A model of Theory-of-Mind based on action prediction

Theory-of-Mind, or mentalising, is defined as a cognitive process used to understand other peoples' actions based on mental states. Two main theories of mentalising have been much discussed in recent years: Simulation Theory (e.g. Goldman 1993; Gallese and Goldman 1998), and Theory-Theory (e.g. Gopnik 1993). Models derived from these ideas and integrating neuroscience findings have been proposed since (e.g. Frith and Frith 1999; Blakemore and Decety 2001; Wolpert, Doya and Kawato 2003). Here we use the main idea from one of these models (Wolpert et al 2003) to propose a tentative model of mentalising based on action prediction and semantic representation. We also review a few neuroimaging studies of the processes involved in the model