Ability to Consider Other People's Thoughts Grows After Age 6
WEDNESDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- By the time children are 6 years old, the parts of their brain involved in social cognition may be in place, a finding that may have implications for children with autism, according to U.S. researchers.
Social cognition is the ability to consider the thoughts and mental states of others.
In the study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University scanned the brains of 13 children, aged 6 to 11, while they listened to children's stories, to monitor activity in the parts of the brain used for social cognition.
The activity in these areas of the brain was similar to patterns seen in adults, with one notable difference: a brain region called the right tempero-parietal junction appeared to change function between the ages of 6 and 11. At age 6, this region played a general role in thinking about people. By age 11, the region appeared to have a more specialized role in thinking only about other people's thoughts, the brain scans revealed.
Add A New Comment
Add A New CommentComments
There are no comments yet. Be the first to get the conversation started.