Child and Animal Learning Development

Superior Frontal Gyrus Cortical Thickness Mediates the Association Between Openness to Experience and Theory of Mind: Evidence from the Human Connectome Project

Perceived social value is more strongly linked to gossip decisions with age in adolescence

The paper shows that adolescents' gossip decisions become more linked to perceived social value with age, particularly in interest valuation and sharing with close friends.

I err, therefore I am: Neural signature of error-monitoring predicts self-awareness in infants

The paper shows that neural error-monitoring in 12-month-old infants predicts later self-recognition, suggesting early metacognition contributes to self-awareness development.

Theory of mind predicts conversational success in early right hemisphere stroke recovery

This study links theory of mind (ToM) abilities to conversational success in early right hemisphere stroke recovery, showing ToM predicts conversational performance independently of cognitive and demographic factors.

Pretend Comprehension Enhances Social and Exploratory Behaviors in Human Toddlers and Adults

This study shows that toddlers and adults look more at faces and show more exploratory gaze patterns when watching pretend actions compared to real actions.

The cerebellum supports two systems for understanding others in early childhood

This study identifies distinct cerebellar regions associated with explicit ToM and nonverbal action prediction in young children.

Egocentric belief attribution enables higher level Theory of Mind computation in group interactions.

This study shows that egocentric belief attribution supports adaptive decision-making in complex social interactions by enabling strategic alternation in group decision-making tasks.

Eye movements reveal the intuitive understanding of materials and their behavior

This study uses anticipatory eye movements to investigate dynamic predictions of material behavior and finds that intuitive expectations influence these predictions even when they conflict with learned information.

Functional specialisation across the first five years of life: a longitudinal characterisation of social perception with fNIRS

This study uses fNIRS to track brain responses to social stimuli in infants over five years, finding age-dependent specialisation in auditory social processing.

Neonatal mimicry of caregivers at home: feasibility of an asynchronous online paradigm

This study assesses the feasibility of using an asynchronous online platform to study neonatal mimicry of caregivers, finding preliminary evidence against mimicry of tongue protrusions and inconclusive results for mouth openings.

Whom Do We Prefer to Learn From in Observational Reinforcement Learning?

This study investigates preferences in observational learning, finding that participants prefer low-noise individuals and that learning styles influence partner selection in social learning.

A Rational Information Gathering Account of Infant Habituation

This paper presents a computational theory of infant gaze based on rational information gathering, showing that gaze preference is nonmonotonic with exposure due to the interplay of stimulus informativeness and future utility.

Longitudinal Habituation and Novelty Detection neural responses from infancy to early childhood in The Gambia and UK

The paper presents longitudinal fNIRS data on habituation and novelty detection in infants from The Gambia and UK, showing distinct developmental patterns across age and cultural contexts.

Inferential reasoning in non-humans: a critical analysis of experimental evidence

This paper challenges the interpretation of animal behavior as inferential reasoning, arguing that correct choices in experimental tasks can result from stimulus-response associations rather than logical reasoning.

Pupil responses to social stimuli are associated with adaptive behaviors across the first 24 months of life

This study links pupil responses to social stimuli with adaptive behaviors in infants aged 6-24 months using SESAMI and pupillometry.

Object permanence in domestic cats (Felis catus) using violation-of-expectancy by owner and stranger

This study tests object permanence in domestic cats using visible and invisible displacement tasks, finding that cats show different behaviors based on person familiarity and trial type.

BELIEFS: A Hierarchical Theory of Mind Model based on StrategyInference

BELIEFS is a probabilistic ToM model that infers latent strategies and beliefs from behavior, outperforming WSLS-based models in predicting opponent choices across games.

Expectation Violations as an Effective Alternative to Complex Mentalizing in Novel Communication

This study shows that expectancy violations can be as effective as complex mentalizing in novel communication, with faster reaction times and comparable accuracy.

Endogenous oscillatory rhythms and interactive contingencies jointly influence infant attention during early infant-caregiver interaction

The paper investigates how endogenous oscillatory rhythms and interactive contingencies influence infant attention during caregiver-infant interactions, finding that intrinsic cognitive processes, not caregiver behaviors, primarily control attention.

Head before heart? Cognitive empathy may emerge before affective empathy in the developing brain

This study investigates whether cognitive empathy emerges before affective empathy in toddlers using fNIRS and heart rate monitoring, finding stronger cognitive empathy activation in younger children.

Infant EEG microstate dynamics relate to fine-grained patterns of infant attention during naturalistic play with caregivers

The paper links infant EEG microstate D/4 duration to attentional control during play, showing associations with joint attention and sustained attention.

Computational neurodevelopment: infant decision-making in changing environments

This paper develops a novel paradigm to study infant decision-making and applies computational models to identify subtypes with distinct cognitive profiles.

Mother-child dyadic interactions shape children's social brain and theory of mind

The paper examines how age and parental caregiving influence social brain development and Theory of Mind in children through naturalistic fMRI studies of mother-child dyads.

Perspective taking activates one's own perceptual object processing in infants and adults

The paper shows that when others see objects, participants' own neural object processing persists, indicating shared perceptual representation in infants and adults.

Spontaneous biases enhance generalisation in the neonate brain

This study shows neonate animals use innate biases for generalisation, consistent with a Bayesian model, without relying on experience or reinforcement.

A dorsal versus ventral network for understanding others in the developing brain

The paper identifies distinct neural networks for non-verbal action prediction and verbal Theory of Mind in 3- to 4-year-old children, showing different maturation patterns.

Predicting Theory of Mind in children from the infant connectome

The paper predicts Theory of Mind development in children using early brain connectivity patterns from resting-state fMRI data of infants.

Overlapping Neural Correlates Underpin Theory of Mind and Semantic Cognition: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis of 344 Functional Neuroimaging Studies

This study investigates the overlap between neural correlates of theory of mind and semantic cognition using a meta-analysis of 344 functional neuroimaging studies, finding significant overlap in the anterior temporal lobe and temporoparietal junction.

Parent attention-orienting behavior is associated with neural entropy in infancy

The paper examines the link between parent attention-orienting behavior and neural entropy in 8-month-old infants during social interactions.

Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum supports the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood

The paper shows that children with emerging Theory of Mind activate cerebellar regions similar to adults and exhibit distinct functional connectivity patterns related to ToM development.