Defining key concepts for mental state attribution

François Quesque¹, Ian Apperly², Renée Baillargeon³, Simon Baron-Cohen⁴, Cristina Becchio⁵, Harold Bekkering⁶, Daniel Bernstein⁷, Maxime Bertoux⁸, Geoffrey Bird⁹, Henryk Bukowski¹⁰, Pascal Burgmer¹¹, Peter Carruthers¹², Caroline Catmur¹³, Isabel Dziobek¹⁴, Nicholas Epley¹⁵, Thorsten Michael Erle¹⁶, Chris Frith¹⁷, Uta Frith¹⁸, Carl Michael Galang¹⁹, Vittorio Gallese^{20

21}, Delphine Grynberg^{22

23}, Francesca Happé²⁴, Masahiro Hirai^{25

26}, Sara D Hodges²⁷, Philipp Kanske²⁸, Mariska Kret^{29

30}, Claus Lamm³¹, Jean Louis Nandrino^{22

32}, Sukhvinder Obhi³³, Sally Olderbak³⁴, Josef Perner³⁵, Yves Rossetti³⁶, Dana Schneider³⁷, Matthias Schurz^{38

39}, Tobias Schuwerk⁴⁰, Natalie Sebanz⁴¹, Simone Shamay-Tsoory⁴², Giorgia Silani⁴³, Shannon Spaulding⁴⁴, Andrew R Todd⁴⁵, Evan Westra⁴⁶, Dan Zahavi⁴⁷, Marcel Brass⁴⁸

Affiliations

¹ Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale, CH Le Vinatier, Lyon, France. francois.quesque@gmail.com.
² School of Psychology University of Birmingham B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
⁴ Autism Research Centre, Psychiatry Department, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Hamburg Center of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Donders Centre for Cognition, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
⁷ Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC V3W 2M8, Canada.
⁸ Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, LiCEND & DistALZ, Lille, France.
⁹ Dept of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
¹⁰ Psychological sciences research institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
¹¹ Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
¹² Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20472, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Clinical Psychology of Social Interaction, Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berli, Germany.
¹⁵ University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
¹⁷ Wellcome Centre for Human NeuroImaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR, UK.
¹⁸ University College London, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London, UK.
¹⁹ Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany.
²⁰ Dept. of Medicine & Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma Via Volturno, 39 43121, Parma, Italy.
²¹ Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia Univeristy, New York, USA.
²² Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193, SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000, Lille, France.
²³ Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
²⁴ Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre - Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience - King's College London, London, UK.
²⁵ Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
²⁶ Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
²⁸ Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187, Dresden, Germany.
²⁹ Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
³⁰ Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands.
³¹ Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
³² Fondation Santé des étudiants de France (FSEF), Paris, France.
³³ Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main St West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L8, Canada.
³⁴ Institut für Therapieforschung, Munich, 175 Leopoldstraße, Munich, 80804, Germany.
³⁵ Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience & Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
³⁶ Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Trajectoires, F-69500, Bron, France.
³⁷ Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
³⁸ Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstraße 5-7, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
³⁹ Digital Science Center (DiSC), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴⁰ Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
⁴¹ Central European University PU, Department of Cognitive Science, Vienna, Austria.
⁴² Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israël.
⁴³ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁴⁴ Oklahoma State University, Department of Philosophy, Stillwater, USA.
⁴⁵ Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Philosophy, Purdue University, Lafayette, USA.
⁴⁷ Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴⁸ Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany. marcel.brass@hu-berlin.de.

PMID: 39242813
PMCID: PMC11332223
DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00077-6

Defining key concepts for mental state attribution

François Quesque et al. Commun Psychol. 2024.

. 2024 Apr 11;2(1):29.

doi: 10.1038/s44271-024-00077-6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale, CH Le Vinatier, Lyon, France. francois.quesque@gmail.com.
² School of Psychology University of Birmingham B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
⁴ Autism Research Centre, Psychiatry Department, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Hamburg Center of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Donders Centre for Cognition, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
⁷ Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC V3W 2M8, Canada.
⁸ Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, LiCEND & DistALZ, Lille, France.
⁹ Dept of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
¹⁰ Psychological sciences research institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
¹¹ Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
¹² Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20472, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Clinical Psychology of Social Interaction, Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berli, Germany.
¹⁵ University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
¹⁷ Wellcome Centre for Human NeuroImaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR, UK.
¹⁸ University College London, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London, UK.
¹⁹ Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany.
²⁰ Dept. of Medicine & Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma Via Volturno, 39 43121, Parma, Italy.
²¹ Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia Univeristy, New York, USA.
²² Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193, SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000, Lille, France.
²³ Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
²⁴ Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre - Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience - King's College London, London, UK.
²⁵ Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
²⁶ Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
²⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
²⁸ Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187, Dresden, Germany.
²⁹ Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.
³⁰ Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands.
³¹ Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
³² Fondation Santé des étudiants de France (FSEF), Paris, France.
³³ Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main St West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L8, Canada.
³⁴ Institut für Therapieforschung, Munich, 175 Leopoldstraße, Munich, 80804, Germany.
³⁵ Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience & Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
³⁶ Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Trajectoires, F-69500, Bron, France.
³⁷ Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
³⁸ Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstraße 5-7, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
³⁹ Digital Science Center (DiSC), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴⁰ Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
⁴¹ Central European University PU, Department of Cognitive Science, Vienna, Austria.
⁴² Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israël.
⁴³ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁴⁴ Oklahoma State University, Department of Philosophy, Stillwater, USA.
⁴⁵ Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Philosophy, Purdue University, Lafayette, USA.
⁴⁷ Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴⁸ Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany. marcel.brass@hu-berlin.de.

PMID: 39242813
PMCID: PMC11332223
DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00077-6

Abstract

The terminology used in discussions on mental state attribution is extensive and lacks consistency. In the current paper, experts from various disciplines collaborate to introduce a shared set of concepts and make recommendations regarding future use.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1. Proportion of our panel of researchers who agree for each term to be discontinued.**
Terms are ordered from the most to the least frequently encountered (Proportion of our panel of researchers who stated having already encountered each term is available in more detail as Supplementary Fig. 1). Proportions are based on all responses available for each question.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Defining key concepts for mental state attribution

Affiliations

Defining key concepts for mental state attribution

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources