From Prelinguistic Interaction to Language-Mediated Mentalization: A Narrative Review

Sara Entezari; Roshanak Khodabakhsh Pirkalani

Authors

Sara Entezari Ph.D. Student in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology of Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2241-7226
Roshanak Khodabakhsh Pirkalani Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology of Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0970-0698

Keywords:

mentalization, joint attention, prelinguistic interactions, caregiver sensitivity, language

Abstract

Purpose: This narrative review examined how prelinguistic interactions contribute to the foundations of mentalization and how language subsequently extends this capacity.

Methods and Materials: Theoretical and empirical literature published between 2018 and 2026 was identified through Scopus and Google Scholar using keywords related to mentalization, joint attention, prelinguistic interactions, caregiver sensitivity, and language. Relevant seminal theoretical sources were also included, and the selected literature was narratively synthesized.

Findings: Prelinguistic communication, particularly joint attention, gesture, vocalization, and affective coordination, provides an interpersonal foundation for understanding others’ behavior as meaningful and intentional. Caregiver responsiveness may further support the regulation and organization of internal experience. Language expands these foundations by providing representational structures for distinguishing mental content from external reality and for comparing perspectives. Linguistic diversity may increase sensitivity to differences in others’ communicative perspectives, although second-language processing may also increase unnecessary mental-state attribution.

Conclusion: Mentalization development may be better understood as a progressive expansion and reorganization of ways of engaging with mental states rather than a linear shift from nonverbal to verbal social cognition. Embodied-interpersonal, linguistic, and sociocultural processes appear to make interconnected contributions to this development.

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