Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
Assessing Individual Differences in Adult Theory of Mind Through Mental State Language: Human and Artificial
Chloe C Hudson1,2,3, Louis Hickman1, Siyi Liu1
1Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA.
Abstract:
Theory of mind is central to human social behavior, yet empirical studies rely largely on biased measures with limited ecological validity. We propose and evaluate the use of mental state language as a spontaneous indicator of theory of mind expressed in social interaction. Among research participants (334 undergraduate students, 63.8% non-Hispanic White, 74.3% female) engaged in a dyadic cooperative task with an unfamiliar peer, mental state language demonstrated strong convergent validity with established measures of theory of mind and, when compared to established measures, superior predictive validity for interpersonal functioning. Fine-tuned transformers and open-source generative large language models reliably replicated human coding of mental state language, enabling scalable assessment. These findings offer promising initial construct-validity evidence for mental state language as a measure of theory of mind, and motivate its extension to naturalistic, dynamically unfolding social interactions.
Related Concept Videos
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
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...
Information Processing Approach
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
Intelligence
Structuralism
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He employed introspection, a method...
