Research seminar: Leire Martín Méndez, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a construct that includes a range of connected abilities linked to the understanding of others’ mental states. These abilities emerge in early childhood and develop through young adulthood.

ToM has been studied across various populations with atypical development, and early research identified congenital deafness as a condition that can significantly affect its progression. Delays in ToM development have been consistently observed among deaf individuals, particularly in the 90–95%, born into hearing families who often have limited prior knowledge of deafness or signed language at the time of their child’s birth.

In this talk, I will present the results from the first two studies of my thesis.

• The first study is a systematic review that addresses what we know about the performance of deaf individuals in ToM tasks and which skills have been assessed.
  
• The second study aims to fill the gap in research regarding complex ToM skills in deaf children. Specifically, we are looking at how deaf children perform on both verbal and non-verbal second-order false belief tasks, as well as the correlations between their performance, language skills, and executive functions. This study is still in the data collection phase, but we have already identified some promising preliminary correlations.
  

The seminar is held in English and is interpreted into Swedish sign language.

On Leire Martín Méndez