Language and Theory of Mind Separate by Age 3 in Child Brain Scans
A 2026 fMRI study found language and theory-of-mind activation already separated in 54 child sessions from ages 3-9, with strict child overlap near zero in the left superior temporal lobe (Dice 0.015) and no evidence that the 2 systems disentangled with age.1 The result pushes against a simple developmental story in which language grows out …