Age Differences in Theory of Mind: An Investigation of Neurocognitive, Health, and Demographic Predictors

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to understand and reason about a variety of meta-cognitive and emotional mental states. Compared to young adults, older adults are more susceptible to reduced ToM, though the fundamental supporting processes are unclear. Earlier work demonstrates that neurocognitive performance, health status, and biological sex differences each contribute to ToM variability, yet no research has examined these predictors concurrently. In this dissertation we examined how these key predictors related to age differences in the cognitive and affective components of ToM. We tested 86 young (mean age = 19.8) and 85 older adults (mean age = 71.4) on standardized measures assessing neurocognitive performance and ToM. Predictor variables were derived from demographic information (sex), in-office blood pressure readings (pulse pressure or PP), and measures of three neurocognitive domains closely linked to ToM: executive functions, verbal comprehension, and episodic memory. We used path analysis to identify concurrent predictors of cognitive and affective ToM between age groups and partial invariance analyses to assess age differences in the strength of identified predictors. Our findings make several important contributions to this literature. We provide the first evidence that poor vascular health (high PP) directly predicts lower cognitive ToM across age groups, beyond other explanatory variables. Furthermore, in agreement with child development and cognitive neuroscience theory, we present the first neuropsychological evidence suggesting that cognitive ToM is a key predictor of affective ToM performance. Finally, while certain neurocognitive predictors of ToM are more salient in later life, we demonstrated that most predictors are shared between age groups and are equivalent in magnitude. Taken together, our study represents the most comprehensive investigation of predictors of ToM in aging to date, and suggests the value of continued investigation of ToM within a multidimensional framework.