Download The Theory of Mind Atlas - Theory of Mind Inventory

The Theory of Mind Atlas
Tiffany L. Hutchins & Patricia A. Prelock © 2016
All entries in the Theory of Mind Atlas (ToMA) were developed for use with the Theory of Mind Inventory-2 (ToMI-2) for the
purposes of explaining theory of mind in the conduct of research and clinical practice. This document may be downloaded,
adapted, and shared for professional purposes provided that the names and copyright appearing in this header are retained.
Item 57. My child can predict his/her own emotions
to better plan for the future (e.g., if spending the night
away from home, the child knows he will miss mom
and so he brings his favorite blanket for comfort).
Subscale(s): Basic
.
This item is intended to tap future thinking with specific regard for imagining one’s own future
experiences and emotions. Future thinking, also referred to as episodic future thinking, prospection,
foresight, and episodic foresight, may “best be captured by the child’s ability to act in the present in
anticipation of a future state” (Atance, 2015, p. 99). Future thinking is related to the ability to imagine
and engage in fantasy and pretense but it also involves mental projection through time as well as the
ability to construct, and ultimately compare, multiple coherent and specific hypothetical
representations that are the basis for mental simulation. Behavioral studies of typically developing
children generally confirm that future thinking (and mental time travel more broadly) emerge between
3- to 5-years (Atance, 2008a, 2015; Atance & Meltzoff, 2005; Atance & O’Neill, 2005, 2001; Belanger,
Atance, Varghese, Nguyen, & Vendetti, 2014; Grant & Suddendorf, 2010; Suddendorf & Busby, 2005;
Quon & Atance, 2010) although predicting a future physiological state (e.g., hunger) that conflicts with a
current one (e.g., thirst) may be more difficult and later emerging (Atance, 2008b, 2015).
In neurotypical samples, the ability to engage in future thinking is positively correlated with the
capacity for episodic memory (recalling past events; Gott & Lah, 2014; Lind, Bowler, & Raber, 2014; Lind,
Williams, Bowler, & Peel, 2014). Although first emerging around ages of 3- to 5-years, developmental
gains in recalling the richness of past events develop into adolescence and correspond to gains in the
generation of future events. This suggests a shared neurological underpinning both future thinking and
episodic memory (Gott & Lah, 2014). Future thinking and episodic memory are constructive processes in
that both require the assembly of coherent event representations: a process sometimes referred to as
‘scene construction’ (Lind & Bowler, 2010). However, unlike hypothetical future events, past events can
be known and are immutable. As a result, “the processes involved in imagining future events must be
considerably more flexible than those involved in remembering past events” and it is likely “more
cognitively demanding” (Lind & Bowler, 2010, p. 2).
From an evolutionary perspective, learning and memory are useful insofar as they inform future
behavior. From this vantage, the primary purpose of episodic memory is to drive and support the
development of future thinking (Schacter, Addis, & Buckner, 2007). The ability to simulate future
scenarios is important because it can “considerably improve the chances of forming optimal plans of
action to guide adaptive future behavior” (Lind & Bowler, 2010, p. 2). Moreover, future thinking is
thought to be essential for flexibility of thought and action and difficulty in acting with the future in
mind may result in overdependence on routinized, inflexible patterns of behavior, and the restricted and
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repetitive behaviors often observed in ASD (Lind, Williams, et al., 2014; Suddendorf & Corballis, 1997)1.
Future Thinking in ASD
Although methods of study can lead to varying results, fairly robust findings are that in ASD 1)
the ability to engage in future thinking is associated with the capacity for episodic memory (recalling
past events) and, 2) both areas tend to be impaired in ASD (Jackson & Atance, 2008; Lind, Bowler, &
Raber, 2014; Lind, Williams, Bowler, & Peel, 2014; Terret et al., 2013; but see Crane, Lind, & Bowler,
2013 who report contradictory results). In ASD, future thinking has been linked to deficits in scene
construction which is required for mental simulation (Lind, Bowler, & Raber, 2014; Lind, Williams, et al.,
2014). Consequently, some researchers have suggested that interventions to train scene construction
could ultimately support both episodic memory and future thinking in ASD (Lind, Williams, et al., 2014).
More work is needed, however, that explores not only the role of scene-construction, but also executive
control functions such as working memory and self-projection to better understand why individuals with
ASD are compromised in episodic memory and future thinking (Terret et al., 2013).
Future Thinking in ADHD
We are not aware of peer-reviewed literature specifically examining future thinking in ADHD. Of
clinical note, however, the notion of deficits in future thinking in ADHD fit well with the oft-cited deficits
observed in memory and future-oriented planning which are generally believed to be negative
downstream consequences of executive function deficits and/or impulsivity. As Gott and Lah (2014)
summarized:
“Children with impairments in…memory and or executive skills, such as children with ADHD,
specific learning difficulties, traumatic brain injury, or epilepsy (to mention some patient
groups), may be at risk of impaired episodic thinking. These children may experience problems
recalling details of the events from their own past and utilizing this information to construct
possible future events and to anticipate consequences of their actions. Thus, deficits in episodic
thinking may reduce these children’s behavioral regulation, ability to solve social problems and
develop peer relations as well as increase risk taking behaviors and compromise mental health.
Whilst no research into functional impacts of impaired episodic thinking has been conducted
with children and adolescents, Sheldon, McAndrews, and Moscovitch (2011) have found that
older adults and adult patients with temporal lobe epilepsy not only provided fewer episodic
details when recalling past events but were also less effective in social problem solving.
Importantly, the number of episodic details correlated significantly with the effectiveness of
social problem solving. Whether or not effectiveness of social problem solving is related to
episodic thinking in children remains to be established” (p. 637).
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“Interestingly a deficit in future thinking skills in autism may help to explain the autistic symptoms that are not
readily explained by Baron-Cohen et al.’s (1985) ToM account alone. The ToM account [of ASD] offers a plausible
explanation for only two of the main autistic deficits: deficient social interaction and deficient communication
skills. It does not fully explain the third symptom set: insistence on regularity…However, a deficit in episodic future
thinking might help explain this third set of symptoms” (Jackson & Atance, 2008, p. 44).
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Future Thinking in DoHH
We are aware of only one study examining future thinking in children who are DoHH. Hutchins,
Allen, and Schefer (2017) analyzed caregiver report data (i.e., the Theory of Mind Inventory) from a
small sample of children (ages 5 – 11) with corrected hearing loss. They found that deficits in future
thinking were reported for 8% of the children (i.e., 1/12 children). Thus, difficulties in future thinking
may be rare (but not entirely absent) in children with hearing loss that is not complicated by additional
neurological or psychiatric conditions.
REFERENCES
Atance, C. (2015). Young children’s thinking about the future. Child Development Perspectives, 9(3),
178-182.
Atance, C. (2008a). From the past into the future: The developmental origins and trajectory of episodic
future thinking. Handbook of Episodic Memory, 18, 99-114.
Atance, C. (2008b). Future thinking in young children. Current directions in psychological science, 17(4),
295-298.
Atance, C., & Meltzoff, A. (2005). My future self: Young children’s ability to anticipate and explain future
states. Cognitive Development, 20, 341-361.
Atance, C., & O’Neill, D. (2005). The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans. Learning and
Motivation, 26, 126-144.
Atance, C., & O’Neill, D. (2001). Episodic future thinking. Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience, 5(12), 533539.
Belanger, M., Atance, C., Varghese, A., Nguyen, V., & Vendetti, C. (2014). What will I like best when I’m
all grown up? Preschoolers’ understanding of future preferences. Child Development, 85(6),
2419-2431.
Crane, L., Lind, S., & Bowler, D. (2013). Remembering the past and imagining the future in autism
spectrum disorder. Memory, 21(2), 157-166.
Gott, C., & Lah, S. (2014). Episodic future thinking in children compared to adolescents. Child
Neuropsychology, 20(5), 625-640.
Grant, J., & Suddendorf, T. (2010). Young children’s ability to distinguish past and future changes in
physical and mental states. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28, 853-870.
Hutchins, T. L., Allen, L., & Schefer (2017). Using the Theory of Mind Inventory to detect a broad range of
theory of mind challenges in children with hearing loss. Deafness and Education International.
Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14643154.2016.1274089
Jackson, L., & Atance, M. (2008). Future thinking in children with autism spectrum disorders: A pilot
study. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 14(3), 40-45.
Lind, S., & Bowler, D. (2010). Episodic memory and episodic future thinking in adults with autism.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology. DOI:10.1037/a0020631
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Lind, S., Bowler, D., & Raber, J. (2014). Spatial navigation, episodic memory, episodic future thinking, and
theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorders: Evidence for impairments in mental
simulation? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-19.
Lind, S., Williams, D., Bowler, D., & Peel, A. (2014). Episodic memory and episodic future thinking
impairments in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: An underlying difficulty with scene
construction or self-projection? Neuropsychology, 28(1), 55-67.
Quon, E., & Atance, C. (2010). A comparison of preschoolers’ memory, knowledge, and anticipation of
events. Journal of Cognition and Development, 11(1), 37-60.
Schacter, D., Addis, D., & Buckner, R. (2007). Remembering the past to imagine the future: The
prospective brain. Nature Reviews, 8, 657-661.
Suddendorf, T., & Busby, J. (2005). Making decisions with the future in mind: Developmental and
comparative identification of mental time travel. Learning and Motivation, 36, 110-115.
Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. (1997). Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind.
Genetic, Social, & General Psychology Monographs, 123, 133-167.
Terret, G., Rendell, P., Raponi-Saunders, S., Henry, J., Bailey, P., & Altgassen, M. (2013). Episodic future
thinking in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders, 43, 2558-2568.
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