Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Investigating Causal Brain-behavioral Relationships and their Time Course
Published on: July 18, 2014
The neural and cognitive time course of theory of mind
Joseph P McCleery1, Andrew D R Surtees, Katharine A Graham
1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, West Midlands, UK.
Abstract:
Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies implicate both frontal and temporoparietal cortices when humans reason about the mental states of others. Here, we report an event-related potentials study of the time course of one such "theory of mind" ability: visual perspective taking. The findings suggest that posterior cortex, perhaps the temporoparietal cortex, calculates and represents the perspective of self versus other, and then, later, the right frontal cortex resolves conflict between perspectives during response selection.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Reason and Intuition
Information Processing Approach
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
The Nativist Approach
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process information is...

