scholarly journals Training self-other distinction facilitates perspective taking in young children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dora Kampis ◽  
Helle Lukowski Duplessy ◽  
Victoria Southgate
Keyword(s):  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Communication Training ◽  
Social Inhibition ◽  
Correct Object ◽  
Imitation Inhibition ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Task Training ◽  
Inhibition Group ◽  
Inhibition Training ◽  
Director Task

Adults and children sometimes commit ‘egocentric errors’, failing to ignore their own perspective, when interpreting others’ communication. Training imitation-inhibition reduces these errors in adults, facilitating perspective-taking. This study tested whether imitation-inhibition training may also facilitate perspective-taking in 3-6-year-olds, an age where the egocentric perspective may be particularly influential. Children participated in a 10-minute imitation-inhibition, imitation, or non-social-inhibition training (white, n=25 per condition, 33 female), and subsequently the communicative-perspective-taking Director task. Training had a significant effect (F(2, 71)= 3.268, p= .044, η2= .084): on critical trials the imitation-inhibition group selected the correct object more often than the imitation and non-social-inhibition training groups. The imitation-inhibition training thus specifically enhanced the perspective-taking process, indicating that perspective-taking from childhood onwards involves managing self-other representations.

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.

scholarly journals Childhood Abuse and Adult Sociocognitive Skills: Distinguishing Between Self and Other Following Early Trauma

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052090619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna R. Hudson ◽  
Lize De Coster ◽  
Hanne Spoormans ◽  
Sylvia Verbeke ◽  
Kaat Van der Jeught ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Imitative Behavior ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Therapeutic Practice ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Imitation Inhibition ◽  
Early Trauma

Experience of childhood abuse (CA) impairs complex social functioning in children; however, much less is known about its effects on basic sociocognitive processes and even fewer studies have investigated these in adult survivors. Using two behavioral tasks, this study investigated spontaneous theory of mind (ToM) and imitative behavior in 41 women with CA and 26 unaffected comparison (UC) women. In the spontaneous ToM task, UCs showed a larger ToM index than CAs, indicating more facilitation by knowledge of another’s false belief. In the imitation–inhibition task, CAs experienced less interference than UCs when observing another’s incongruent movements. After controlling for depression, differences in ToM became marginally significant, yet remained highly significant for inhibiting imitative behavior. The findings suggest CA survivors have altered perspective-taking and are less influenced by others’ perspectives, potentially due to changes in self-other distinction. Clinical implications regarding therapeutic practice with survivors of CA are discussed.

scholarly journals Craving Empathy: Studying the Sustained Impact of Empathy Training on Clinicians

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 237437352110433
Author(s):  
Ankit Mehta ◽  
Nell Adams ◽  
Mary Fredrickson ◽  
Wojciech Kraszkiewicz ◽  
Jerome Siy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Communication Training ◽  
Longitudinal Impact ◽  
Training Curriculum ◽  
Empathy Training ◽  
Empathy Scale ◽  
The Impact

Evidence is sparse when it comes to the longitudinal impact of educational interventions on empathy among clinicians. Additionally, most available research on empathy is on medical trainee cohorts. We set out to study the impact of empathy and communication training on practicing clinicians’ self-reported empathy and whether it can be sustained over six months. An immersive curriculum was designed to teach empathy and communication skills, which entailed experiential learning with simulated encounters and didactics on the foundational elements of communication. Self-reported Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) was scored before and at two points (1–4 weeks and 6 months) after the training. Overall, clinicians’ mean self-empathy scores increased following the workshop and were sustained at six months. Specifically, the perspective taking domain of the empathy scale, which relates to cognitive empathy, showed the most responsiveness to educational interventions. Our analysis shows that a structured and immersive training curriculum centered on building communication and empathy skills has the potential to positively impact clinician empathy and sustain self-reported empathy scores among practicing clinicians.

scholarly journals Influence of environmental factors on food intake and choice of beverage during meals in teenagers: a laboratory study

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (12) ◽  
pp. 1854-1859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrine Péneau ◽  
Amira Mekhmoukh ◽  
Didier Chapelot ◽  
Anne-Marie Dalix ◽  
Gheorghe Airinei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Normal Weight ◽  
Social Inhibition ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Affect Body Weight ◽  
The Social ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Conditioned Responses ◽  
Analogue Scales ◽  
Food And Fluid Intake

Environmental conditions influence meal size in adults and children. Intake of sweet drinks could contribute significantly to energy intake and potentially affect body weight, particularly in young individuals. The objectives of the present study were to measure the lunch intake of food and drinks under controlled laboratory settings in teenagers and to compare the influence of different meal conditions. Normal-weight adolescents (fourteen males and fifteen females) participated in four standardised lunches, scheduled 1 week apart. The same popular items (meat dish, dessert, water, juice, soda) were served at all meals. Ad libitum intake was measured under four conditions: subjects ate alone; in groups; alone while viewing television; alone while listening to music. Visual analogue scales were used to assess pre- and post-meal hunger and thirst and meal palatability. Energy, solid food and fluid intake was different (significantly lower) only in the ‘eating in group’ condition, in spite of identical intensity of pre-meal hunger. More soda was consumed when participants were watching television, and more water was consumed while listening to music. Across all conditions, more soda than water was consumed. Post-meal ratings of hunger, thirst and palatability did not differ between conditions. We concluded that, in teenagers, a ‘social inhibition’ effect appears rather than the ‘social facilitation’ previously reported in adults. Although teenagers do not respond to the presence of television or another ‘distractor’ such as music by eating more, they do ingest more soda when the television is on. The social significance of meals, conditioned responses and habituation to ‘distractors’ may be different between adolescents and adults.

scholarly journals Socio-cognitive training impacts emotional and perceptual self-salience but not self-other distinction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henryk Bukowski ◽  
Boryana Todorova ◽  
Magdalena Boch ◽  
Giorgia Silani ◽  
Claus Lamm
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Shape Matching ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Imitation Inhibition ◽  
Inhibition Training

•Effect of a socio-cognitive training on self-other distinction and self-salience was tested•Ss trained to imitate, inhibit imitation, or inhibit control stimuli in 2 experiments•Unlike the original study, training did not influence self-other distinction•Imitation-inhibition training increased self-salience in empathy and shape matching

scholarly journals Social perspective taking is associated with self-reported prosocial behavior and regional cortical thickness across adolescence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian K. Tamnes ◽  
Knut Overbye ◽  
Lia Ferschmann ◽  
Anders M. Fjell ◽  
Kristine B. Walhovd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Perspective ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Perspective Taking ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Director Task

Basic perspective taking and mentalising abilities develop in childhood, but recent studies indicate that the use of social perspective taking to guide decisions and actions has a prolonged development that continues throughout adolescence. Here, we aimed to replicate this research and investigate the hypotheses that individual differences in social perspective taking in adolescence are associated with real-life prosocial and antisocial behavior and differences in brain structure. We employed an experimental approach and a large cross-sectional sample (n=293) of participants aged 7-26 years old to assess age-related improvement in social perspective taking usage during performance of a version of the Director task. In subsamples, we then tested how individual differences in social perspective taking were related to self-reported prosocial behavior and peer relationship problems on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (n=184) and to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of regional cortical thickness and surface area (n=226). The pattern of results in the Director task replicated previous findings by demonstrating continued improvement in use of social perspective taking across adolescence. The study also showed that better social perspective taking usage is associated with more self-reported prosocial behavior, as well as to thinner cerebral cortex in regions in the left hemisphere encompassing parts of the caudal middle frontal and precentral gyri and lateral parietal regions. These associations were observed independently of age, and might partly reflect individual developmental variability. The relevance of cortical development was additionally supported by indirect effects of age on social perspective taking usage via cortical thickness.

scholarly journals Cross-task perceptual learning of object recognition in simulated retinal implant perception

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihui Wang ◽  
Fariba Sharifian ◽  
Jonathan Napp ◽  
Carola Nath ◽  
Stefan Pollmann
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Visual Perception ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Task Context ◽  
Retinal Implant ◽  
Task Order ◽  
Correct Object ◽  
Task Training

AbstractThe perception gained by retina implants (RI) is limited, which asks for a learning regime to improve patients’ visual perception. Here we simulated RI vision and investigated if object recognition in RI patients can be improved and maintained through training. Importantly, we asked if the trained object recognition can be generalized to a new task context, and to new viewpoints of the trained objects. For this purpose, we adopted two training tasks, a naming task where participants had to choose the correct label out of other distracting labels for the presented object, and a discrimination task where participants had to choose the correct object out of other distracting objects to match the presented label. Our results showed that, despite of the task order, recognition performance was improved in both tasks and lasted at least for a week. The improved object recognition, however, can be transferred only from the naming task to the discrimination task but not vice versa. Additionally, the trained object recognition can be transferred to new viewpoints of the trained objects only in the naming task but not in the discrimination task. Training with the naming task is therefore recommended for RI patients to achieve persistent and flexible visual perception.

scholarly journals How Cultural Models of Mind Affect Actor Director Task Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Agnew
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Cultural Models ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
General Performance ◽  
Director Task ◽  
Online Form ◽  
Collectivist Cultures

<p>The actor director task (DT) has been used extensively to assess differences in perspective taking ability. Previous studies have found that individuals from collectivist cultures outperform those from individualist cultures in the DT. The current study uses an online form of the DT to assess individuals from European, New Zealand Pasifika and Māori cultural groups. Pasifika and Māori cultures tend to be categorised as collectivist, but have theory of mind norms that differ from previously assessed collectivist cultures. It is hypothesised that these norms will advantage Pasifika in the DT but not Māori. No significant differences are found in performance on the DT across all three cultural groups. All three groups replicated general performance on the DT in previous studies.</p>

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