{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,5]],"date-time":"2026-06-05T08:16:11Z","timestamp":1780647371785,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,21]],"date-time":"2024-06-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1718928000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Developmental Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:label\/><jats:p>Behavioral research demonstrates a critical transition in preschooler's mental\u2010state understanding (i.e., theory of mind; ToM), revealed most starkly in performance on tasks about a character's false belief (e.g., about an object's location). Questions remain regarding the neural and cognitive processes differentiating children who pass versus fail behavioral false\u2010belief tasks and the extent to which there is continuity versus change in the ToM neural network. To address these questions, we analyzed event\u2010related spectral power in the electroencephalogram (EEG) to investigate how preschoolers\u2019 neural activity during passive viewing of false\u2010belief scenarios related to their explicit behavioral ToM performance. We found that neural activity during passive viewing of false\u2010belief events (6\u20139\u00a0Hz EEG \u2018alpha\u2019 suppression in right temporoparietal [RTP] electrodes) strongly related to children's explicit ToM. However, children's RTP alpha suppression differed depending on their explicit behavioral ToM performance: Children who did better on a broad battery of standard ToM tasks and who passed explicit behavioral false\u2010belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression when the character's belief first became false (during the \u2018location\u2010change\u2019 event); whereas children who did worse on the ToM battery and who failed explicit behavioral false\u2010belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression only later when they could evaluate the character's behavior in the context of prior events (during the \u2018active\u2010search\u2019 event). Findings shed light on what differentiates preschoolers who pass versus fail explicit false\u2010belief tasks and raise questions about how to interpret existing neuroscience data from ToM tasks across infancy to adulthood.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Research Highlights<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:list list-type=\"bullet\">\n<jats:list-item><jats:p>Preschool children's neural activity (EEG 6\u20139\u00a0Hz suppression in right temporoparietal [RTP] electrodes) during passive\u2010viewing of false\u2010belief events was related to their explicit behavioral theory\u2010of\u2010mind performance.<\/jats:p><\/jats:list-item>\n<jats:list-item><jats:p>Children who did better on a theory\u2010of\u2010mind (ToM) battery and passed explicit false\u2010belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression when the character's belief first became false.<\/jats:p><\/jats:list-item>\n<jats:list-item><jats:p>Children who performed worse on the ToM battery and failed explicit false\u2010belief tasks showed greater RTP alpha suppression later when observing the character's search behavior.<\/jats:p><\/jats:list-item>\n<jats:list-item><jats:p>Findings reveal change in preschoolers\u2019 ToM neural correlates and suggest that the presence of RTP activity does not necessarily indicate \u2018mature\u2019 theory of mind.<\/jats:p><\/jats:list-item>\n<\/jats:list><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/desc.13530","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,22]],"date-time":"2024-06-22T05:33:45Z","timestamp":1719034425000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Neural correlates of preschoolers\u2019 passive\u2010viewing false belief: Insights into continuity and change and the function of right temporoparietal activity in theory of mind development"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2186-6412","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lindsay C.","family":"Bowman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Mind and Brain Department of Psychology University of California  Davis USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amanda C.","family":"Brandone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology Lehigh University  Bethlehem USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0016923"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2009.12.006"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/15248372.2012.691143"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dcn.2019.100705"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2015.00560"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467\u20107687.2012.01158.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/desc.12447"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1469\u20107610.00505"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467\u20109280.2005.0158"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467\u20108624.00333"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/icd.298"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/mila.12014"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2008.04.017"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/cdev.12237"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhp215"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_17_1","first-page":"244","volume-title":"Developing theories of mind","author":"Flavell J. 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