Fact or fiction?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Chlebuch ◽  
Thalia R. Goldstein ◽  
Deena Skolnick Weisberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Eyes Task ◽  
The Mind

Abstract Many studies have claimed to find that reading fiction leads to improvements in social cognition. But this work has left open the critical question of whether any type of narrative, fictional or nonfictional, might have similar effects. To address this question, as well as to test whether framing a narrative as fiction matters, the current studies presented participants (N = 268 in Study 1; N = 362 in Study 2) with literary fiction texts, narrative nonfiction texts, expository nonfiction texts, or no texts. We tested their theory-of-mind abilities using the picture-based Reading the Mind in the Eyes task and a text-based test of higher-order social cognition. Reading anything was associated with higher scores compared to reading nothing, but the effects of framing and text type were inconsistent. These results suggest that prior claims regarding positive effects of reading fiction on mentalizing should be seen as tenuous; other mechanisms may be driving previously published effects.

Reading the Mind or Only the Story? Sharing Fiction to Develop ToM With Deaf Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-476
Author(s):  
Helen Chilton ◽  
Sarah M. Beazley
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Multidimensional Construct ◽  
First Order ◽  
Story Sharing ◽  
Book Sharing ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Applied Knowledge

In literature which discusses the Theory of Mind (ToM) of deaf children, the lens is usually focused on the child. Here, the lens is directed toward the practitioners and the potential they have to support the development of ToM. In considering a practice-focused approach, we report on the strategies used by five educators of five deaf children (aged between 4 and 8 years old) while using fiction books to explore the topic of thoughts and feelings. Observation of the book-sharing activities highlighted opportunities to view ToM as a multidimensional construct and identified a plethora of strategies in use in exploring first-order ToM. However, these strategies did not automatically expose deaf children to second-order and higher order concepts. Points are raised about the need for evidence-based practice in the use of strategies to support the refining and progression of ToM in deaf children and the sharing of applied knowledge within the profession.

scholarly journals Understandable robots - What, Why, and How

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hellström ◽  
Suna Bensch
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Higher Order Theory ◽  
Communicative Actions ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Novel Model

Abstract As robots become more and more capable and autonomous, there is an increasing need for humans to understand what the robots do and think. In this paper, we investigate what such understanding means and includes, and how robots can be designed to support understanding. After an in-depth survey of related earlier work, we discuss examples showing that understanding includes not only the intentions of the robot, but also desires, knowledge, beliefs, emotions, perceptions, capabilities, and limitations of the robot. The term understanding is formally defined, and the term communicative actions is defined to denote the various ways in which a robot may support a human’s understanding of the robot. A novel model of interaction for understanding is presented. The model describes how both human and robot may utilize a first or higher-order theory of mind to understand each other and perform communicative actions in order to support the other’s understanding. It also describes simpler cases in which the robot performs static communicative actions in order to support the human’s understanding of the robot. In general, communicative actions performed by the robot aim at reducing the mismatch between the mind of the robot, and the robot’s inferred model of the human’s model of the mind of the robot. Based on the proposed model, a set of questions are formulated, to serve as support when developing and implementing the model in real interacting robots.

Social cognition and social robots

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Theory Theory ◽  
Adequate Explanation ◽  
Interactive Approach ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Mind Theory

Social robots are robots designed to interact with humans or with each other in ways that approximate human social interaction. It seems clear that one question relevant to the project of designing such robots concerns how humans themselves interact to achieve social understanding. If we turn to psychology, philosophy, or the cognitive sciences in general, we find two models of social cognition vying for dominance under the heading of theory of mind: theory theory (TT) and simulation theory (ST). It is therefore natural and interesting to ask how a TT design for a social robot would differ from the ST version. I think that a much more critical question is whether either TT or ST provide an adequate explanation of social cognition. There is a growing although still minority consensus that, despite their dominance in the debate about social cognition, neither TT nor ST, nor some hybrid version of these theories, offers an acceptable account of how we encounter and interact with one another. In this paper I will give a brief review of the theory of mind debate, outline an alternative theory of social cognition based on an embodied interactive approach, and then try to draw out a few implications about social robotics.

scholarly journals Negative and Neutral Valences of Affective Theory of Mind are More Impaired than Positive Valence in Clinically Stable Schizophrenia Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 460-464
Author(s):  
Thammanard Charernboon
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Normal Controls

Objective People with schizophrenia show impairment in social cognition, such as emotion recognition and theory of mind. The current study aims to compare the ability of clinically stable schizophrenia patients to decode the positive, negative and neutral affective mental state of others with educational match-paired normal control.Methods 50 people with schizophrenia and 50 matched controls were compared on the positive, negative and neutral emotional valence of affective theory of mind using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Tests.Results The results showed that people with schizophrenia performed worse in negative and neutral emotional valence than normal controls; however, no significant differences in decoding positive valence were found.Conclusion Our data suggest that there is variability in the performance of affective theory of mind according to emotion valence; the impairments seem to be specific to only negative and neutral emotions, but not positive ones.

Reading Literary Fiction and Theory of Mind: Three Preregistered Replications and Extensions of Kidd and Castano (2013)

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kidd ◽  
Emanuele Castano
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Popular Fiction ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Successful Replication ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Nonsignificant Effect

Scholars from diverse disciplines have proposed that reading fiction improves intersubjective capacities. Experiments have yielded mixed evidence that reading literary fiction improves performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, a test of Theory of Mind. Three preregistered experiments revealed mixed results. Applying the “small telescopes” method developed by Simonsohn revealed two uninformative failures to replicate and one successful replication. On a measure of the importance of intentions to moral judgments, results were more mixed, with one significant effect in the expected direction, one nonsignificant effect, and one significant effect in the unexpected direction. In addition, two experiments yielded support for the exploratory but preregistered hypothesis that characters in popular fiction are perceived as more predictable and stereotypic than those in literary fiction. These findings help clarify the sociocognitive effects of reading literary fiction and refine questions for future research.

scholarly journals The trajectory change of theory of mind in the elderly

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.I. Melehin
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Old Age ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Cognitive Mechanism ◽  
Affective Components ◽  
The Mind

Theory of mind is viewed as a cognitive mechanism of social cognition. Features of social cognition and theory of mind are differentiated. Studies of cognitive and affective components of theory of mind in old age are summarized. Heterogeneous changes of theory of mind show that the deficit in the ability to understand the mind of another is not total, but selective. Factors (neuroanatomical, cognitive, psychosocial, etc.) influencing the theory of mind in old age are systematized. Strategies of enhancing theory of mind in old age are described.

scholarly journals Art films foster theory of mind

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuele Castano
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
Popular Fiction ◽  
Moral Judgement ◽  
Hollywood Films ◽  
Art Film ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Impact

AbstractResearch shows that reading literary but not popular fiction enhances the Theory of Mind (ToM). This article builds on the symmetry between literary theory and film theory and investigates whether exposure to art films, but not Hollywood films, enhances ToM. Participants (N = 232) were randomly assigned to view either art or Hollywood films and then answered questions about the film and its characters before completing two separate measures of ToM (the Read the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Moral Judgement Task). Results showed that art film viewers scored higher on both ToM measures and that the effect was sequentially mediated by perception of complexity and predictability of the characters. The findings are discussed in the context of the emerging literature on the impact of fiction on social cognition.

Are Deficits in Social Cognition Linked to Autobiographical Memory in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease?

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes H. Scheidemann ◽  
Franz Petermann ◽  
Marc Schipper
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Neuropsychological Test Battery ◽  
Fluency Task

Abstract. We investigated theory of mind (ToM) deficits in Alzheimer‘s disease (AD) and its possible connection to autobiographical memory (ABM). Patients and matched controls were evaluated and compared using a video-based ToM test, an autobiographical fluency task, and a neuropsychological test battery. We found that ToM deficits were positively associated with semantic ABM in the clinical group, whereas a positive relationship appeared between ToM and episodic ABM in controls. We hypothesize that this reflects the course of the disease as well as that semantic ABM is used for ToM processing, being still accessible in AD. Furthermore, we assume that it is also less efficient, which in turn leads to a specific deficit profile of social cognition.

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