We examined theory of mind (ToM; mental state understanding) and language in children with epilepsy (EP; n = 10; mean age = 9.92, SD = 2.34) and with typical development (TD; n = 20; mean age = 10.05, SD = 2.08). The EP group demonstrated worse ToM compared to the TD group (t(28) = −1.11, p = .28, d = .44) but differences did not persist when controlling for language. Syntactic language was correlated with ToM in the EP group (rho (10) = .79, p < .01). This study confirms language is important for ToM in a group of children with a neurological disorder and indicates that children with epilepsy are at risk for difficulties in understanding the mental states of others due to their language deficits. This may help to explain the social difficulties these children have with their peers.

中文翻译：

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儿童癫痫病的心理和语言理论

我们研究了患有癫痫病（EP; n  = 10;平均年龄= 9.92，SD  = 2.34）和典型发育情况（TD; n  = 20;平均年龄= 10.05，SD  = 2.08）。与TD组相比，EP组表现出更差的ToM（t（28）= -1.11，p  = .28，d = .44），但在控制语言时并不会持续存在差异。句法语言与EP组中的ToM相关（rho（10）= .79，p <.01）。这项研究证实语言对于一组神经系统疾病的儿童来说对ToM很重要，并且表明癫痫儿童由于语言缺陷而有可能难以理解他人的精神状态。这可能有助于解释这些孩子与同伴之间的社会困难。