Explaining age-related decline in theory of mind: Evidence for intact competence but compromised executive function

Previous studies suggest theory of mind (ToM) ability declines with age. However, prior tasks not only required ToM competence but also imposed high executive function (EF) demands, so decline in ToM ability could be caused by deterioration in ToM competence, EF, or both. It was predicted that if th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e0222890-e0222890
Main Authors: Cho, Isu, Cohen, Adam S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adults
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging - physiology
Aging - psychology
Analysis
Biology and Life Sciences
Cognition
Cognition Disorders - diagnosis
Cognition Disorders - physiopathology
Cognition Disorders - psychology
Elderly
Executive function
Executive function (Psychology)
Executive Function - physiology
Female
Geriatrics
Humans
Hypotheses
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental Competency - psychology
Middle Aged
Older people
People and Places
Physical Sciences
Psychological aspects
Research and Analysis Methods
Social Sciences
Studies
Theory of mind
Theory of Mind - physiology
Trends
Young Adult
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Summary:Previous studies suggest theory of mind (ToM) ability declines with age. However, prior tasks not only required ToM competence but also imposed high executive function (EF) demands, so decline in ToM ability could be caused by deterioration in ToM competence, EF, or both. It was predicted that if the elderly have intact ToM competence but compromised EF, then they should perform similarly to younger adults when using ToM tasks that lower executive demands, such as spontaneous-response tasks. Results showed that on tasks with reduced demands, older adults tracked belief to the same extent as younger adults, despite their declining EF. The findings support a model in which age-related decline in ToM ability is primarily caused by compromised EF, not ToM competence, suggesting that underlying ToM mechanisms are still intact in the elderly. We discuss implications of this work for competence-performance issues in ToM processing and the underlying sources of age-related deterioration of ToM.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0222890