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- Title
Neural correlates of belief- and desire-reasoning in 7- and 8-year-old children: an event-related potential study.
- Authors
Bowman, Lindsay C.; Liu, David; Meltzoff, Andrew N.; Wellman, Henry M.
- Abstract
Theory of mind requires belief- and desire-understanding. Event-related brain potential (ERP) research on belief- and desire-reasoning in adults found mid-frontal activations for both desires and beliefs, and selective right-posterior activations only for beliefs. Developmentally, children understand desires before beliefs; thus, a critical question concerns whether neural specialization for belief-reasoning exists in childhood or develops later. Neural activity was recorded as 7- and 8-year-olds ( N = 18) performed the same diverse-desires, diverse-beliefs, and physical control tasks used in a previous adult ERP study. Like adults, mid-frontal scalp activations were found for belief- and desire-reasoning. Moreover, analyses using correct trials alone yielded selective right-posterior activations for belief-reasoning. Results suggest developmental links between increasingly accurate understanding of complex mental states and neural specialization supporting this understanding.
- Subjects
INFANT development; INFANT psychology; EVOKED potentials (Electrophysiology); BEHAVIORAL assessment of infants; VISUAL evoked response; REASONING in infants
- Publication
Developmental Science, 2012, Vol 15, Issue 5, p618
- ISSN
1363-755X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01158.x