Looking at theory-of-mind 'on-line': A new procedure to track mental state inferences in young children

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Looking at theory-of-mind 'on-line': A new procedure to track mental state inferences in young children Maria Núñez1* 1 Dept of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom For 25 years, research on theory-of-mind (ToM) has consolidated the fact that young children attribute mental states to themselves and others in order to understand and predict their behaviour. The assessment of these inferential processes, however, is typically made through behavioral measures that test the child’s inferences ‘off-line’ (usually through verbal responses to a critical question). This procedure has proved useful in revealing the early onset of this species-specific ability but it misses out one of the main features of their use in real life, namely, the rapid, ‘on-line’ and often implicit nature of these processes. The series of studies presented here are part of a research project that aims to track mental states inferences on-line and put temporal measures in relation to the usual verbal measures. In two studies, 3 to 5 yr-olds are presented with a set of tasks using a new procedure that tracks their mental-state inferences on-line while children follow a narrative in a computerised, self-administered task. Narratives are accompanied by sets of pictures. The story is “unfolded” in the computer screen as the child clicks the mouse. Card next to the last in the episode-sequence contains information that is either consistent or inconsistent with the inferred ‘mental state’ (either emotions or beliefs, depending on the study and task). Children’s response times (RTs), their pattern of visual inspection (using a TOBII eye-tracker) and their justifications following the consistent/inconsistent episode are assessed. Initial results show that overall: (1) four- and 5- year olds’ RTs are faster than those of 3-year-olds; (2) while 4- and 5-yr-olds ‘move on’ more quickly in Consistent (as compared to Inconsistent) episodes, 3-yr-olds present the opposite pattern. (3) Initial analysis of their visual inspection patterns also indicates differences between younger and older pre-schoolers (4) Verbal justifications refer mostly to the key event under the Consistent condition while they are randomly distributed for the Inconsistent condition. Further analyses are still in progress but, as a whole, findings show a coherent and complementary pattern of responses across the set of measures, revealing the RTs and visual inspection patterns as sensitive measures to approach the assessment of the inferences on-line. Discussion will include how this procedure can be adapted to simultaneously record ERPs in order to really capture the on-line nature of our mental state reasoning and to help us to determine to what extent this relies on conscious processes. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Perceptual Processing and Recognition Citation: Núñez M (2008). Looking at theory-of-mind 'on-line': A new procedure to track mental state inferences in young children. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.330 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 15 Dec 2008; Published Online: 15 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Maria Núñez, Dept of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom, m.nunez@gcal.ac.uk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Maria Núñez Google Maria Núñez Google Scholar Maria Núñez PubMed Maria Núñez Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.