ReviewPsychonomic bulletin & review2018
On the relation between theory of mind and executive functioning: A developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective.
Review in Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Relational vs representational social cognitive processing: a coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging data.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Affective theory of mind impairments linked with callous-unemotional traits implicate cognitive control: A pre-registered double-blind randomized controlled trial with a dual-task paradigm.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Trial
- Picture book reading improves children's learning understanding.The British journal of developmental psychology · 2025Trial
- Episodic memory deficits are associated with social cognitive impairments in multiple sclerosis.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- A multi-study validation of the Turkish Early Social Cognition Inventory (T-ESCI) in infants and toddlers.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Peer relationships and social-affective functioning of children with critical congenital heart defects and comparison classmates.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2026Article
- Theory of mind predicts conversational success in early right hemisphere stroke recovery.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Facial Emotion Recognition in Children With Narcolepsy Type 1.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- From executive control to social emotions: mediation analysis of theory of mind linking executive functions to envy but not Schadenfreude.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Expanding the cognitive spectrum of mitochondrial diseases.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Predictors of resilience in deaf and hard of hearing adolescents and adolescents with developmental language disorders.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Early childhood theory of mind and effortful control underpin preadolescent thought and attention problems.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Relationships between executive function, mentalization and earthquake-related stress reactions in adults.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Executive Function and Social Cognition Performance Predicts Social Difficulty for Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Exploring Fixation Times During Emotional Decoding in Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators: An Eye-Tracking Pilot Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Social cognitive impact of essential tremor.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Latent Default Mode Network Connectivity Patterns: Associations With Sleep Health and Adolescent Psychopathology.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- What I think she thinks about my paralysed body: Social inferences about disability-related content in anosognosia for hemiplegia.Journal of neuropsychology · 2025Article
- Forming Connections: Functional Brain Connectivity is Associated With Executive Functioning Abilities in Early Childhood.Developmental science · 2025Article
- Strengthening through adversity: The hormesis model in developmental psychopathology.Development and psychopathology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF) show marked interrelatedness across childhood, and developmental psychologists have long been interested in understanding the nature of this association. The present review addresses this issue from a cognitive neuroscience perspective by exploring three hypotheses regarding their functional overlap: (1) ToM relies on EF (EF→ToM); (2) EF relies on ToM (ToM→EF); and (3) ToM and EF are mutually related, owing to shared neural structures or networks (ToM↔EF). Drawing on evidence from normative brain development, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases, patient lesion studies, and brain-imaging studies, we suggest that only a strict version of the ToM↔EF proposal of complete neural overlap can be confidently ruled out on the basis of existing evidence. The balance of evidence suggests that separable neurobiological mechanisms likely underlie ToM and EF, with shared mechanisms for domain-general processing that support both abilities. We highlight how future studies may empirically substantiate the nature of the ToM-EF relationship using various biobehavioral approaches.
Indexed as
Identifiers
29619648What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.