3. What is Theory of Mind? The ability to ‘put your self in others shoes’ or Mindreading “Who is he?” “I’m leaving you!”…
4. Three groups key to understanding Theory of Mind Limited T.O.M = Mindblindness ‘ Theory of mind’ was coined as a term by Premack & Woodruff, primatologists who were discussing a chimpanzee
8. The Smarties test A child is shown a Smarties tube, and asked what they think is inside. Naturally, they nearly always say "Smarties". Then they are shown that the tube actually contains pencils. Then they are asked what they think a friend will say when they are brought in and shown the tube, and asked what is inside. "When I first showed you this tube, what did you think was in it?", they will often answer "pencils". Smartie test video
9. Sally Anne Test This is Sally. Sally has a basket. This is Anne. Anne has a box. Sally has a marble. She puts the marble into her basket. Sally goes out for a walk. Anne takes the marble out of the basket, and puts it into the box. Now Sally comes back. She wants to play with her marble. Where will Sally look for her marble? Sally Anne Video
Without guess work of understanding what others are thinking this makes no sense Look me in the eye chapter
Variations of the test aim to reduce performance factors (ability to follow story and remember) and maintain measurement of competence. None of any of the variations of the test improved performance significantly e.g. use of a Polaroid camera Take a photo of Ernie on the mat relaxing. While it develops here comes Big Bird. When the photo develops, who is in the photo?
Sixth Sense lesson example
Dawson and Osterling (1994) studied videotapes of first birthday parties of typical children and children who later received a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder and found that the best predictor of future diagnosis was lack of attention to the face of others.
two people, one standing beside and one with cupboard door open looking inside – which one knows what is in the cupboard?
Story about a girl who’s teddy is stolen when she isn’t looking – ASD identified girl as yawning or tired
Harris showed that children were able to respond correctly to these kind of stories by around four years of age, regardless of their own preferences for milk or cola. In other words, they understood that the emotional state of a character depends on their desires. By six, they could also understand how Ellie would feel before actually tasting the drink, showing that they understood the importance of beliefs as well as desires. In the example here, Ellie would be happy at first because she believed that the carton contained milk.
Deception involves intention to deceive – Deception can seem sophisticated as we interpret things in a mentalistic way (manipulative) – children or ASD do not have access to others mental states to deceive.
TOM located in frontal lobe? People with lesions or tumours lose social judgement