Neuropsychological and health predictors of theory of mind in older adults

The ability to reason about mental states, or theory of mind (ToM), is a defining human capacity with implications for late-life social understanding. Current aging research suggests that ToM draws heavily from traditional neurocognitive resources; however, to our knowledge, no published studies have explored potential modifiers of these links. We examined associations between ToM, neurocognitive ability and blood pressure in N = 66 cognitively intact community-dwelling older adults (65–92 years). While increased age, high blood pressure, and neuropsychological ability emerged as important independent predictors of older adults’ ToM, relationships are not straightforward. Important interactions observed between blood pressure and cognition demonstrate that associations between poor neurocognitive scores and reduced ToM may be more salient in certain groups of older adults with elevated blood pressure. Findings suggest that previous models of cognitive involvement in ToM may be necessary, but not sufficient to explain age-related changes in mental state reasoning.