# Linking functional brain organization and social-cognitive abilities from infancy to childhood.

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2021 · $75,483

## Abstract

Theory of mind is the ability to think about the mental states, such as thoughts, beliefs, and intentions, of
oneself and others. It is critical for interacting with and learning from other people; individuals with
developmental conditions associated with impaired theory of mind like autism show atypical developmental
outcomes. Despite the fundamental role of theory of mind in human social and cognitive function, when and
how it develops remains unclear. On the one hand, it is not until 3-5 years of age that children are able to
successfully answer explicit questions about the mental states of others. On the other hand, looking behavior
in infants as young as 6-7 months suggests that we track the mental states of others well before we are able to
answer explicit questions about them. The main question that has been debated over the last decade in the
scientific literature is how spontaneous social-cognitive sensitivities to the mental states of others apparent
through looking behavior of infants relate to later developing explicit theory of mind reasoning. The
fundamental barrier has been reconciling results from different measures and methodologies in infants and
children (and adults). Here we propose to further pursue a new, promising neuroscience methodology to
measure theory of mind development throughout the lifespan and begin to validate it against known, relevant
behavioral and brain metrics. We will combine video stimuli modeled after behavioral looking time studies and
that only require passive viewing with an optical brain measure called near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) that
can be used with young infants, children, or adults. First, we will attempt to develop robust metrics of
functional brain sensitivity and selectivity for theory of mind using existing NIRS data from 6-10-month-old
infants and new data from 4-5-year-old children. Next, we will begin to validate those metrics by analyzing
their relationship to behavioral abilities in theory of mind in a cross-sectional group of 4-5-year-old children.
Finally, we will pilot the feasibility of studying theory of mind development in brain and behavior longitudinally
by directly linking previously collected infant NIRS data to new data collected on the same individuals at 4-5
years. The way forward we are presenting, if successful, will overcome current measurement limitations in the
field and provide empirical justification to request support (e.g., R01) for a full-scale study of theory of mind
development using our novel approach. This has the potential to resolve longstanding questions regarding
theory of mind development by directly testing the relationship between spontaneous theory of mind
processing in infancy and explicit theory of mind reasoning in childhood. In the future, it may also help us better
understand developmental disabilities characterized by impaired social cognition like autism, where early
detection and high-quality measurement are very challenging. The unpreceden...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10134394
- **Project number:** 5R03HD100958-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel Charles Hyde
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $75,483
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10134394

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10134394, Linking functional brain organization and social-cognitive abilities from infancy to childhood. (5R03HD100958-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10134394. Licensed CC0.

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