Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Jul 28:6:108.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00108. eCollection 2015.

A Systematic Review of the Evidence for Impaired Cognitive Theory of Mind in Maltreated Children

Xavier Benarous  1 , Jean-Marc Guilé  2 , Angèle Consoli  3 , David Cohen  4
Affiliations
Review

A Systematic Review of the Evidence for Impaired Cognitive Theory of Mind in Maltreated Children

Xavier Benarous et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Compared to the large number of studies exploring difficulties in emotion recognition in maltreated children, few (N = 12) have explored the cognitive aspect of theory of mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to understand others' thoughts and intentions. A systematic review of these studies shows inconsistent results regarding cognitive ToM tasks. Youths with a history of maltreatment are more likely to fail at false-belief tasks (N = 2). However, results are less conclusive regarding other tasks (perspective-taking tasks, N = 4; and hostile attribution tasks, N = 7). Additionally, only one study controlled for potential psychopathology. Measures of psychopathology and other cognitive abilities, in addition to ToM, are required to establish a specific association between maltreatment and the cognitive dimension of ToM.

Keywords: attribution biases; child abuse; false-belief; maltreatment; perspective-taking; social cognition; systematic review; theory of mind.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA diagram of screening process and study selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sebastian CL, McCrory EJ, Cecil CA, Lockwood PL, De Brito SA, Fontaine NM, et al. Neural responses to affective and cognitive theory of mind in children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous-unemotional traits. Arch Gen Psychiatry (2012) 69(8):814–22.10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.2070 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Green AH. Psychopathology of abused children. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry (1978) 17(1):92–103.10.1016/S0002-7138(09)62281-0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Luke N, Banerjee R. Differentiated associations between childhood maltreatment experiences and social understanding: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Dev Rev (2013) 33:1–28.10.1016/j.dr.2012.10.001 - DOI
    1. Baron-Cohen S. Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. (Vol. xxii). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; (1995). 171 p.
    1. Decety J, Lamm C. Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience. ScientificWorldJournal (2006) 6:1146–63.10.1100/tsw.2006.221 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources