I skolans läseböcker används ofta bilder som stöd för läsningen. Men om bilder kräver att läsaren förstår bildkaraktärers sinnestillstånd riskerar de att hindra läsförståelsen hos elever med outvecklad mentaliseringsförmåga, vilka kan finnas bland exempelvis barn med autismspektrumtillstånd. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur mentaliseringskrävande bilder och relationen mellan ord och bild i läseböckerna Den magiska kulan 1A och Den magiska kulan 1C för årskurs 1 påverkar möjligheten till läsförståelse för elever med outvecklad mentaliseringsförmåga. Som utgångspunkt ligger intermediala studier och Langers teori om läsning som ett byggande av föreställningsvärldar. Läsebokens bild och skrivna text utgör likvärdigt meningsbärande textmodaliteter som tolkas i läsarens möte med texten. Genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys undersöks bilders mentaliseringskrav, samt omfattning och form av läsförståelsestöd som ges genom den skrivna texten. Resultatet visar att stora delar av materialet kräver mentaliseringsförmåga för läsförståelse. Den skrivna textens explicita uttryck av mentaliseringskrävande bildelement gör merparten av läseböckernas innehåll tillgängligt. Samtidigt utgör en betydande andel av bilderna hinder för läsförståelse genom implicit eller utebliven stöttning i den skrivna texten, främst i texter med kompletterande berättelseform.

Understanding indirect speech, i.e., when an utterance does not match the intended meaning, is one of many pragmatic abilities at play in conversation. While the development of pragmatic abilities starts early, they continually develop throughout adolescence although this period is understudied. Recent fMRI-results in adults suggest that pragmatic processing is segregable from other skills, such as core language, theory of mind (ToM), and cognitive control functions. In this thesis, pragmatic processing was investigated in adolescents contrasting indirect and direct speech. Brain activity was measured using fMRI in adolescents listening to short conversations and existing data from adults was used to investigate age-related effects. The bilateral occipital gyri and the cuneus showed stronger activation in adolescents when listening to indirect speech. The cuneus has previously been implicated in ToM-tasks and socio-emotional processing. The results support earlier accounts of differing neural signatures of ToM with age and heightened social sensitivity in adolescence, and could mean that pragmatics draws more on ToM at younger ages. Additional results showed an interaction while listening to parts of the conversations not manipulated by the main contrast: greater activation in adults could in part reflect differences in attention or engagement. / Att förstå indirekt tal, det vill säga när ett yttrande inte matchar den bakomliggande meningen, är en av många pragmatiska förmågor som används under konversation. Utveckling av pragmatiska förmågor börjar tidigt i livet och fortsätter att utvecklas under tonåren, dock är den perioden understuderad. fMRI-resultat hos vuxna föreslår att pragmatisk bearbetning går att skilja från andra förmågor, såsom språk, mentalisering  och kognitiv kontroll. I den här uppsatsen undersöktes pragmatisk bearbetning hos ungdomar genom att kontrastera indirekt och direkt tal. Hjärnaktivitet mättes med fMRI hos ungdomar när de lyssnade på korta konversationer och tidigare insamlad data från vuxna användes för att undersöka åldersrelaterade effekter. Starkare aktivering hittades hos ungdomar i bilaterala occipitalloben och vänster cuneus när de lyssnade på indirekt tal. Dessa områden har kopplats till mentalisering och socio-emotionell bearbetning. Detta stämmer överens med tidigare resultat där ToM-aktivering ändras med åldern och att ungdomsåren är extra socialt känsliga och skulle kunna innebära att pragmatik använder sig mer av ToM tidigare i livet. Ytterligare resultat visade interaktion under språklig bearbetning av tal som inte var del av den huvudsakliga manipulation. Starkare aktivering hos vuxna skulle delvis kunna indikera skillnader i uppmärksamhet och engagemang.

Cette thèse examine l'évolution du concept d'esprit dans la lignée humaine, en comparaison du développement de ce concept chez l’enfant, afin de déterminer quand les êtres humains auraient commencé à penser aux autres et à eux-mêmes en tant qu’esprit dans un corps. Une revue de la littérature sur le concept au travers l’histoire a permis de le définir comme un outil cognitif désignant les agents intentionnels ayant une influence sur la matière. Compte tenu de cette définition, le concept d'esprit est donc un précurseur du sens de l’agentivité et de la faculté cognitive permettant d'attribuer l'esprit à autrui, également appelée Théorie de l'Esprit (TdE). Il est suggéré que l’agentivité et la TdE se développent en trois stades dans la lignée, de la même manière qu’on l’observe chez l’enfant : 1) la conscience de soi et des autres, 2) l’attention conjointe et 3) la présence d'émotions sociales complexes telles que la compassion. Une revue systématique a ensuite été réalisée dans le but de sélectionner, sans biais, des données archéologiques infirmant ou confirmant cette hypothèse. La revue est basée sur l’impact annuel moyen des textes (nombre de citations) et utilise des combinaisons de mots-clés en lien avec les manifestations probable du concept de l’esprit, de l’agentivité et de la TdE durant la préhistoire. Les résultats de l'analyse portent à croire que : 1) l’agentivité et la TdE1 (conscience de soi et des autres) existeraient au moins depuis Homo habilis, mais probablement depuis l’ancêtre commun à Pan et Homo; 2) la TdE2 (attention conjointe) serait présente au moins depuis Homo erectus/ergaster, mais probablement depuis l’ancêtre commun à Pan et Homo si nous supposons que les trois stades ont évolué de manière consécutive tel qu’observé chez l’enfant; et 3) la TdE3 serait présente au moins depuis Homo erectus/ergaster mais probablement depuis l’ancêtre commun de Pan et Homo. Finalement, on peut aussi conclure que : 4) le volume du néocortex semble avoir augmenté en parallèle à la maîtrise et au développement de l’agentivité et de la TdE, et ce depuis au moins le début de la lignée Homo. Le rôle de l’esprit dans la complexité sociale et les raisons de son émergence sont explorés en détails dans la conclusion. / This thesis examines the evolution of the concept of mind in the human lineage, in comparison with the development of this concept in children, to determine when humans would have started to think of others and of themselves as a spirit in a body. A review of the literature on the concept throughout history has made it possible to define it as a cognitive tool enabling intentional agents to have an influence on matter. Given this definition, the concept of mind is therefore a precursor to the sense of agency and the cognitive ability to attribute mind to others, also known as Theory of Mind (ToM). It is proposed that agency and ToM evolve in three stages along the Homo line, like what is seen in children: 1) awareness of self and others, 2) joint attention, and 3) the presence of complex social emotions such as compassion. A systematic review was then carried out with the aim of selecting, without bias, archaeological data invalidating or confirming this hypothesis. The review was based on the average annual impact of the articles (number of citations) and used combinations of keywords related to the likely manifestations of the concept of mind, agency, and ToM during prehistory. The results of the analysis suggest that: 1) Agency and ToM1 (awareness of self and others) existed at least since Homo habilis, but probably since the common ancestor to Pan and Homo; 2) ToM2 (joint attention) was present at least in Homo erectus/ergaster, but probably since the common ancestor between Pan and Homo, if we assume that the three stages evolved consecutively as observed in children; and 3) the ToM3 (compex social emotions) was present at least since Homo erectus/ergaster but probably already in the common ancestor of Pan and Homo. Finally, we can also suggest that: 4) the volume of the neocortex seems to have increased in parallel with the mastery and development of agency and ToE, and this being the case since at least the beginning of the Homo lineage. The role of the mind in social complexity and the reasons for its evolution are explored further in the conclusion.

No description available.

[pt] A teoria da mente (ToM) é definida como a habilidade de inferir estados mentais internos de outras pessoas. Há consenso na literatura de que ToM é um marcador sociocognitivo do Transtorno do Espectro autista-TEA. A testagem é realizada, em grande parte, a partir de um paradigma denominado falsa crença. Contudo, verifica-se a necessidade de instrumentos de avaliação mais apurados, que compreendam: a complexidade do constructo, a relação com outros domínios cognitivos como funções executivas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver e verificar evidências de validade de um novo instrumento que avalie os diferentes domínios de ToM para auxílio de diagnóstico em crianças com TEA. Este estudo foi registrado no Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Pontifícia Universidade Católica-PUC-Rio. O projeto foi dividido em quatro estudos, que englobavam desde uma revisão bibliográfica sobre as tarefas de ToM utilizadas em avaliações de crianças com diagnóstico de TEA, até mostrar evidências de validade do instrumento de nominado Bateria de avaliação em Teoria da Mente-BToM. Os resultados mostraram que BToM possui evidências de validade de conteúdo e de constructo, bem como de precisão. Além disso, identifica tarefas de Estados Mentais e Verbalizações, como possíveis marcadores sociocognitivos no diagnóstico de fenótipos mais leves do TEA. / [en] Theory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the ability to infer other s internal mental states. There is a consensus in the literature that ToM is a sociocognitive marker of Autism Spectrum Disorder-ASD. Performance is assessed in majority from false belief paradigm. However, there is a need for more accurate assessment tools, which include: complexity of the construct, interface with other cognitive domains as executive functions. The purpose of this work was to develop and verify validity’s evidences of a new instrument who evaluates differents ToM domains for diagnostic support in children with ASD. This study was registered in the Research Ethics Committee of Pontifical Catholical University of Rio de Janeiro-PUC-Rio. The project was divided into five studies, ranging from a literature review of ToM tasks used in assessments of ASD children, to show validity evidences of the instrument nominated Battery of Theory of Mind-BToM. The results showed BToM has evidence of content and construct validity as well as accuracy. In addition, it identifies Mental States and Verbalizations tasks as possible sociocognitive markers on diagnoses of lighter ASD phenotypes.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer others’ mental states and thus to predict their behavior (Perner, 1991). Therefore, ToM is essential for the adequate adjustment of behavior in social situations. ToM can be divided into: 1) cognitive ToM encompassing inferences about intentions and beliefs and 2) affective ToM encompassing inferences about emotions (Shamay-Tsoory, Harari, Aharon-Peretz, & Levkovitz, 2010). Well-functioning skills of both ToM aspects are much-needed in the developmental period of adolescence because in this age phase peer relationships become more important and romantic relationships arise (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Importantly, affective psychopathological disorders often have their onset in adolescence. ToM development in adolescence might be based on underlying cognitive mechanisms such as the ability to inhibit one’s own thoughts in order to understand another person’s thoughts (Carlson & Moses, 2001). Another possible mechanism relates to functional brain development across adolescence (Blakemore, 2008). Therefore, neurocognitive mechanisms may underlie ongoing ToM development in adolescence. First studies indicate an ongoing behavioral and functional brain development of ToM (e.g. Blakemore, 2008). However, ToM development in adolescence and how this might relate to underlying (neuro)cognitive functions remains largely underexamined. The major aims of the current thesis were first to answer the overall question whether there is an ongoing development of ToM in adolescence. This question relates to both behavioral and functional brain development. As a second major aim, the present work sought to elucidate possible (neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ongoing ToM development across adolescence. Specifically, these cognitive mechanisms might be basic cognitive functions as well as executive functions. Additionally, the present work aimed at exploring potential (neuro)cognitive mechanisms through an integration of both behavioral and functional brain studies. The current experimental work spans three cross-sectional studies investigating adolescents (aged around 12-15 years) and young adults (aged around 18-22 years) to examine for the first time both the behavioral (studies I and II) and functional brain development of ToM (study III) in adolescence and its underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. In all three studies, more complex, advanced ToM tasks were employed to avoid ceiling effects. Study I was aimed at investigating if cognitive and affective ToM continues to develop in adolescence and at exploring if basic cognitive variables such as verbal ability, speed of processing, and working memory capacity underlie such development. Hence, two groups of adolescents and young adults completed tasks of ToM and basic cognitive abilities. Large age effects were revealed on both measures of ToM: adolescents performed lower than adults. These age differences remained significant after controlling for basic cognitive variables. However, verbal ability covaried with performance in affective ToM. Overall, results support the hypothesis of an ongoing development of ToM from adolescence to adulthood on both cognitive and affective aspects. Results may further indicate verbal ability being a basic cognitive mechanism of affective ToM. Study II was designed to further explore if affective ToM, as measured with a dynamic realistic task, continues to develop across adolescence. Importantly, this study sought to explore executive functions as higher cognitive mechanisms of developing affective ToM across adolescence. A large group spanning adolescents and young adults evaluated affective mental states depicted by actors in video clips. Additionally, participants were examined with three subcomponents of executive functions, inhibition, updating, and shifting following the classification of Miyake et al. (2000). Affective ToM performance was positively related to age and all three executive functions. Specifically, inhibition explained the largest amount of variance in age related differences of affective ToM performance. Overall, these results indicate the importance of inhibition as key underlying mechanism of developing an advanced affective ToM in adolescence. Study III set out to explore the functional brain development of affective ToM in adolescence by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The affective ToM measure was the behavioral developmentally sensitive task from study II. An additional control condition consisted of the same emotional stimuli with the instruction to focus on physical information. This study faced methodical challenges of developmental fMRI studies by matching performance of groups. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) was significantly less deactivated in adolescents in comparison to adults, which might suggest that adolescents seem to rely more on self-referential processes for affective ToM. Furthermore, adolescents compared to adults showed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the control condition, indicating that adolescents might be distracted by the emotional content and therefore needed to focus more on the physical content of the stimulus. These findings suggest affective ToM continues to develop on the functional brain level and reveals different underlying neurocognitive strategies for adolescents in contrast to adults. In summary, the current thesis investigated whether ToM continues to develop in adolescence until young adulthood and explored underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. Findings suggest that there is indeed an ongoing development of both the cognitive and affective aspect of ToM, which importantly contributes to the conceptual debate. Moreover, the second benefit to the debate is to demonstrate how this change may occur. As a basic cognitive mechanism verbal ability and as an executive functioning mechanism inhibition was revealed. Furthermore, neurocognitive mechanisms in form of different underlying neurocognitive strategies of adolescents compared to adults were shown. Taken together, ToM development in adolescence seems to mirror a different adaptive cognitive style in adolescence (Crone & Dahl, 2012). This seems to be important for solving the wealth of socio-emotional developmental tasks that are relevant for this age span.

Reading development is supported by strong language skills, not least in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The work in the present thesis investigates reading development in DHH children who use sign language, attend Regional Special Needs Schools (RSNS) in Sweden and are learning to read. The primary aim of the present work was to investigate whether the reading skills of these children can be improved via computerized sign language based literacy training. Another aim was to investigate concurrent and longitudinal associations between skills in reading, sign language, and cognition in this population. The results suggest that sign language based literacy training may support development of word reading. In addition, awareness and manipulation of the sub-lexical structure of sign language seem to assist word reading, and imitation of familiar signs (i.e., vocabulary) may be associated with developing reading comprehension. The associations revealed between sign language skills and reading development support the notion that sign language skills provide a foundation for emerging reading skills in DHH signing children. In addition, the results also suggest that working memory and Theory of Mind (ToM) are related to reading comprehension in this population. Furthermore, the results indicate that sign language experience enhances the establishment of representations of manual gestures, and that progression in ToM seems to be typical, although delayed, in RSNS pupils. Working memory has a central role in integrating environmental stimuli and language-mediated representations, and thereby provides a platform for cross-modal language processing and multimodal language development. / En god språklig förmåga bidrar till god läsutveckling, inte minst hos döva och hörselskadade (D/H) barn. Studierna som ingår i avhandlingen undersöker läsutveckling hos D/H elever som går på teckenspråkiga specialskolor och som håller på att lära sig att läsa. Arbetets huvudsakliga syfte var att undersöka om deras läsförmåga kan förbättras via datoriserad teckenspråksbaserad lästräning. Ett annat syfte var att undersöka samtida och longitudinella samband mellan läsförmåga, teckenspråk, och kognition i samma population. Resultaten indikerar att teckenspråksbaserad lästräning kan bidra till ordläsningsutveckling. Vidare pekar resultaten på att medvetenhet om och manipulation av teckenspråkets sublexikala struktur stöttar läsförmågan och dessutom att imitation av kända tecken (i.e., vokabulär) var associerat med utvecklingen av barnens läsförståelse. Dessa fynd visar att teckenspråkskunskaper kan utgöra en grund för läsutveckling hos teckenspråkiga D/H elever. Resultaten indikerade även att arbetsminne och Theory of Mind (ToM) är relaterade till läsförståelse i denna grupp. Vid sidan av resultaten rörande läsutveckling, framkom också att teckenspråkserfarenhet leder till starkare etablering av representationer av manuella gester och vidare att barnens mentaliseringsförmåga (Theory of Mind) uppvisade en förväntad progression, om än försenad. En implikation av detta är att insatser som stöttar utveckling av teckenbaserade representationer och deras användning vid bearbetning av skrivet språk kan främja läsutveckling hos teckenspråkiga D/H elever. Arbetsminne föreslås genom sin roll i integration mellan inkommande stimuli och språkmedierade representationer fungera som en plattform för modalitetsöverskridande språkbearbetning och multimodal språkutveckling.

The guiding question for this essay is: who is the learner? The aim is to examine and criticize one answer to this question, sometimes referred to as the theory of the learning brain, which suggests that the explanation of human learning can be reduced to the transmitting and storing of information in the brain’s formal and representational architecture, i.e., that the brain is the learner. This essay will argue that this answer is misleading, because it cannot account for the way people strive to learn in an attempt to lead a good life as it misrepresents the intentional life of the mind, which results in its counting ourselves out of the picture when it attempts to provide a scientific theory of the learning process. To criticize the theory of the learning brain, this essay will investigate its philosophical foundation, a theory of mind called cognitivism, which is the basis for the cognitive sciences. Cognitivism is itself built on three main tenets: mentalism, the mind-brain identity theory and the computer analogy. Each of these tenets will be criticized in turn, before the essay turns to criticize the theory of the learning brain itself. The focus of this essay is, in other words, mainly negative. The hope is that this criticism will lay the groundwork for an alternative view of mind, one that is better equipped to give meaningful answers to the important questions we have about what it means to learn, i.e., what we learn, how we do it and why. This alternative will emphasize the holistic and intentional character of the human mind, and consider the learning process as an intentional activity performed, not by isolated brains, but by people with minds that are extended, embodied, enacted and embedded in a sociocultural and physical context.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer others’ mental states and thus to predict their behavior (Perner, 1991). Therefore, ToM is essential for the adequate adjustment of behavior in social situations. ToM can be divided into: 1) cognitive ToM encompassing inferences about intentions and beliefs and 2) affective ToM encompassing inferences about emotions (Shamay-Tsoory, Harari, Aharon-Peretz, & Levkovitz, 2010). Well-functioning skills of both ToM aspects are much-needed in the developmental period of adolescence because in this age phase peer relationships become more important and romantic relationships arise (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Importantly, affective psychopathological disorders often have their onset in adolescence. ToM development in adolescence might be based on underlying cognitive mechanisms such as the ability to inhibit one’s own thoughts in order to understand another person’s thoughts (Carlson & Moses, 2001). Another possible mechanism relates to functional brain development across adolescence (Blakemore, 2008). Therefore, neurocognitive mechanisms may underlie ongoing ToM development in adolescence. First studies indicate an ongoing behavioral and functional brain development of ToM (e.g. Blakemore, 2008). However, ToM development in adolescence and how this might relate to underlying (neuro)cognitive functions remains largely underexamined. The major aims of the current thesis were first to answer the overall question whether there is an ongoing development of ToM in adolescence. This question relates to both behavioral and functional brain development. As a second major aim, the present work sought to elucidate possible (neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ongoing ToM development across adolescence. Specifically, these cognitive mechanisms might be basic cognitive functions as well as executive functions. Additionally, the present work aimed at exploring potential (neuro)cognitive mechanisms through an integration of both behavioral and functional brain studies. The current experimental work spans three cross-sectional studies investigating adolescents (aged around 12-15 years) and young adults (aged around 18-22 years) to examine for the first time both the behavioral (studies I and II) and functional brain development of ToM (study III) in adolescence and its underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. In all three studies, more complex, advanced ToM tasks were employed to avoid ceiling effects. Study I was aimed at investigating if cognitive and affective ToM continues to develop in adolescence and at exploring if basic cognitive variables such as verbal ability, speed of processing, and working memory capacity underlie such development. Hence, two groups of adolescents and young adults completed tasks of ToM and basic cognitive abilities. Large age effects were revealed on both measures of ToM: adolescents performed lower than adults. These age differences remained significant after controlling for basic cognitive variables. However, verbal ability covaried with performance in affective ToM. Overall, results support the hypothesis of an ongoing development of ToM from adolescence to adulthood on both cognitive and affective aspects. Results may further indicate verbal ability being a basic cognitive mechanism of affective ToM. Study II was designed to further explore if affective ToM, as measured with a dynamic realistic task, continues to develop across adolescence. Importantly, this study sought to explore executive functions as higher cognitive mechanisms of developing affective ToM across adolescence. A large group spanning adolescents and young adults evaluated affective mental states depicted by actors in video clips. Additionally, participants were examined with three subcomponents of executive functions, inhibition, updating, and shifting following the classification of Miyake et al. (2000). Affective ToM performance was positively related to age and all three executive functions. Specifically, inhibition explained the largest amount of variance in age related differences of affective ToM performance. Overall, these results indicate the importance of inhibition as key underlying mechanism of developing an advanced affective ToM in adolescence. Study III set out to explore the functional brain development of affective ToM in adolescence by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The affective ToM measure was the behavioral developmentally sensitive task from study II. An additional control condition consisted of the same emotional stimuli with the instruction to focus on physical information. This study faced methodical challenges of developmental fMRI studies by matching performance of groups. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) was significantly less deactivated in adolescents in comparison to adults, which might suggest that adolescents seem to rely more on self-referential processes for affective ToM. Furthermore, adolescents compared to adults showed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the control condition, indicating that adolescents might be distracted by the emotional content and therefore needed to focus more on the physical content of the stimulus. These findings suggest affective ToM continues to develop on the functional brain level and reveals different underlying neurocognitive strategies for adolescents in contrast to adults. In summary, the current thesis investigated whether ToM continues to develop in adolescence until young adulthood and explored underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. Findings suggest that there is indeed an ongoing development of both the cognitive and affective aspect of ToM, which importantly contributes to the conceptual debate. Moreover, the second benefit to the debate is to demonstrate how this change may occur. As a basic cognitive mechanism verbal ability and as an executive functioning mechanism inhibition was revealed. Furthermore, neurocognitive mechanisms in form of different underlying neurocognitive strategies of adolescents compared to adults were shown. Taken together, ToM development in adolescence seems to mirror a different adaptive cognitive style in adolescence (Crone & Dahl, 2012). This seems to be important for solving the wealth of socio-emotional developmental tasks that are relevant for this age span.:Abstract 1 1 General Introduction 4 1.1 Concept of ToM: cognitive and affective aspects 7 1.2 ToM Development 8 1.2.1 ToM Development until Adolescence 9 1.2.2 ToM Development in Adolescence 12 1.3 Cognitive Mechanisms 14 1.3.1 Basic Cognitive Functions 15 1.3.2 Executive Functions 17 1.4 Neurocognitive Mechanisms 19 1.4.1 Functional brain development of ToM 20 1.4.2 Integrating behavioral and functional brain studies 21 2 Outline and Central Questions 24 2.1 Does ToM continue to develop in adolescence? 24 2.1.1 Does ToM continue to develop on the behavioral level? 24 2.1.2 Does ToM continue to develop on the level of brain function? 25 2.2 What are (neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ToM development in adolescence? 26 2.2.1 What are basic cognitive and executive functioning mechanisms? 26 2.2.2 Can mechanisms be concluded from the integration of behavioral data and functional brain processes? 26 3 Study I – ToM Development in Adolescence and its Basic Cognitive Mechanisms 28 3.1 Introduction 28 3.2 Method 32 3.2.1 Participants 32 3.2.2 Materials 33 3.3 Results 36 3.3.1 Age Effects 36 3.3.2 Influence of puberty on social cognition 37 3.3.3 Controlling for Basic Cognitive Abilities 39 3.4 Discussion 40 3.4.1 Overview 40 3.4.2 Age differences in social cognition 40 3.4.3 Influence of puberty on social cognition 42 3.4.4 Covariates of age differences in social cognition 42 3.4.5 Conclusions 43 4 Study II – ToM Development in Adolescence and its Executive Functioning Mechanisms 45 4.1 Introduction 45 4.2 Method 49 4.2.1 Participants 49 4.2.2 Materials 49 4.3 Results 52 4.3.1 Decomposing the Age Effect in Affective Theory of Mind 54 4.4 Discussion 55 4.4.1 Overview 55 4.4.2 Conclusions 57 5 Study III – ToM Development in Adolescence and its Neurocognitive Mechanisms 59 5.1 Introduction 59 5.2 Method 61 5.2.1 Participants 61 5.2.2 Stimuli, design and procedure 62 5.2.3 Statistical analysis of behavioral data 65 5.2.4 Functional imaging 65 5.2.5 Statistical analysis of fMRI data 66 5.3 Results 67 5.3.1 Behavioral results 67 5.3.2 fMRI results 68 5.4 Discussion 71 5.4.1 Developmental differences in brain activations 71 5.4.2 Conclusions 74 6 General Discussion 75 6.1 Summary of empirical findings 75 6.2 Discussion and integration of the main empirical findings 76 6.2.1 Continued ToM development in adolescence 76 6.2.2 (Neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ToM development in adolescence 80 6.3 Implications and outlook 89 6.3.1 Current findings and their conceptual fit to present models of ToM 90 6.3.2 Underpinning the concept of cognitive and affective ToM 91 6.3.3 Conceptual and methodical implications of performance matching 92 6.3.4 The role of puberty on ToM 94 6.3.5 Predicting other’s economic behavior 95 6.3.6 Structural brain development 96 6.3.7 Applied perspective 97 6.4 Summary 98 References 99

Il est reconnu que le développement social des enfants et des adolescents est soutenu par l’évolution des capacités cognitives et sociocognitives en interaction avec les expériences relationnelles quotidiennes. Ce développement offrirait une compréhension de plus en plus vaste du monde social et culturel, permettant aux individus de s’intégrer à la société en tant que citoyen autonome et responsable au début de l’âge adulte. Malgré la validité de ce portrait global, il reste beaucoup à comprendre sur l’influence entre les capacités cognitives (ex. : fonctions exécutives) et sociocognitives (ex. : raisonnement moral (RM), théorie de l’esprit (TdE), reconnaissance des émotions) durant le développement, ainsi que sur leur impact individuel et additif sur le comportement social. Encore moins d’informations existent sur ces interactions dans le cadre du développement atypique, comme celui des jeunes présentant des troubles neurodéveloppementaux. L’objectif général de cette thèse est donc d’explorer les interrelations entre les différentes composantes du fonctionnement exécutif (FE) et de la cognition sociale chez les jeunes et leur contribution à l’adaptation sociale. Le but des travaux est aussi d’observer les effets potentiels d’un développement déficitaire de ces fonctions dans le contexte d’un trouble neurodéveloppemental, le Syndrome de Gilles de la Tourette (SGT). Cette thèse est composée de trois articles empiriques concernant trois études qui abordent ces objectifs généraux. Les deux premières études explorent le FE, la cognition sociale et les tendances d’interaction sociale chez des enfants neurotypiques de 6 à 12 ans. La première étude, centrée sur les interrelations entre les capacités cognitives et sociocognitives, montre que la maturité du RM est associée positivement au FE, à la reconnaissance des émotions et à la TdE. Le FE et la cognition sociale contribueraient de manière significative à la maturité du RM et joueraient un rôle médiateur dans la relation entre l’âge et le RM. La deuxième étude, plus centrée sur les tendances comportementales dans la vie quotidienne, montre que le FE quotidien joue un rôle médiateur qui expliquerait partiellement le lien entre l’empathie et les tendances prosociales des enfants et complètement le lien avec leurs tendances agressives. La troisième étude montre pour la première fois l’existence d’un fonctionnement plus pauvre de la TdE chez les jeunes ayant le SGT. Ces jeunes présentent également un moins bon FE quotidien et plus de difficultés et comportementales, notamment au niveau des aspects sociaux. Cette étude révèle des liens entre le RM des jeunes atteints du SGT et leur flexibilité cognitive, fluence verbale et FE quotidien, de même qu’avec la sévérité de leurs tics et leurs difficultés sociales. Les difficultés de comportement sont expliquées en grande partie par la sévérité des tics, le FE et la cognition sociale. Ensemble, les données des études présentées dans cette thèse contribuent à établir un portrait plus détaillé des relations réciproques entre le FE, la cognition sociale et l’adaptation sociale, lors du développement typique et atypique. Les résultats offrent de nouvelles pistes pour la compréhension clinique des difficultés d’adaptation sociale précoce et suggère un fondement empirique pour l’élaboration de programmes d’intervention sur les compétences sociales. / It is recognized that the social development of children and youth is supported by improvements in their cognitive and social cognitive abilities, which are driven by everyday interpersonal experiences. This development provides a broader understanding of the social and cultural world, allowing individuals to become integrated members of society and autonomous and responsible citizens in early adulthood. Despite the validity of this overall picture, there is still much to be learned about the mutual influence between cognitive (e.g.,executive functions) and socio-cognitive abilities (e.g., theory of mind, moral reasoning, emotion recognition) during development, as well as their individual and additive impact on social behavior. Even less is known about these interactions in the context of atypical development, such as in youth with neurodevelopmental disorders. The main objective of this thesis is to explore the reciprocal associations between different components of executive functioning (EF) and social cognition in youth and their contribution to social adaptation. We also aimed to observe the potential effects of impaired development of these functions in a neurodevelopmental disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome (TS). This thesis is composed of three empirical articles pertaining to three studies that address these main objectives. The first two studies explore EF, social cognition and social interaction patterns among neurotypical children aged 6 to 12 years. The first study focuses on the interrelations between cognitive and social cognitive abilities, showing that moral reasoning (MR) maturity is positively associated with EF, emotion recognition and theory of mind. EF and social cognition contribute significantly to the MR maturity and play a mediating role in the relationship between age and MR. The second study, which focuses more on behavioral patterns in everyday life, shows that everyday EF plays a mediating role that partly explains the link between empathy and prosocial tendencies in children and completely explains the link with their aggressive tendencies. The third study shows for the first time that theory of mind skills are poorer among youth with TS, and they have reduced everyday EF and more emotional and behavioral difficulties, particularly in the social domain. This study also reveals links between the MR skills of youth with TS and their cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, everyday EF, tic severity and social difficulties. Social difficulties in this group are largely explained by tic severity, EFand social cognition. Overall, the results of the studies presented in this thesis contribute to building a more comprehensive picture of the interrelationship between EF, social cognition and social adaptation during typical and atypical development. The findings offer new avenues for improving our clinical understanding of early social adjustment difficulties and provide an empirical basis for the development of social skills intervention programs.