Neurophysiolgical bases of children's theory of mind development

成功地参与社会世界需要一个“心理理论”--理解人类可观察到的行为是如何受到内部心理状态（如信念、欲望和意图）的激励的。心理理论推理在人类中是普遍的，它在儿童时期很早就发展起来了。一个特别重要的发展发生在大约3.5到4.5岁之间。在这一时期，学龄前儿童开始认识到，精神状态是对世界的主观的、特殊的表征，它可能不同于某些真实的事态（即，一个人可以相信不真实的东西）。这一基本见解为未来社会认知在包括沟通和道德推理在内的不同领域的发展铺平了道路。我们的研究项目的目标是描述伴随着这一关键转变的学龄前儿童的心理理论能力的神经学发展。我们将使用的技术是密集阵列脑电生理记录（EEG/ERP）。学龄前儿童（3至5岁）将访问我们的实验室，我们将使用一个“网”记录他们的脑电活动，该“网”将128个软海绵电极放置在整个头皮上。在一组研究中，我们将测量儿童静息脑电图特征的成熟变化与学龄前儿童心理理论发展的关系。在第二组研究中，我们将使用事件相关电位（ERP）来描述神经回路的发展变化，这些神经回路被在线招募来推理心理理论。最后，我们将进行研究，以检查这些神经成熟变化的特征如何受到经验和遗传学的影响。这项研究对于任何希望更好地理解基本认知技能的认知和神经生物学基础的人都很重要，这些基本认知技能使人类之间丰富的社会互动成为可能。这项研究对于那些努力理解心理理论推理受损的精神疾病的生物学基础的研究人员也特别感兴趣（例如，自闭症、精神分裂症、抑郁症）。

Successful engagement of the social world requires a "theory-of-mind" - an understanding of how humans observable actions are motivated by internal mental states, such as beliefs, desires, and intentions. Theory-of-mind reasoning is universal among humans, and it develops very early in childhood. A particularly important development occurs between the ages of about 3.5- to 4.5-years-old. During this period, preschoolers come to appreciate that mental states are subjective, idiosyncratic representations of the world that can differ from some true state of affairs (i.e., a person can believe something that is not true). This fundamental insight paves the way for future social-cognitive developments in diverse areas including communication and moral reasoning. The objective of our research program is to characterize the neurological developments that accompany this crucial transition in young preschoolers' theory-of-mind abilities. The technique that we will use is dense-array brain electrophysiological recordings (EEG/ERP). Preschool-aged children (between 3- and 5-years-old) will visit our laboratory, and we will record their brain electrical activity using a "net" that places 128 soft sponge electrodes around the entire scalp. In one set of studies, we will will measure how maturational changes in characteristics of children's resting EEG relate to preschoolers' theory-of-mind development. In a second set of studies, we will use event-related potentials (ERP) to characterize developmental changes in the neural circuitry that is recruited on-line to reason about theory-of-mind. Finally, we will conduct studies to examine how characteristics of these neuro-maturational changes are affected by experience, and by genetics. This research is important for anyone who wishes to better understand the cognitive and neurobiological bases of the fundamental cognitive skills that make rich social interaction among humans possible. This research is also of particular interest for those researchers who are striving to understand the biological bases of psychiatric disorders in which theory-of-mind reasoning is impaired (e.g., autism, schizophrenia, depression).