ArticleScientific reports2020
On the (lack of) association between theory of mind and executive functions: a study in a non-clinical adult sample.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of a structured fundamental motor skills intervention on executive function in second grade students: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Cross-sectional observational study evaluating social brain health in HIV using a research domain criteria-based approach: a protocol.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Social cognition abilities in people with HIV: the role of stigma and other factors.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Review
- Cross-Sectional Trajectories of Social Cognition in Later Life: Exploring Emotion Perception, Theory of Mind, and Emotional Empathy.Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists · 2025Article
- Executive Functions Assessment in a Child with Autism: A Pilot Single-Case Study from a Longitudinal and Mixed Methods Approach.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Emotion Processing in Peripheral Neuropathic Pain: An Observational Study.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Observational
- The Relationship between Giftedness and Sex and Children's Theory of Mind Skills and Social Behavior.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Brain gray matter morphometry relates to onset age of bilingualism and theory of mind in young and older adults.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Theory of mind and executive dysfunction in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.European journal of neurology · 2024Article
- The role of early attachment experiences in modulating defensive peripersonal space.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Risk Decision Making and Executive Function among Adolescents and Young Adults.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Difficulties in social cognitive functioning among pediatric patients with muscular dystrophies.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- On the Embodiment of Social Cognition Skills: The Inner and Outer Body Processing Differently Contributes to the Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- General cognitive decline does not account for older adults' worse emotion recognition and theory of mind.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We investigated in a sample of non-clinical adults the association between Theory of Mind (ToM) and Executive Functions (EFs), that is the set of skills that allow people to control and modulate lower-level cognitive processes in order to produce appropriate behaviour. To this aim, we assessed both affective (i.e., understanding other people's emotions and feelings) and cognitive (i.e., understanding others' beliefs and intentions) ToM, as well four subcomponents of EFs, that is Updating, Shifting, Inhibition, and Access. The association between ToM and non-verbal fluid intelligence, verbal reasoning, and cognitive estimation abilities was also investigated. Eighty-one healthy participants were recruited, and a set of psychometrically validated tests was administered. Multiple regression analyses were run to assess significant predictors of ToM performance when potentially confounding predictors (sociodemographic variables) were controlled for. Results showed a lack of association between affective/cognitive ToM and EFs, whereas non-verbal fluid intelligence for cognitive ToM and verbal reasoning for affective ToM were found to be significant predictors of ToM performance. These results represent a contribution toward a deeper understanding of the ToM-EFs relationships and highlight the importance of broadening the analysis of these relationships to the role played by other domain-general functions in both affective and cognitive ToM.
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