scholarly journals Children understand communication intuitively but indirect communication makes them think twice – Evidence from pupillometry and looking patterns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Schulze ◽  
David Buttelmann
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Indirect Communication ◽  
Communicative Acts ◽  
Object Selection ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Correct Object ◽  
Communication Condition ◽  
Object Choice Task

Interpreting a speaker’s communicative acts is a challenge children are facing permanently in everyday live. In doing so, they seem to understand direct communicative acts more easily than indirect communicative acts. The present study investigated which step in the processing of communicative acts might cause difficulties in understanding indirect communication. To assess the developmental trajectory of this phenomenon, we tested 3- and 5-year-old children (N=105) using eyetracking and an object-choice task. The children watched videos that showed puppets during their every-day activities (e.g., pet care). For every activity, the puppets were asked which of two objects (e.g., rabbit or dog) they would rather have. The puppets responded either directly (“I want the rabbit”) or indirectly (“I have a carrot”). Results showed that children chose the object intended by the puppets more often in the direct- than in the indirect-communication condition, and 5-year-olds chose correctly more than 3-year-olds. However, even though we found that children’s pupil size increased while hearing the utterances, we found no effect for communication type before children had already decided on the correct object during object selection by looking at it. Only after this point, that is, only in children’s further fixation patterns and reaction times did differences for communication type occur. Thus, although children’s object-choice performance suggests that indirect communication is harder to understand than direct communication, the cognitive demands during processing both communication types seem similar. We discuss theoretical implications of these findings for developmental pragmatics in terms of a dual-process account of communication comprehension.

scholarly journals Working Smarter Not Harder: Oxytocin Increases Domestic Dogs’ (Canis familiaris) Accuracy, but Not Attempts, on an Object Choice Task

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Lee Oliva ◽  
Manuel Mengoli ◽  
Tiago Mendonça ◽  
Alessandro Cozzi ◽  
Patrick Pageat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Canis Familiaris ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Object Choice Task

scholarly journals Emotion and liking: how director emotional expression and knowledge of (dis)liking may impact adults’ ability to follow the instructions of an ignorant speaker

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Monk ◽  
Lauren Colbert ◽  
Gemma Darker ◽  
Jade Cowling ◽  
Bethany Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Object Selection ◽  
Knowledge And Beliefs ◽  
Correct Object ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Accuracy Rates

Abstract Background Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to understand that others have different knowledge and beliefs to ourselves, has been the subject of extensive research which suggests that we are not always efficient at taking another’s perspective, known as visual perspective taking (VPT). This has been studied extensively and a growing literature has explored the individual-level factors that may affect perspective taking (e.g. empathy and group membership). However, while emotion and (dis)liking are key aspects within everyday social interaction, research has not hitherto explored how these factors may impact ToM. Method A total of 164 participants took part in a modified director task (31 males (19%), M age = 20.65, SD age = 5.34), exploring how correct object selection may be impacted by another’s emotion (director facial emotion; neutral × happy × sad) and knowledge of their (dis)likes (i.e. director likes specific objects). Result When the director liked the target object or disliked the competitor object, accuracy rates were increased relative to when he disliked the target object or liked the competitor object. When the emotion shown by the director was incongruent with their stated (dis)liking of an object (e.g. happy when he disliked an object), accuracy rates were also increased. None of these effects were significant in the analysis of response time. These findings suggest that knowledge of liking may impact ToM use, as can emotional incongruency, perhaps by increasing the saliency of perspective differences between participant and director. Conclusion As well as contributing further to our understanding of real-life social interactions, these findings may have implications for ToM research, where it appears that more consideration of the target/director’s characteristics may be prudent.

Conspecific discrimination in an object-choice task in African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

2009 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Giret ◽  
Marie Monbureau ◽  
Michel Kreutzer ◽  
Dalila Bovet
Keyword(s):  
Choice Task ◽  
Psittacus Erithacus ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Object Choice Task

scholarly journals Exercise Might Be Good for Me, But I Don’t Feel Good About It: Do Automatic Associations Predict Exercise Behavior?

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Bluemke ◽  
Ralf Brand ◽  
Geoffrey Schweizer ◽  
Daniela Kahlert
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Exercise Psychology ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Dual Process Models ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Ordinal Regression Model ◽  
Sport And Exercise

Models employed in exercise psychology highlight the role of reflective processes for explaining behavior change. However, as discussed in social cognition literature, information-processing models also consider automatic processes (dual-process models). To examine the relevance of automatic processing in exercise psychology, we used a priming task to assess the automatic evaluations of exercise stimuli in physically active sport and exercise majors (n = 32), physically active nonsport majors (n = 31), and inactive students (n = 31). Results showed that physically active students responded faster to positive words after exercise primes, whereas inactive students responded more rapidly to negative words. Priming task reaction times were successfully used to predict reported amounts of exercise in an ordinal regression model. Findings were obtained only with experiential items reflecting negative and positive consequences of exercise. The results illustrate the potential importance of dual-process models in exercise psychology.

Capuchin monkeys’ use of human and conspecific cues to solve a hidden object-choice task

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 985-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Essler ◽  
Lindsay P. Schwartz ◽  
Mattea S. Rossettie ◽  
Peter G. Judge
Keyword(s):  
Choice Task ◽  
Capuchin Monkeys ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Object Choice Task ◽  
Conspecific Cues

scholarly journals Juvenile domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) use human-given cues in an object choice task

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nawroth ◽  
Mirjam Ebersbach ◽  
Eberhard von Borell
Keyword(s):  
Sus Scrofa ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Domestic Pigs ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Object Choice Task ◽  
Sus Scrofa Domestica

scholarly journals Do pet dogs ( Canis familiaris ) follow ostensive and non-ostensive human gaze to distant space and to objects?

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 170349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Duranton ◽  
Friederike Range ◽  
Zsófia Virányi
Keyword(s):  
Canis Familiaris ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Chance Level ◽  
Gaze Following ◽  
Food Location ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Object Choice Task ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Gaze Cues

Dogs are renowned for being skilful at using human-given communicative cues such as pointing. Results are contradictory, however, when it comes to dogs' following human gaze, probably due to methodological discrepancies. Here we investigated whether dogs follow human gaze to one of two food locations better than into distant space even after comparable pre-training. In Experiments 1 and 2, the gazing direction of dogs was recorded in a gaze-following into distant space and in an object-choice task where no choice was allowed, in order to allow a direct comparison between tasks, varying the ostensive nature of the gazes. We found that dogs only followed repeated ostensive human gaze into distant space, whereas they followed all gaze cues in the object-choice task. Dogs followed human gaze better in the object-choice task than when there was no obvious target to look at. In Experiment 3, dogs were tested in another object-choice task and were allowed to approach a container. Ostensive cues facilitated the dogs’ following gaze with gaze as well as their choices: we found that dogs in the ostensive group chose the indicated container at chance level, whereas they avoided this container in the non-ostensive group. We propose that dogs may perceive the object-choice task as a competition over food and may interpret non-ostensive gaze as an intentional cue that indicates the experimenter's interest in the food location she has looked at. Whether ostensive cues simply mitigate the competitive perception of this situation or they alter how dogs interpret communicative gaze needs further investigation. Our findings also show that following gaze with one's gaze and actually choosing one of the two containers in an object-choice task need to be considered as different variables. The present study clarifies a number of questions related to gaze-following in dogs and adds to a growing body of evidence showing that human ostensive cues can strongly modify dog behaviour.

scholarly journals Captive gibbons (Hylobatidae) use different referential cues in an object-choice task: insights into lesser ape cognition and manual laterality

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai R. Caspar ◽  
Larissa Mader ◽  
Fabian Pallasdies ◽  
Miriam Lindenmeier ◽  
Sabine Begall
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Object Choice ◽  
Object Choice Task ◽  
Hand Preferences

Background Utilization of visual referential cues by non-human primates is a subject of constant scientific interest. However, only few primate species, mostly great apes, have been studied thoroughly in that regard, rendering the understanding of phylogenetic influences on the underlying cognitive patterns difficult. Methods We tested six species of captive gibbons in an object-choice task (n = 11) for their ability to interpret two different pointing gestures, a combination of body orientation and gaze direction as well as glancing as referential cues. Hand preferences were tested in the object-choice task and in a bimanual tube task (n = 18). Results We found positive responses to all signals except for the glancing cue at the individual as well as at the group level. The gibbons’ success rates partially exceed results reported for great apes in comparable tests and appear to be similarly influenced by prior exposure to human communicative cues. Hand preferences exhibited by the gibbons in the object-choice task as well as in a bimanual tube task suggest that crested gibbons (Nomascus sp.) are strongly lateralized at individual but not at population level for tasks involving object manipulation. Discussion Based on the available data, it can be assumed that the cognitive foundations to utilize different visual cues essential to human communication are conserved in extant hominoids and can be traced back at least to the common ancestor of great and lesser apes. However, future studies have to further investigate how the social environment of gibbons influences their ability to exploit referential signals. Gibbons’ manual laterality patterns appear to differ in several aspects from the situation found in great apes. While not extensive enough to allow for general conclusions about the evolution of hand preferences in gibbons or apes in general, our results add to the expanding knowledge on manual lateralization in the Hylobatidae.

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