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Tidigare studier har påvisat att språkliga förmågor har ett nära samband med Theory of Mind (ToM). På senare tid har studier med hjälp av ögonrörelseteknik kunnat undersöka ToMförmåga implicit och fynden tyder på att barn redan i tvåårsåldern verkar ha en välutvecklad implicit ToM-förmåga. Resultaten från en av dessa studier har funnit att språkutvecklingen kan spela en avgörande roll i tillägnandet av ToM och tyder på att det kan finnas ett orsakssamband mellan språk och ToM. En viktig aspekt för att närmare förstå ToMutvecklingen är att undersöka vilken betydelse den språkliga förmågan har i tillägnandet av ToM. Det är fortfarande oklart om specifika delar av språket har mer betydelse för ToMutvecklingen än andra och hur sambandet mellan språkliga förmågor och ToM ser ut. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur ToM-förmåga och False Beliefförståelse förhåller sig till språkliga förmågor hos typiskt utvecklade barn i treårsåldern samt om dessa förmågor påverkas av barnens demografiska faktorer. Studien inkluderade sammanlagt 21 treåringar. Den språkliga förmågan undersöktes med mått på impressiv och expressiv grammatik samt med mått på expressivt ordförråd, som en del av den semantiska förmågan. För att undersöka ToM-förmågan som helhet användes mått på olika delförmågor av ToM. Vidare undersöktes False Belief-förståelse explicit, med klassiska FB-uppgifter, och implicit, med hjälp av ögonrörelseteknik.Studiens resultat påvisar att språkliga förmågor och ToM-förmåga har ett mycket nära samband, och att den semantiska förmågan är den del av språkförmågan som har den enskilt starkaste påverkan på ToM-förmågan. Resultaten visar även att den impressiva grammatiska förmågan är mer betydande specifikt för FB-förståelse än för ToM-förmågan som helhet. Ingen påverkan på språklig förmåga, ToM-förmåga och FB-förståelse hittades vad gäller barnens demografiska faktorer. Resultaten av det implicita FB-testet visar att majoriteten av de deltagande barnen inte har förstått vad testet går ut på och därför kan inga slutsatser dras vad gäller barnens implicita FB-förståelse. Detta resultat motsäger den tidigare forskningen med yngre barn. Många frågetecken kvarstår kring implicita test, vilket visar på vikten av mer forskning inom området. I den aktuella studien diskuteras även komplexiteten i förhållandet mellan språkliga förmågor och ToM. / Previous studies have shown that linguistic abilities are closely linked with Theory of Mind (ToM). Recently, studies using eyetracking technology have been able to investigate ToM understanding with implicit measures. The findings suggest that children as young as two years old appear to have a well-developed implicit ToM understanding. Results from one of these studies have found that language development could play a crucial role in the acquisition of ToM, suggesting that there may be a causal link between language and ToM. An important aspect to further understand ToM development is to investigate the impact of language in the acquisition of ToM understanding. It remains unclear whether specific aspects of language are more relevant to ToM development than others and how language abilities and ToM are interconnected. The aim of the present study was to investigate how ToM ability and False Belief understanding relates to linguistic abilities of typically developing three-year-olds and if childrens´ demographic factors affect these abilities. The study included a total of 21 children.  Language competence was assessed with measures of reception and production of syntax and a measure of vocabulary production, as part of the semantic ability. In order to investigate ToM ability, measures of different types of mental-state understandings were included. False Belief understanding was assessed with explicit measures, using standard FB tasks, and with implicit measures, using eyetracking technology. The results obtained in the present study confirm that linguistic abilities and ToM ability are strongly related, and that semantic ability is the part of language that has the strongest influence on ToM understanding. The results also indicate that receptive syntax is more important to specifically FB understanding, than to ToM ability in general. The childrens´ demographic factors were not found to affect their language ability, ToM ability or FB understanding. Regarding children's implicit FB understanding the results of the implicit measures reveal that the majority of the participating children did not understand the purpose of the test and therefore no conclusions of their implicit understanding could be drawn. This finding contradicts previous research including younger children. Questions remain concerning implicit measures, indicating the importance of further research in this field. The present study also discusses the complexity of the relationship between linguistic abilities and ToM.

Theory of mind är att kunna tillskriva andra människor mentala tillstånd som förklarar deras beteenden. Dessa mentala tillstånd kan röra sig om uppfattningar, intentioner eller känslor.    Theory of Mind Scale är en bedömningsskala utformad av Wellman och Liu (2004), som undersöker olika nivåer av theory of mind. Theory of Mind Scale är uppbyggd i skalsteg med stigande svårighetsgrad. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att översätta Theory of Mind Scale från engelska till svenska samt validera bedömningsskalan för barn mellan 3 och 4 år. Studien syftade även till att se om det fanns ett samband mellan dessa barns förmåga till theory of mind, impressiva grammatiska förmåga och impressiva ordförråd.      Valideringen i föreliggande studie visade att skalstegen i den amerikanska originalversionen av Theory of Mind Scale var applicerbara på barnen i föreliggande studie, med undantag för den sista uppgiften. Istället för att exkludera den sista uppgiften skulle ett alternativ till en bedömningsskala kunna vara att jämföra barns resultat mot ett medelvärde med en normalvariation. I föreliggande studie kunde ett barn mellan 3;0 och 3;11 års ålder förväntas klara 2,83 ± 2,50 uppgifter och ett barn mellan 4;0 och 4;11 års ålder förväntas klara 3,71 ± 1,50 uppgifter.    Resultaten visade att sambandet var starkare mellan ickeverbal intelligens och theory of mind än mellan impressivt ordförråd och theory of mind. Inget signifikant samband fanns mellan impressiv grammatisk förmåga och theory of mind. Översättningen och valideringen som gjorts i samband med föreliggande uppsats gör det möjligt att kvalitativt använda bedömningsskalan i det kliniska arbetet med barn som misstänks ha svårigheter med theory of mind. / Theory of mind is an ability to ascribe other people mental states to explain their behaviors. These mental states may regard beliefs, intentions or feelings.    Theory of Mind Scale is an evaluation scale designed by Wellman and Liu (2004). The scale consists of different scale steps of theory of mind, with an increasing difficulty. The purpose of this study was to translate Theory of Mind Scale from English to Swedish and validate the scale for children from the age of 3 to 4 years. The study also aims to examine if there is any relationship between children’s theory of mind, grammatical understanding, receptive vocabulary and non-verbal intelligence.    The validation of the present study showed that the order of the scale steps in the American original version of the Theory of Mind Scale was applicable to the children in the present study, with an exeption of the last task (real-apparent emotion). An alternative to the scale would be to compare the children’s performance against a normal variation. According to the present study a child between the age of 3;0 and 3;11 years could be expected to complete 2,83 ± 2,50 tasks and a child between the age of 4;0 and 4;11 years could be expected to complete 3,71 ± 1,50 tasks.    The results indicated a stronger correlation between theory of mind and non-verbal inteligence than between theory of mind and receptive vocabulary in children between the age of 3;0 and 4;11 years. No significant correlation existed between receptive grammar and theory of mind. The translation and validation of Theory of Mind Scale enables qualitative clinical investigations of theory of mind deficits in children.

Processing information related to the self and inferring the mental state of another person is known to involve the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) in both younger and older adults (Stone et al., 2008; Kelley et al., 2002; Hynes et al., 2006; Ruby et al., 2009). According to the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF) theory of cognitive ageing, processing of the self should not be affected by healthy adult ageing as functions related to the VMPFC remain relatively preserved compared to functions related to the DLPF cortex (MacPherson et al., 2002). Similarly, no age difference should emerge in those tasks thought to tap functions of the VMPFC. The aim of this PhD is to investigate the effect of healthy adult ageing on the ability to process information related to the self and others. A series of experiments was designed to compare the performance of younger and older adults on tasks that investigate processing and retrieval of self-related information (e.g. behaviour prediction, personality judgement, mental state inferences, self-referential). The tasks differ in the extent to which they rely on cognitive effort. The results show that ageing does not affect self-related judgements. A further series of experiments designed to investigate affective and cognitive Theory of Mind (ToM) show that the affective performance, thought to rely on VMPFC activity, is not affected by age. In contrast, the performance of older participants differs from that of younger adults on cognitive ToM task, thought to involve DLPFC brain areas. A final experiment investigated the ability to make self versus other related judgments in a confabulating patient. The results show that the ability to reflect on the self but not on others was intact. In summary, the findings demonstrate that processing self-information and making ToM inferences remains intact in older individuals and is not overtly impaired by confabulation.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, degenerative, neurological condition affecting approximately 85,000 people in the UK. The impact of MS on physical abilities is well‐known and there is increasing recognition of the impact of MS on mood and cognitive function. Recently MS has been linked to impaired emotion recognition and impaired Theory of Mind (ToM –the ability to attribute mental states, e.g. beliefs to oneself and others). Methods: This study measured executive function, ToM, empathy and quality of life in an MS sample (n=42). A correlational analysis was then conducted to determine whether executive function was associated with the other variables. Results: Two executive function measures (Mental Flexibility and Response to Feedback) were significantly associated with two ToM tasks (Revised Eyes and Stories). Mental Flexibility and the Revised Eyes ToM task were significantly associated with measures of empathy, but this effect was not present in the other executive function or ToM tasks. Neither executive functioning nor ToM measures were significantly associated with reported quality of life. Conclusion: Overall, the MS sample demonstrated specific ToM impairment, no significant empathy impairment and widespread executive impairment relative to normative data. Low rates of depression (10%) and higher levels of anxiety (29%) were found. MS participants rated the psychological impact of MS as equivalent to the physical impact, highlighting the importance of addressing psychological aspects of MS.

Recent functional neuroimaging evidence suggests that recalling autobiographical memories, imagining fictitious autobiographical episodes, and taking the perspective of another person activate a similar network of brain regions. Results from the two studies presented here provide further evidence of this common neural network. Previous evidence also suggests that recalling autobiographical memories from a first person or from a third person perspective can influence the way in which those memories are experienced as well as the brain regions that are engaged; however, the effect of perspective on imagining autobiographical events remains unclear. Results from Study 1 indicated that brain regions implicated in both remembering and imagining were differentially engaged during these tasks depending on whether a first person or a third person perspective was taken. In addition, while recalling autobiographical memories from a third person perspective can result in the feeling that a past self is more like another person, imagining oneself in the position of another person can result in the feeling that that person is more similar to oneself; this suggests a possible link between perspective in memory and social perspective taking. In Study 2, we identified several brain regions exhibiting a pattern of increasing or decreasing activation as a function of whether socially interactive events were recalled from a first person perspective, by imagining oneself as one's partner, or from a third person perspective (i.e., as a function of distance from one's own perspective). Together, our findings suggest that perspective plays an important role in the way in which brain regions that are part of this common neural network are engaged during memory, imagination, and socially interactive tasks.

The ability to represent the mental states of others (i.e., Theory of Mind, ToM) is vital for social interaction. There is limited information on ToM knowledge in children with specific language impairment (SLI). These children have deficient language abilities that cannot be explained by hearing, cognitive, or neurological problems. Furthermore, children with SLI experience difficulty in initiating and maintaining social pretend play. Language, pretend play, and ToM typically develop in concert, which may indicate that they share an underlying capacity for representation. Given that language is deficient in children with SLI, these children may have problems with ToM, which might be related to their social behaviors during pretend play. This study was the first to investigate the association between ToM and pretend play in children with and without SLI. Twenty-two children with SLI and 22 with typical development (TD), between 48-71 months of age, participated in this study. Children engaged in a variety of ToM tasks and participated in two pretend play assessments: a standardized pretend play assessment and a role play activity. Children with SLI scored significantly lower on ToM tasks and engaged less often in some sophisticated forms of pretend play than their age-matched peers with TD. After controlling for language and SES, there were no significant associations between ToM and pretend play in children with and without SLI. When language groups were analyzed individually, different patterns of associations emerged for children with and without SLI. ToM was positively associated with pretend play in children with TD but negatively associated in children with SLI. Moreover, inconsistent patterns of associations were observed for some children with SLI (i.e., poor ToM understanding but sophisticated pretend play or vice versa). This study demonstrated that children with SLI may also have concomitant problems in ToM and pretend play, which may have implications for clinical assessment and intervention. The study contributes to the literature by investigating the link between ToM and different forms of sophisticated pretend play in children with and without SLI. Given the different patterns of partial correlations, future investigation of the relationship between ToM and pretend play relationship is warranted.

Previous research into children’s understanding of line of sight has led to differing conclusions as to when and how children become able to appreciate that their view of an object will be different from another persons’ view of the same object. This is probably due to the diversity of response methods required from the children as well as different types of tasks and settings being used between the experiments. The aim of the present thesis is to investigate systematically how children will fare across various settings and whether their comprehension of line of sight can be biased by the task’s setting. The first experiment assessed children’s understanding of line of sight through a tube that was bent to varying degrees of curvature and whether their response pattern would change when feedback was provided. Results showed that children have great difficulty performing correctly on this task, especially when the degree of curvature is small. The older children corrected their response pattern when feedback was provided but the younger children tended to persevere in their response pattern regardless of contradictory feedback. The second experiment looked at children’s performance when walls were used - half the walls were smooth gradual curves while the other half was walls made up of two segments that met to form an angle. Again the children were asked to predict if two dolls placed at opposite ends of each wall would be able to see each other. Results showed that though even young children have no trouble in performing correctly on the “angled” walls, performance on the curved walls was significantly poorer with the older children performing better than the younger children. The third experiment sought to quantify the point at which children deemed line of sight became possible. To do this we used a single “U” shaped trench with the children being asked if one doll could see another in various configurations. The results showed a strong bias towards over estimating visibility. The fourth experiment repeated the second experiment but used wooden trenches instead of walls but also sought to quantify the “switchover” point at which the children deem vision becomes possible between the two dolls. The difference between angles and curves was once again replicated as was the age difference. The fifth experiment compared children’s appreciation of line of sight through/along tubes, trenches and walls. This performance level varied strongly depending on the type of task the child was asked to perform upon with the tube proving to be the most difficult and the angled trench the easiest. The overall findings of the experiment pointed to a context-dependent performance, implying a piece-meal development of childrens’ comprehension of line of sight.

Understanding others’ emotions and false beliefs, known as Theory of Mind (ToM), and to recognise and produce facial expressions of emotion has been linked to social competence. Deaf children born to hearing parents have commonly shown a deficit, or at best a delay in ToM. The emotion processing skills of deaf children are less clear. The main aims of this thesis were to clarify the ability of emotion recognition in deaf children, and to provide the first investigation in emotion production. While deaf children were poorer than hearing controls at recognising expressions of emotion in cartoon faces, a similar pattern was found in both groups’ recognition of real human faces of the six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise). For deaf children, emotion recognition was better in dynamic rather than static, and intense rather than subtle, displays of emotion. With the exception of disgust, no differences in individual emotions were found, suggesting that the use of ecologically valid dynamic real faces facilitates deaf children’s emotion recognition. Deaf children’s ability to produce the six basic emotions was compared to hearing children by videoing voluntary encodings of facial expression elicited via verbal labels and emotion signed stories, and the imitation of dynamic displays of real facial expressions of emotion. With the exception of a poorer performance in imitation and the verbally elicited production of disgust, deaf children were consistently rated by human judges overall as producing more recognisable and intense expressions, suggesting that clarity and expressiveness may be important to deaf individuals’ emotion display rules. In line with previous studies, results showed a delay in passing the first and second order belief tasks in comparison to age matched controls, but not in comparison to a group of ‘age appropriate’ hearing control children. These findings encouragingly suggest that while deaf children of hearing parents show a delay in ToM and understanding disgust, emotion processing skills follow a broadly similar pattern of development to hearing control children. Language experience is implicated in difficulties faced in social and emotion cognition, with reduced opportunities to discuss more complex emotional and mental states.