49 research outputs found

    Emotion as information : inferring the unobserved causes of others' emotional expressions

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    Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 188-214).Research in the domain of cognitive science has tended to neglect emotions. In my thesis, I take several steps to fill this gap by looking at people's representation of emotions, and its connection to other representations typically studied in cognitive science. I argue that people have an intuitive theory of emotion that is causally intertwined with their understanding of the physical and social world broadly. This intuitive theory allows us to use observed emotional cues as a window, to recover unobserved information about the world. I study these abilities in both adults and children, to gain insight into the most fundamental representations supporting such abilities. I also use computational models to capture the hierarchical, causal structure of this intuitive theory of emotion. In Study 1, I show that infants as young as 12-17 months can discriminate diverse within-valence emotional expressions elicited by funny, exciting, adorable, delicious, and sympathetic events, and map them onto their probable causes. In Study 2.1, I present that preschoolers can recover rich mental state information from observed emotional expressions. When the valence of someone's face changes between anticipated and actual outcomes, children by five gain insight into what she wants and believes about the world. Study 2.2 bridges theory of mind research, accounts of emotion attribution, and formal modeling, to provide a formal account of how people jointly infer beliefs and desires from emotional expressions. Study 3 tests children's understanding of social display rules. By middle childhood, children can use one person's emotional expressions regulated by a social context to infer the mental states of another. Altogether, these findings suggest that emotional cues provide a valuable entrée into the unseen world. Not only adults, but also children, can use observed emotional expressions to infer their external causes and the internal mental states of other people. Although this intuitive theory of emotion may not necessarily mirror the actual processes of how emotions are generated, it supports rational inferences much of time, and it may be formed early in development. I see this work as bridging gaps across disciplines and helping advance the cognitive science of emotion understanding."Funding support, including Leventhal, Stark, and Henry E. Singleton Fellowships, and the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (funded by NSF STC Award CCF-1231216)"--Page 5by Yang Wu.Ph. D

    Infants' concept of intention : investigating inter-task relations and development continuities

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    The objective of the present thesis was to examine infants' understanding of other people's intentions. The first paper was designed to systematically investigate whether the tasks currently being used to tap into infants' understanding of intentional action are actually measuring the same underlying abilities. Infants completed two visual attention tasks when they were 10 months of age: a goal-detection task and an action-parsing task. Approximately four months later, infants were invited back to the laboratory to complete two imitation tasks: a behavioral re-enactment task and a selective action imitation task. Infants' concurrent performances on the visual attention tasks were linked; however, no association between their performances on the imitation tasks was observed. Interestingly, infants' performances on the visual attention tasks at 10 months predicted their performance on the behavioural re-enactment task, but not their performance on the selective action imitation task, at 14 months. In the second paper, the issue of developmental continuities was explored. The goal of this paper was to investigate whether infants' performance on the selective imitation of intentional actions task would predict their use of internal state language and/or their theory of mind abilities later on. Towards this purpose, 14- and 18-month-olds completed an imitation task that required them to distinguish intentional from accidental actions. At approximately 32 months, children's use of internal state terms was assessed via parental report. Finally, when children were 4 years of age, they were retested with an interactive game measuring intention understanding, a battery of general theory of mind tasks, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Importantly, infants' performance on the selective action imitation task was linked to their performance on the preschool intention task. Moreover, children's use of internal state language at 32 months predicted their theory of mind skills at 4 years of age. Taken together, the results of the present thesis support the hypothesis that there is developmental continuity in children's understanding of intention from infancy through the preschool years. Results from these two papers also provide evidence to support the validity of various experimental procedures that are currently being used to tap infants' understanding of intentional actio

    The Roles of Pragmatic Language and Theory of Mind in the Adaptive Communication Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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    Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit marked social communication impairments. Research suggests that these deficits often lead to delays in adaptive behavior, such as adaptive communication. In this study, I examined the roles of two social constructs, pragmatic language and theory of mind (ToM), in the adaptive communication abilities of young children with and without ASD. Thirteen children with ASD (31% female; M age = 58.08 months) and 24 children with typical development (58% female; M age = 52.42 months) between the ages of 3:0 and 6:5 were assessed. Adaptive communication was measured by the Functional Communication subscale of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). Pragmatic language ability was assessed by the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999). ToM was measured through a battery of laboratory tasks. Results indicated significant direct effects of status on adaptive communication [F(1, 35) = 28.61, p \u3c .001], status (i.e., TD vs. ASD) on pragmatic language [F(1, 35) = 8.17, p = .001], and pragmatics on ToM [F(1, 35) = 7.03, p = .01]. Results did not support the hypotheses that the relation between status and adaptive communication would be mediated by pragmatic language alone, ToM alone, or pragmatic language predicting ToM. Post hoc analyses showed scores on each measure were trending in the predicted directions when compared to past literature. This indicates promise for future research replicating the study. Additionally, exploratory analyses showed that only children with ASD had at-risk or clinically significant pragmatic and/or adaptive communication skills. While it has been previously shown that older children with ASD (ages six through adolescence) demonstrate pragmatic language deficits than children with TD, this relation has not been examined in younger children. These results may help inform therapy goals for young children with ASD. It may be beneficial for children with ASD as young as three years old to begin working on improving their pragmatic language skills. The study’s strengths include the population sampled (i.e., young children with ASD compared to children with TD who have average or greater verbal abilities)

    Theory of Mind, Pragmatic Language, and Social Skills in Male Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized a core triad of symptoms: impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests (APA, 2000). Impairments in social development, however, have been considered the most salient and handicapping aspect of ASD and, traditionally, the primary deficit from which the diagnosis results. From a cognitive standpoint, it has been argued that these social impairments in individuals with ASDs arise as a result of deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) development. The degree to which impairment in ToM corresponds to real-world social-communicative impairments has received little attention, however. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ToM and pragmatic language skills discriminated between adolescents with ASD and typically developing, age-matched comparison participants. The study also attempted to explore the relationships between ToM, pragmatic language, and social skills and test the model that pragmatic language mediates the relationship between ToM and social skills. Results indicated that ToM significantly predicted pragmatic language skills and that pragmatic language skills, and not ToM, significantly discriminated between adolescents with ASD (N = 10) and typically developing comparison participants (N = 10). The mediation model above was not supported by regression analysis; however, the results do provide some insight into the relationships between ToM, pragmatic language, and social skills. Implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research were discussed

    The role of mothers in the social development of their infants' facial expressions.

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    The present thesis addresses the role of maternal interpretations of infant facial expressions in the development of emotions. Emotion theories explain emotionality in terms of implicitly intra-individual processes resulting in serious conceptual and empirical limitations. In contrast, social constructionist theories reflect the inherently socio-cognitive nature of emotions and propose inter-individual processes to explain emotional development. Using the hitherto neglected perspective of interactional others, a social theory is developed which rejects the Cartesian dualism inherent in current theories of emotional development by assigning a central place to the perspective of caregivers in the development of emotions. An observational cross-sectional study examining the effect of age and context on mothers' perceptions of their infants was conducted. Twelve normal, primiparous, white, English, middle class mothers, aged between 25 and 35, were filmed interacting at home with their infants (aged 4-6 months (range 4;l-6;3), 7-9 months (range 7;0-9;l), and 10-12 months (range 10;1-11;3)). Mothers were asked to select and describe infant acts they found meaningful in a face to face play, a prohibitive, and a toy play condition. Facial expressions were coded using a standardised coding frame. Maternal interpretations of infant behaviour were collected and analysed. Two further experiments assessed differences between mothers' and observers' selections and interpretations of infant behaviour. Mothers' selections of infant facial expressions differed between age groups and situations. As infants got older, mothers selected fewer positive expressions in face to face play, more negative expressions in the prohibitive episode and more positive expressions in toy play. Differences in maternal interpretations, reflecting situational and age related specificity, were also found. While mothers perceived emotions and intentionality in infants of all ages, mothers of the oldest infants accompanied these attributions with descriptions of cognitive and communicative skills. A relationship between selected facial expressions and attributions of emotion states was found to be dependent on situational context. Mothers also differed from observers in both the number of meaningful acts they selected and the types of interpretations they made, demonstrating the divergence in perspective between caretakers as knowledgable participants in interaction and external observers. This thesis demonstrates the dynamics of caregivers' perceptions in expressive interaction and discusses the implications of these perceptions for understanding the process of emotional development

    The relationship between Theory of Mind, Inhibitory Control and Children's Behavioral Problems: a multi-informant approach

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    Die Beziehung zwischen Theory of Mind (ToM), inhibitorischer Kontrolle (IK) und Verhaltensproblemen von Kindern im Vorschulalter wurde bisher empirisch wenig untersucht und zeigt zudem uneinheitliche Ergebnisse. Eine ErklĂ€rung fĂŒr diese Ergebnisse könnte darin begrĂŒndet sein, dass der Fokus meist auf einer einzelnen Dimension der ToM lag, dem Verstehen falscher Überzeugungen. Die alleinige Untersuchung dieser Dimension reicht jedoch nicht aus, um ein umfassendes Profil der ToM im Vorschulalter abzubilden. Zudem blieb IK, welche hĂ€ufig einen positiven Zusammenhang zur ToM zeigt, oftmals unbeachtet. Die Mehrheit der Studien verwendete verbale Aufgaben und untersuchte daher Kinder ab 4 Jahren. Die Frage nach einem frĂŒheren Zeitpunkt eines Zusammenhangs bleibt damit ebenfalls offen. Um umfassende Informationen ĂŒber die ZusammenhĂ€nge zwischen ToM, IK und Verhaltensproblemen in der frĂŒhen Kindheit zu liefern, wurden Kinder im Alter von 2, 3 und 4 Jahren (N= 252) mit einer umfangreichen Batterie von ToM- und IK-Aufgaben untersucht. Zudem wurde ihr SprachverstĂ€ndnis, Verhalten und Temperament mit einem Multi-Informanten Ansatz erfasst. Das SprachverstĂ€ndnis steht ab dem Alter von 2 Jahren in positivem Zusammenhang zur IK, sowie ab 4 Jahren in positivem Zusammenhang zur ToM. Zudem zeigte sich, dass 4-jĂ€hirige Kinder mit hohen IK-Werten wenige Verhaltensprobleme zeigten. GegensĂ€tzlich dazu zeigten 4-jĂ€hirige Kinder mit hohen ToM-Werten mehr Verhaltensprobleme. Das Temperament zeigte keinen einzigartigen Zusammenhang zu IK und ToM. Die Ergebnisse weisen drauf hin, dass sich ein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen ToM, IK und Verhaltensproblemen erst ab einem Alter von 4 Jahren entwickelt. Des Weiteren werden mögliche ErklĂ€rungen fĂŒr die Beziehung von ToM, IK und Verhaltensproblemen unterschiedlicher Erscheinungsform diskutiert.The relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM), inhibitory control (IC) and behavioral problems has attracted little empirical investigation to date and delivered mixed findings. An explanation for these mixed findings might lie in focusing on a single mental state (i.e., false-belief understanding), which might not account for a comprehensive profile of children’s ToM. Furthermore, IC, often positively correlated to ToM, remained unattended by the majority of studies. Due to the use of verbal tests, investigations mostly focused on children from 4 years of age onwards. Thus, the time of emergence of a relationship also remains an open question. To provide comprehensive information on possible correlations between ToM, IC and behavioral problems in children’s early years, 2- , 3- and 4-year-old children (N= 252) were presented with a broad battery of ToM and IC tasks, and tested for receptive language abilities, complemented by comparable multi-informant assessment of their behavior and temperament. Language was positively correlated to IC from 2 years onwards, and to ToM only at 4 years of age. With regard to caregiver ratings, I found that for 4-year-old children higher scores in IC were associated with fewer behavioral problems. In contrast, higher scores in ToM were associated with more behavioral problems. No such associations were found for 2- and 3-year-old children. Considering temperament dimensions, only the measure of activity was negatively correlated to IC at the age of 2 years. However, taking language abilities into account the unique contribution disappeared. The results suggest that robust relationships between ToM, IC and behavioral problems start to develop at the age of 4 years. Different explanations for the patterns of association will be discussed, especially for the contribution of ToM and IC to the development of different manifestations of behavioral problems

    Theory of mind and communication in autism

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    Recent work investigating the biological and cognitive nature of autism is reviewed. The hypothesis that autistic individuals suffer from a specific impairment in theory of mind, and the relevance of this notion to the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, is discussed. Theory of mind explanations of autism must account for the minority of autistic subjects who pass false belief tasks. Two possible accounts are considered; delay versus 'hacking'. A battery of theory of mind tasks was given to able autistic subjects, and to mentally handicapped and young normal controls. The results suggested the existence of subgroups: while some autistic subjects performed inconsistently (perhaps using task-specific strategies), others performed consistently well at first-order theory of mind tasks, and some passed an array of second-order tasks. Relevance theory suggests that understanding mental states is vital in communication. Communication tasks were therefore given, to explore the theory of mind abilities of the autistic subjects. Relevance theory predicted that subjects unable to attribute mental states would show literal understanding, subjects with first-order theory of mind would comprehend metaphor, but second-order theory of mind would be necessary to understand irony. These predictions were tested and confirmed with autistic subjects and normal children. The theory of mind hypothesis cannot explain the persistent real-life handicaps of autistics who understand mental states, nor account for the nonsocial peculiarities seen in autism. A deficit in central coherence is suggested as the source of these features. Results from a preliminary test of this hypothesis suggested that even autistic subjects who develop theory of mind ability are impaired at extracting context-dependent meaning. The implications of these findings for the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, the relations between the social and nonsocial impairments, and suggestions for further research are discussed
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