Theory of Mind (ToM) Flashcards

Flashcards based on lecture notes about Theory of Mind (ToM) in neurotypical development.

What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?

The capacity to predict and explain other people’s behavior in terms of their (internal) states of mind, which are typically associated with emotions and intentions.

Who conducted action-prediction abilities research in chimpanzees?

Premack & Woodruff (1978)

What is the problem with action-prediction abilities research in chimpanzees?

The chimps could have solved the problem without inferring the human’s beliefs or needs at all, but simply by getting to the correct solution (a perceptual-visual experience not involving higher-order cognitive abilities such as ToM at all!)

What is the task to assess understanding of other people’s mental states?

The child is required to attribute a belief to another person, which is different from his/her own. The participant cannot predict the correct response on the basis of what s/he knows to be true.

What is the rationale behind false belief tasks?

If the child can predict what another person will do on the basis of a mistaken belief, a false belief, then, we know that s/he is not just reading the answer from the presented scenario.

Who developed the Sally-Anne task as part of the false belief task?

Wimmer & Perner (1983); Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith (1985)

In the appearance-reality Task, what main question do you ask?

A child is shown an object & is asked, What does it look like?

In the deceptive box Task, what main question do you ask?

A child is shown a box of smarties & is asked, What is in the box?

Who researched autistic children's understanding of seeing, knowing and believing?

Leslie, A. & Frith, U. 1988

Who developed the false photograph task?

Zaitchik, 1990

At what age do children typically develop the concept of representation?

Children develop the concept of representation between 4-5 years of age.

What happens between 18-24 months with babies?

Babies engage in pretend play with the ability to form a representation in their mind that is independent of reality. They also attribute the mental representation to another person.

Who challenged the traditional view that children don't understand beliefs and false beliefs?

Bloom & German (2000)

Who demonstrated that 15-month-olds understand false beliefs using a violation of expectation (VoE) paradigm?

Onishi & Baillargeon (2005)

What were the findings of Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) in the True Belief condition?

Infants look for longer when the actor knows where the object is, but looks for it in the wrong (yellow) box.

What were the findings of Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) in the False Belief condition?

Infants look for longer when the actor doesn’t know where the object is, but looks for it in the correct (yellow) box

Which study used an anticipatory looking paradigm to study ToM?

Southgate et al., 2007