Listener-adapted speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Lorge ◽  
Napoleon Katsos
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Cognitive Measures ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Adult Participants

Abstract While a significant amount of research has focussed on whether bilingualism bestows advantages in cognitive skills, perspective-taking and Theory of Mind, less is known about the effect of bilingualism in communicative tasks where these and related skills may be called for. This study examines bilingual and monolingual adults’ communicative skills through their production of two types of listener-adapted speech (LAS): child-directed speech and foreigner-directed speech. 20 monolinguals and 20 bilingual adults were asked to explain a cooking recipe to a child, a non-native adult and a control native adult. Participants adapted their speech for the child and the foreigner compared to the native adult. Furthermore, bilinguals adapted some features of their speech to a greater extent and in a fine-tuned way (wider pitch range addressing the child and vowel hyperarticulation addressing the foreigner). The prevalence of these features in bilingual speech was not correlated with personality or cognitive measures. We discuss possible sources of this difference in speech adaptation and implications for theories of bilingual cognition.

scholarly journals Predictive context biases binocular rivalry in children and adults with no positive relation to two measures of social cognition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Valuch ◽  
Louisa Kulke
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Eye Dominance ◽  
Adult Participants

Integration of prior experience and contextual information can help to resolve perceptually ambiguous situations and might support the ability to understand other peoples’ thoughts and intentions, called Theory of Mind. We studied whether the readiness to incorporate contextual information for resolving binocular rivalry is positively associated with Theory-of-Mind-related social cognitive abilities. In children (12 to 13 years) and adults (18 to 25 years), a predictive temporal context reliably modulated the onset of binocular rivalry to a similar degree. In contrast, adult participants scored better on measures of Theory of Mind compared to children. We observed considerable interindividual differences regarding the influence of a predictive context on binocular rivalry, which were associated with differences in sensory eye dominance. The absence of a positive association between predictive effects on perception and Theory of Mind performance suggests that predictive effects on binocular rivalry and higher-level Theory-of-Mind-related abilities stem from different neurocognitive mechanisms. We conclude that the influence of predictive contextual information on basic visual processes is fully developed at an earlier age, whereas social cognitive skills continue to evolve from adolescence to adulthood.

scholarly journals Reading Books and Reading Minds: Differential Effects of Wonder and The Crossover on Empathy and Theory of Mind

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-54
Author(s):  
Martha S. Guarisco ◽  
Celine Brooks ◽  
Louise M. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Sixth Graders ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Academic Unit ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
Before And After

We tested sixth graders for empathy and theory of mind before and after an academic unit on either Wonder or The Crossover. Wonder was associated with improved perspective-taking; students who read The Crossover increased in concern for others. Faux pas detection increased in both genders with Wonder, and in girls with The Crossover. Students who read The Crossover in print showed improved understanding of facial expressions, while students who used iPads declined. Young adult fiction is associated with improved social cognitive skills, but effects depend on gender and reading format, as well as on the choice of individual book.

EXPRESS: Taking apart what brings us together: the role of action prediction, perspective-taking, and theory of mind in joint action

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110501
Author(s):  
Lucia Maria Sacheli ◽  
Elisa Arcangeli ◽  
Desiré Carioti ◽  
Steve Butterfill ◽  
Manuela Berlingeri
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Joint Action ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Action Prediction ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Interactive Task ◽  
High Level ◽  
Predictive Mechanisms

The ability to act together with others to achieve common goals is crucial in life, yet there is no full consensus on the underlying cognitive skills. While influential theoretical accounts suggest that interaction requires sophisticated insights into others’ minds, alternative views propose that high-level social skills might not be necessary because interactions are grounded on sensorimotor predictive mechanisms. At present, empirical evidence is insufficient to decide between the two. This study addressed this issue and explored the association between performance at joint action tasks and cognitive abilities in three domains - action prediction, perspective-taking, and theory of mind - in healthy adults (N=58). We found that, while perspective-taking played a role in reading the behaviour of others independently of the social context, action prediction abilities specifically influenced the agents’ performance in an interactive task but not in a control (social but non-interactive) task. In our study, performance at a theory of mind test did not play any role, as confirmed by Bayesian analyses. The results suggest that, in adults, sensorimotor predictive mechanisms might play a significant and specific role in supporting interpersonal coordination during motor interactions. We discuss the implications of our findings for the contrasting theoretical views described above and propose a way they might be partly reconciled.

What did we learn from the ape language studies?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tomasello
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Communicative Acts ◽  
Shared Intentionality ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Il Y A ◽  
Basic Symbol ◽  
Ape Language

The ‘ape language’ studies have come and gone, with wildly divergent claims about what they have shown. Without question, the most sophisticated skills have been displayed by Kanzi, a male bonobo exposed from youth to a human-like communicative system. This chapter attempts to assess, in an objective a manner as possible, the nature of the communicative skills that Kanzi and other great apes acquired during the various ape language projects. The overall conclusion is that bonobos and other apes possess most of the requisite cognitive skills for something like a human language, including such things as basic symbol learning, categorization, sequential (statistical) learning, etc. What they lack are the skills and motivations of shared intentionality—such things as joint attention, perspective-taking and cooperative motives—for adjusting their communicative acts for others pragmatically, or for learning symbols whose main function is pragmatic. Il y a eu beaucoup d’études sur la langue des singes avec des résultats très divergents. Sans question, on a vu les compétences les plus avancées chez Kanzi, un bonobo mâle qui a été exposé dès la jeunesse à un système de communication humain. Ici j’essaye d’évaluer le plus objectivement possible l’origine des compétences de communication que Kanzi et d’autres Grands singes ont appris pendant les différents projets linguistiques. Je conclue que les bonobos et les autres grands singes possèdent la plupart des compétences cognitives nécessaires à un langage humain, inclut les bases d’apprentissage de symboles, catégorisation, apprentissage séquentiel statistique, etc. Ils manquent les compétences et motivations d’intentionnalité commune—comme attention commune, prendre une perspective différente, motifs coopératifs—pour qu’ils améliorent leurs actes communicatives pragmatiquement.

Group membership and the effects on visual perspective taking

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Schneider ◽  
Anne Grigutsch ◽  
Matthias Schurz ◽  
Romi Zäske ◽  
Stefan R. Schweinberger
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Visual Perspective ◽  
Interference Effects ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Visual Perspective Taking ◽  
Mental State Ascription ◽  
Ethnic Nationality ◽  
Level 1

It has been hypothesized that visual perspective-taking, a basic Theory of Mind mechanism, might operate quite automatically particularly in terms of ´what´ someone else sees. As such we were interested in whether different social categories of an agent (e.g., gender, race, nationality) influence this mental state ascription mechanism. We tested this assumption by investigating the Samson level-1 visual perspective-taking paradigm using agents with different ethnic nationality appearances. A group of self-identified Turkish and German participants were asked to make visual perspective judgments from their own perspective (self-judgment) as well as from the perspective of a prototypical Turkish or German agent (other-judgment). The respective related interference effects - altercentric and egocentric interferences - were measured. When making other-judgments, German participants showed increased egocentric interferences for Turkish compared to German agents. Turkish participants showed no ethnic group influence for egocentric interferences and reported feeling associated with the German and Turkish nationality to a similar extent. For self-judgments, altercentric interferences were of similar magnitude for both ethnic agents in both participant groups. Overall this indicates that in level-1 visual perspective-taking, other-judgments and related egocentric interferences are sensitive to social categories and are better described as a flexible, controlled and deliberate mental state ascription mechanism. In contrast, self-judgments and related altercentric interference effects are better described as automatic, efficient and unconscious mental state ascription mechanisms. In a broader sense the current results suggest that we should stop considering automaticity an all-or-none principle when it comes theory of mind processes.

scholarly journals Self-serving social strategies: A systematic review of social cognition in narcissism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare M. Eddy
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
Concurrent Administration ◽  
Narcissistic Personality

AbstractNarcissistic Personality Disorder is characterised by inflated self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. The interpersonal difficulties associated with narcissistic personality may be becoming more widespread given its increasing prevalence within the general population. This systematic review investigated the relationship between narcissistic personality traits and social cognition (i.e. theory of mind; emotion recognition; empathy; emotional intelligence) in clinical and non-clinical samples. Cognitive empathy (i.e. perspective taking) appears unlikely to be impaired, while affective empathy (relating to another’s emotion state) may be reduced in association with narcissism. Those with grandiose narcissism rate their empathic skills more highly than those with vulnerable narcissism, but concurrent administration of objective measures is rare, limiting insight into the validity of self-ratings. Rather than deficits in aspects of social cognition, the overall pattern could reflect motivation, or advantageous use of social cognitive skills to serve the self. Indeed, interpersonal strategies associated with narcissism (e.g. deception; manipulation) suggest the application of understanding another’s beliefs or desires in the context of low empathy. Further research should seek to explore performance on a wider range of emotion recognition and theory of mind tasks, and whether characteristics such as excessive jealousy and paranoia could reflect hyper-mentalizing.

Perspective Taking als Methode zur kommunikativen Kom­pe­tenz­entwicklung im Jurastudium

Rhetorik ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Theresa Gleiss ◽  
Olaf Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Interdisciplinary Project ◽  
Everyday Work ◽  
The University

Abstract Although lawyers and judges often face communicative challenges in their everyday work, communicative skills are hardly trained in legal education. Based on the interdisciplinary project „Law and Rhetoric“ at the University of Tübingen, the paper highlights addressee-oriented communication and perspective-taking as central aspects of communicative competence. Through addressee orientation and the development of the ability to adopt perspectives, students are given the opportunity to think through communicative situations systematically and to anticipate communicative resistances. In contrast, the widespread focus on performance in the field of rhetorical key qualifications in legal educations only allows a restricted growth of communication skills and does not reach far enough.

scholarly journals Differential Benefits of Mental Training Types for Attention, Compassion, and Theory of Mind

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fynn-Mathis Trautwein ◽  
Philipp Kanske ◽  
Anne Böckler ◽  
Tania Singer
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Attention Training ◽  
Mental Training ◽  
Control Cohort ◽  
Mental Functioning ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Training Modules

Mindfulness- and, more generally, meditation-based interventions increasingly gain popularity, effectively promoting cognitive, affective, and social capacities. It is unclear, however, if different types of practice have the same or specific effects on mental functioning. Here we tested three consecutive three-month training modules aimed at cultivating either attention, socio-affective qualities (such as compassion), or socio-cognitive skills (such as theory of mind), in three training cohorts and a retest control cohort (N = 332). While attentional performance improved most consistently after attention training, compassion increased most after socio-affective training and theory of mind partially improved after socio-cognitive training. These results show that specific mental training practices are needed to induce plasticity in different domains of mental functioning, providing a foundation for evidence-based development of more targeted interventions adapted to the needs of different education, labor, and health settings.

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