AUTHOR=Benarous Xavier , Guilé Jean-Marc , Consoli Angèle , Cohen David 

TITLE=A Systematic Review of the Evidence for Impaired Cognitive Theory of Mind in Maltreated Children

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2015

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00108

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00108

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Compared to the large number of studies exploring difficulties in emotion recognition in maltreated children, few (N=12) have explored the cognitive aspect of theory of mind, i.e., the ability to understand others’ thoughts and intentions. A systematic review of these studies shows inconsistent results regarding cognitive theory of mind tasks. Youths with a history of maltreatment are more likely to fail at false belief tasks (N=2). However, results are less conclusive regarding other tasks (perspective-taking tasks, N=4; and hostile attribution tasks, N=7). Additionally, only one study controlled for potential psychopathology. Measures of psychopathology and other cognitive abilities, in addition to theory of mind, are required to establish a specific association between maltreatment and the cognitive dimension of theory of mind.