Limits on efficient human mindreading: convergence across Chinese adults and Semai children

We tested Apperly and Butterfill's (2009, Psychological Review, 116, 753) theory that humans have two mindreading systems whereby the efficient-system guiding anticipatory glances displays signature limits that do not apply to the flexible system guiding verbal predictions. Experiments 1 and 2 tested urban Mainland-Chinese adults (n = 64) and Experiment 3 tested Semai children living in the rainforests of Peninsular Malaysia (3- to 4-year-olds, n = 60). Participants - across different ages, groups and methods - anticipated others' false-beliefs about object-location but not object-identity. Convergence in signature limits signalled that the early-developing efficient system involved minimal theory-of-mind. Chinese adults and older Semai children showed flexibility in their direct predictions. The flexible mindreading system in ascribing others' beliefs as such was task-sensitive and implicated maturational and cultural contributions.