The Theory of Mind Utility: Formal Specification of a Mentalizing Mechanism

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.12721v1
• Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2026 22:11:40 GMT
• Title: The Theory of Mind Utility: Formal Specification of a Mentalizing Mechanism
• Abstract summary: Theory of Mind Utility (ToM-U) formalizes the problem of inference from belief states.<n>ToM-U generates predictions about mentalizing failure that follow from structural properties of the model.<n>The architecture positions ToM-U as a domain-agnostic mechanism upstream of goal inference and other downstream social cognitive processes.
• Score: 2.226663588797889
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Inferring others' beliefs requires more than reading surface signals; it requires tracking who told them what, in what order, and how credibly. The Theory of Mind Utility (ToM-U) formalizes this epistemic state inference problem at the computational level of analysis, specifying what mentalizing computes and why without commitment to algorithmic or neural implementation. ToM-U achieves this by constructing Local Epistemic World Models (LEWMs) -- directed typed graphs that represent agents, state nodes, and the epistemic relationships among them -- and evaluating discrete candidate LEWMs against observed behavior until one achieves sufficient confidence. Five formal definitions specify the LEWM structure, agent node properties including ordered information access history, a bounded proliferation mechanism for recursive mentalizing, three inference procedures, and a residue function that captures the structured trace left by failed mentalizing attempts. ToM-U differs from Bayesian Theory of Mind and adjacent formal accounts, which presuppose rather than derive belief states, and from simulation theory and theory-theory, which lack a formal apparatus for epistemic state inference. The architecture generates directional, falsifiable predictions about mentalizing failure that follow from structural properties of the model rather than auxiliary assumptions, and positions ToM-U as a domain-agnostic mechanism upstream of goal inference and other downstream social cognitive processes.

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