Predicting Theory of Mind in children from the infant connectome

Abstract

A pivotal developmental milestone is reached around 9 months when infants begin to coordinate their attention with others. Joint attention acts as a catalyst for infants' learning and is proposed to predict later social cognitive development, including understanding others' minds (Theory of Mind, ToM). However, neural markers predicting joint attention development and their predictive value for later social cognitive abilities remain unknown. Here, we trained a model to identify whole-brain connectivity patterns predictive of joint attention from resting-state fMRI data of 8-15-month-old infants. The model significantly predicted joint attention scores in an independent infant sample, beyond general development. Dominant connections lay within the default network and its interaction with the ventral attention network. Crucially, this connectome also predicted later ToM in children aged 2-5 years. Beyond providing an early marker for individual differences in social cognitive development, these findings have high potential for the early diagnosis of social cognitive disorders.