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Related papers: Machine Theory of Mind

200 papers

Theory of Mind is the ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, intents, knowledge, perspectives, etc.) to others and recognize that these mental states may differ from one's own. Theory of Mind is critical to effective communication and…

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · Computer Science 2017-10-03 Arjun Chandrasekaran , Deshraj Yadav , Prithvijit Chattopadhyay , Viraj Prabhu , Devi Parikh

Unlike current state-of-the-art language models, young children actively acquire language through interactions with their surrounding environment and caretakers. One mechanism that has been argued to be critical to language learning is the…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2023-03-03 Andy Liu , Hao Zhu , Emmy Liu , Yonatan Bisk , Graham Neubig

The ability to model the mental states of others is crucial to human social intelligence, and can offer similar benefits to artificial agents with respect to the social dynamics induced in multi-agent settings. We present a method of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-07-20 Ini Oguntola , Joseph Campbell , Simon Stepputtis , Katia Sycara

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to reason about others' mental states, and higher-order ToM involves considering that others also possess their own ToM. Equipping large language model (LLM)-driven agents with ToM has long been…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-03-18 Chunjiang Mu , Ya Zeng , Qiaosheng Zhang , Kun Shao , Chen Chu , Hao Guo , Danyang Jia , Zhen Wang , Shuyue Hu

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states, such as beliefs, desires, intentions, and knowledge, to oneself and others, and to understand that these mental states can differ from one's own and from reality. We…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-03-15 Anirban Mukherjee , Hannah Hanwen Chang

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…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-03-13 Ruirui Chen , Weifeng Jiang , Chengwei Qin , Cheston Tan

A major challenge for world models in multi-agent systems is to understand interdependent agent dynamics, predict interactive multi-agent trajectories, and plan over long horizons with collective awareness, without centralized supervision…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-03-03 Lingyi Wang , Rashed Shelim , Walid Saad , Naren Ramakrishna

Relating explicit psychological mechanisms and observable behaviours is a central aim of psychological and behavioural science. We implemented the principles of the Projective Consciousness Model into artificial agents embodied as virtual…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2025-11-26 David Rudrauf , Grégoire Sergeant-Perthuis , Yvain Tisserand , Teerawat Monnor , Olivier Belli

Understanding and attributing mental states, known as Theory of Mind (ToM), emerges as a fundamental capability for human social reasoning. While Large Language Models (LLMs) appear to possess certain ToM abilities, the mechanisms…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-05-31 Wentao Zhu , Zhining Zhang , Yizhou Wang

Existing approaches to Theory of Mind (ToM) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) overemphasize prompted, or cue-based, ToM, which may limit our collective ability to develop Artificial Social Intelligence (ASI). Drawing from research in computer…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-02-22 Nikolos Gurney , David V. Pynadath , Volkan Ustun

Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand people's minds based on their behavior, is key to developing socially intelligent agents. Current approaches to ToM reasoning either rely on prompting Large Language Models (LLMs), which are…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-01-15 Zhining Zhang , Chuanyang Jin , Mung Yao Jia , Shunchi Zhang , Tianmin Shu

Recent evidence suggests Large Language Models (LLMs) display Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities. Most ToM experiments place participants in a spectatorial role, wherein they predict and interpret other agents' behavior. However, human ToM also…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-07-23 Jared Moore , Ned Cooper , Rasmus Overmark , Beba Cibralic , Nick Haber , Cameron R. Jones

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to understand human thinking and decision-making, an ability that plays a crucial role in social interaction between people, including linguistic communication. This paper investigates to what extent…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2023-09-14 Bart Holterman , Kees van Deemter

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 increasingly integrated into daily life, understanding their…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-08-26 Ruirui Chen , Weifeng Jiang , Chengwei Qin , Cheston Tan

Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to attribute beliefs, intentions, or mental states to others, is a crucial feature of human social interaction. In complex environments, where the human sensory system reaches its limits, behaviour is…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2024-07-26 Francesca Bianco , Silvia Rigato , Maria Laura Filippetti , Dimitri Ognibene

Understanding what a user believes and intends is central to building effective agent assistants. This ability is often evaluated through Theory-of-Mind (ToM) tasks, where success requires reasoning from the user's perspective. However,…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-05-28 Cheng Qian , Jiayu Liu , Heng Ji

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a hallmark of human cognition, allowing individuals to reason about others' beliefs and intentions. Engineers behind recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have claimed to demonstrate comparable…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-04-01 Nitay Alon , Joseph Barnby , Reuth Mirsky , Stefan Sarkadi

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the cognitive ability to infer and attribute mental states to oneself and others. As large language models (LLMs) are increasingly evaluated for social and cognitive capabilities, it remains unclear to what…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2024-11-26 Jayanta Sadhu , Ayan Antik Khan , Noshin Nawal , Sanju Basak , Abhik Bhattacharjee , Rifat Shahriyar

When researchers claim AI systems possess ToM or mental models, they are fundamentally discussing behavioral predictions and bias corrections rather than genuine mental states. This position paper argues that the current discourse conflates…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2025-10-06 Xiaoyun Yin , Elmira Zahmat Doost , Shiwen Zhou , Garima Arya Yadav , Jamie C. Gorman

Human interactions are deeply rooted in the interplay of thoughts, beliefs, and desires made possible by Theory of Mind (ToM): our cognitive ability to understand the mental states of ourselves and others. Although ToM may come naturally to…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2023-11-20 Alex Wilf , Sihyun Shawn Lee , Paul Pu Liang , Louis-Philippe Morency