# A Systematic Review of the Evidence for Impaired Cognitive Theory of Mind in Maltreated Children

## TL;DR

This paper reviews evidence suggesting maltreated children may struggle with understanding others' thoughts, but findings are inconsistent.

## Contribution

The study systematically reviews 12 studies to explore cognitive theory of mind impairments in maltreated children.

## Key findings

- Maltreated youths are more likely to fail false-belief tasks.
- Results are inconsistent for perspective-taking and hostile attribution tasks.
- Only one study controlled for psychopathology.

## Abstract

Compared to the large number of studies exploring difficulties in emotion recognition in maltreated children, few (N = 12) have explored the cognitive aspect of theory of mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to understand others’ thoughts and intentions. A systematic review of these studies shows inconsistent results regarding cognitive ToM tasks. Youths with a history of maltreatment are more likely to fail at false-belief tasks (N = 2). However, results are less conclusive regarding other tasks (perspective-taking tasks, N = 4; and hostile attribution tasks, N = 7). Additionally, only one study controlled for potential psychopathology. Measures of psychopathology and other cognitive abilities, in addition to ToM, are required to establish a specific association between maltreatment and the cognitive dimension of ToM.