lag in belief reasoning versus desire reasoning hinges on the involvement of different cognitive processes which are supported by different neural circuitries maturing at different ages. The specific aims of the proposed project are (1) to determine the neural systems associated with belief reasoning versus desire reasoning and (2) to investigate the development of these neural systems in relation to children's understanding of desires and their understanding of beliefs. Across several studies, neurophysiological data (EEG and ERP) will be recorded as children perform tasks involving belief reasoning and tasks involving desire reasoning, as well as tasks involving reasoning about other mental states (knowledge, emotions). Both EEG and ERP measures will be investigated to allow for a diversity of tasks that can be used with children and to provide greater generalizability of the findings. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The project will provide insights into cognitive and neural underpinnings of the development of core social- cognitive abilities. Such insights will set the stage for greater understanding of the neural substrates of social- cognitive impairments in social and communicative disorders, such as autism.

描述（由申请人提供）：作为社会人，培养与他人沟通和互动的能力、获取文化知识以及建立关系的能力对于人类成功成长至关重要。这些社会认知能力的核心是心理理论的发展，即理解自我和他人的行为可归因于内部心理状态，例如信念、欲望、意图和情感。以自闭症为例，强调了理解心理状态对于社会功能的重要性；自闭症患者在理解心理状态方面似乎存在特定障碍，从而导致沟通、社交互动和建立关系方面的严重缺陷。为了了解这种损伤的神经基础，研究必须首先调查心理理论通常如何发展的神经基础。尽管大量的功能神经影像学研究已经检验了成人和年龄较大儿童的心理理论，但几乎没有关于幼儿心理理论的神经相关性的数据。研究表明，心理理论的核心方面是在学龄前阶段发展起来的。心智发展理论的一个一贯特征是，儿童对欲望的理解先于他们对信念的理解。此外，就年龄大得多的自闭症儿童正确回答心理理论问题而言，他们在回答有关欲望的问题时比回答有关信仰的问题更早。然而，人们对为什么信念推理与欲望推理的发展存在这种年龄滞后却知之甚少。所提出的研究的主要假设是，信念推理与欲望推理的发展滞后取决于不同认知过程的参与，这些过程由不同年龄成熟的不同神经回路支持。该项目的具体目标是（1）确定与信念推理和欲望推理相关的神经系统；（2）研究这些神经系统的发展与儿童对欲望的理解和对信念的理解有关。在多项研究中，当儿童执行涉及信念推理的任务、涉及欲望推理的任务以及涉及推理其他心理状态（知识、情绪）的任务时，将记录神经生理学数据（脑电图和ERP）。我们将对 EEG 和 ERP 测量进行研究，以允许对儿童进行多种任务，并提供研究结果的更大普遍性。 公共卫生相关性：该项目将提供对核心社会认知能力发展的认知和神经基础的见解。这些见解将为更好地理解自闭症等社交和沟通障碍中的社交认知障碍的神经基础奠定基础。