Jennie Pyers: UC Berkeley Department of Psychology

False-belief understanding is the non-egocentric ability to recognize that one’s own thoughts and beliefs can be different from others’, and
different from real-world events (i.e., mistaken). Research on early child development suggests that false-belief understanding is contingent
upon language development. Recent findings from an emergent sign language in Nicaragua suggest that deaf individuals exposed to a less
complex version of the language show deficits in false-belief understanding, whereas those exposed to a more complex version of the
language develop normally. Without complex language, human interaction is insufficient to support the development of a mature social
understanding, specifically that of false belief.