Theory of mind is independent of episodic memory

As humans, we are intrigued by who weare and how we differ from other crea-tures of evolution. Among the capacities thought to be uniquely human are autonoetic con-sciousness, the aspect of self-awareness that allows us to imagine our own experiences in different places at other times, and theory of mind (ToM), which allows us to infer other people’s current mental states. The idea that ToM is closely related to, and that it may depend on, episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness seems perfectly nat-ural: that in order to imagine and make sense of other people’s thoughts, feelings, intentions, and actions, we must rely on our autobiographical re-collections (1). The ability to consciously recollect past personal happenings has been shown to be necessary for imagining coherent and detaile