scholarly journals Visual perspective taking is not automatic in a simplified Dot task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Rubio-Fernandez ◽  
Madeleine Long ◽  
Vishakha Shukla ◽  
Vrinda Bhatia ◽  
Pawan Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Visual Perspective ◽  
Visual Perspective Taking ◽  
Sighted Child ◽  
Egocentric Bias ◽  
Perspective Switching

In the Dot task, children and adults involuntarily compute an avatar’s visual perspective, which has been interpreted as automatic Theory of Mind. We conducted three experiments in India, testing newly sighted children (N=5; all girls), neurotypical children (ages 5-10; N=90; 38 girls) and adults (N=30; 18 women) in a highly simplified version of the Dot task. No evidence of automatic perspective-taking was observed, although all groups revealed perspective-taking costs. A newly sighted child and the youngest children in our sample also showed an egocentric bias, which disappeared by age 10. Responding to recent work on what Theory of Mind tasks actually measure, we conclude that the standard Dot task relies so heavily on Executive Control that the alleged evidence of automatic Theory of Mind might simply reveal perspective switching costs.

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 Systematic Comparison of Brain Imaging Meta-Analyses of ToM with vPT

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Arora ◽  
Matthias Schurz ◽  
Josef Perner
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Visual Perspective ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Visual Perspective Taking ◽  
Extrastriate Body Area ◽  
Meta Analyses

In visual perspective taking (vPT) one has to concern oneself with what other people see and how they see it. Since seeing is a mental state, developmental studies have discussed vPT within the domain of “theory of mind (ToM)” but imaging studies have not treated it as such. Based on earlier results from several meta-analyses, we tested for the overlap of visual perspective taking studies with 6 different kinds of ToM studies: false belief, trait judgments, strategic games, social animations, mind in the eyes, and rational actions. Joint activation was observed between the vPT task and some kinds of ToM tasks in regions involving the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), anterior precuneus, left middle occipital gyrus/extrastriate body area (EBA), and the left inferior frontal and precentral gyrus. Importantly, no overlap activation was found for the vPT tasks with the joint core of all six kinds of ToM tasks. This raises the important question of what the common denominator of all tasks that fall under the label of “theory of mind” is supposed to be if visual perspective taking is not one of them.

scholarly journals Clarifying the role of theory of mind areas during visual perspective taking: Issues of spontaneity and domain-specificity

NeuroImage ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 386-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Schurz ◽  
Martin Kronbichler ◽  
Sebastian Weissengruber ◽  
Andrew Surtees ◽  
Dana Samson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Domain Specificity ◽  
Visual Perspective ◽  
Visual Perspective Taking

Perspective Switching in Young and Older Adults

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Martin ◽  
Jasmine Huang ◽  
Lori Matuschka ◽  
Marcus Meinzer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Preceding Trial ◽  
Visual Perspective ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Visual Perspective Taking ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Perspective Switching

One aspect of visual perspective taking (VPT) is the ability to switch between perspectives associated with self and others. Attenuated inhibition of the egocentric perspective is thought to underlie perspective taking difficulties in older adults leading to impaired social function. 117 adults (50 older adults 55-79 years; 67 young adults 18-36 years) completed two visual perspective taking tasks. The first task measured perspective tracking and required participants to understand what can be seen from the egocentric or allocentric perspective. The second measured perspective taking and required understanding how objects are seen from the egocentric or allocentric perspective. Both tasks involved trials that were congruent or incongruent between the two perspectives in order to assess how the other perspective interferes with the task-relevant perspective. Trials were further separated into those that required switching (preceding perspective was different to current) or sticking (preceding perspective was the same). We show an egocentric switch cost during perspective tracking in younger adults thought to reflect inhibition of the default egocentric perspective in the preceding trial. However, this effect was not identified in older adults. Moreover, older adults showed greater interference from their own perspective when required to stick with the allocentric perspective. No age differences were identified during perspective taking with both age groups showing an egocentric switch cost and an allocentric stick cost. The results provide evidence for age-related changes in VPT that are dependent on the requirement to switch or stick perspectives. Increased egocentricity in older adults is apparent but dependent on the switch-related context.

Try to see it my way – Examining the relationship between visual perspective taking and theory of mind in frontotemporal dementia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cherie Strikwerda-Brown ◽  
Rebekah Ahmed ◽  
Olivier Piguet ◽  
Muireann Irish
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Real World ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Visual Perspective ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Visual Perspective Taking ◽  
World Perspective

The behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is characterised by pronounced alterations in social functioning, including the understanding of others’ thoughts and feelings via theory of mind. The emergence of such impairments in other social disorders such as autism and schizophrenia is suggested to reflect an inability to imagine the other person’s visual perspective of the world. To our knowledge, this hypothesis is yet to be explored in bvFTD. Here, we sought to examine the capacity for different forms of perspective taking, including visual perspective taking and theory of mind in bvFTD, and to establish their inter-relationships and underlying neural correlates. Fifteen bvFTD patients and 15 healthy Controls completed a comprehensive battery of perspective taking measures, comprising Level 1 (‘what’) and Level 2 (‘how’) visual perspective taking tasks, a cartoon task capturing theory of mind, and a questionnaire assessing perspective taking in daily life. Compared with Controls, bvFTD patients displayed significant impairments across all perspective taking measures. These perspective taking impairments, however, were not correlated with one another in bvFTD. Moreover, controlling for visual perspective taking performance did not ameliorate the deficits in theory of mind or real-world perspective taking. Region-of-interest voxel-based morphometry analyses suggested distinct neural correlates for visual perspective taking (inferior frontal gyrus) versus theory of mind (medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus), which appeared to partially overlap with those implicated in real-world perspective taking (inferior frontal gyrus, precuneus, temporoparietal junction). Despite pervasive impairments in all aspects of perspective taking in bvFTD, our findings suggest that these deficits may reflect distinct underlying processes. Future studies manipulating discrete aspects of the tasks will help to clarify the neurocognitive mechanisms of, and relationships between different forms of perspective taking in bvFTD, along with their real-world implications.

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