English

CoMMET: To What Extent Can LLMs Perform Theory of Mind Tasks?

Computation and Language 2026-03-13 v1

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM)-the ability to reason about the mental states of oneself and others-is a cornerstone of human social intelligence. As Large Language Models (LLMs) become ubiquitous in real-world applications, validating their capacity for this level of social reasoning is essential for effective and natural interactions. However, existing benchmarks for assessing ToM in LLMs are limited; most rely solely on text inputs and focus narrowly on belief-related tasks. In this paper, we propose a new multimodal benchmark dataset, CoMMET, a Comprehensive Mental states and Moral Evaluation Task inspired by the Theory of Mind Booklet Task. CoMMET expands the scope of evaluation by covering a broader range of mental states and introducing multi-turn testing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first multimodal dataset to evaluate ToM in a multi-turn conversational setting. Through a comprehensive assessment of LLMs across different families and sizes, we analyze the strengths and limitations of current models and identify directions for future improvement. Our work offers a deeper understanding of the social cognitive capabilities of modern LLMs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.11915,
  title  = {CoMMET: To What Extent Can LLMs Perform Theory of Mind Tasks?},
  author = {Ruirui Chen and Weifeng Jiang and Chengwei Qin and Cheston Tan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.11915},
  year   = {2026}
}