1
|
Sobel DM. Growing out of your own mind: Reexamining the development of the self-other difference in the unexpected contents task. Cognition 2023; 235:105403. [PMID: 36821998 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Revised: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
The unexpected contents task is a well-established measure for studying young children's developing theory of mind. The task measures whether children understand that others have a false belief about a deceptive container and whether children can track the representational change in their own beliefs about the container's contents. Performance on both questions improves between the ages of 3 and 4. A previous meta-analysis (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001) found little evidence for a difference in children's responses on these questions, but did not investigate the weak effect size that was reported for the interaction between age and question type. The two meta-analyses reported here update the literature review, and find a more robust interaction between question type and age. Three-year-olds showed better performance on questions about their own representational change than others' false belief, while older children showed the reverse pattern. A mega-analysis of a sample of over 1200 children between the ages of 36-60 months then showed the same result. This response pattern requires novel theoretical interpretations, which include reframing the development of children's understanding of false belief.
Collapse
|
2
|
Wright BC. Language can obscure as well as facilitate apparent-Theory of mind performance: part 1 - An exploratory study with 4 year-Olds using the element of surprise. COGENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2022.2111838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Barlow C Wright
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Gordo C, Moreno-Ríos S, Blank H. Auditory hindsight bias in school-age children. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 217:105346. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
4
|
Ghrear S, Baimel A, Haddock T, Birch SAJ. Are the classic false belief tasks cursed? Young children are just as likely as older children to pass a false belief task when they are not required to overcome the curse of knowledge. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0244141. [PMID: 33606742 PMCID: PMC7894954 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The question of when children understand that others have minds that can represent or misrepresent reality (i.e., possess a 'Theory of Mind') is hotly debated. This understanding plays a fundamental role in social interaction (e.g., interpreting human behavior, communicating, empathizing). Most research on this topic has relied on false belief tasks such as the 'Sally-Anne Task', because researchers have argued that it is the strongest litmus test examining one's understanding that the mind can misrepresent reality. Unfortunately, in addition to a variety of other cognitive demands this widely used measure also unnecessarily involves overcoming a bias that is especially pronounced in young children-the 'curse of knowledge' (the tendency to be biased by one's knowledge when considering less-informed perspectives). Three- to 6-year-old's (n = 230) false belief reasoning was examined across tasks that either did, or did not, require overcoming the curse of knowledge, revealing that when the curse of knowledge was removed three-year-olds were significantly better at inferring false beliefs, and as accurate as five- and six-year-olds. These findings reveal that the classic task is not specifically measuring false belief understanding. Instead, previously observed developmental changes in children's performance could be attributed to the ability to overcome the curse of knowledge. Similarly, previously observed relationships between individual differences in false belief reasoning and a variety of social outcomes could instead be the result of individual differences in the ability to overcome the curse of knowledge, highlighting the need to re-evaluate how best to interpret large bodies of research on false belief reasoning and social-emotional functioning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Siba Ghrear
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Adam Baimel
- Department of Psychology, Health and Professional Development, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Taeh Haddock
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Susan A. J. Birch
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Scionti N, Marzocchi GM. The dimensionality of early executive functions in young preschoolers: Comparing unidimensional versus bidimensional models and their ecological validity. Child Neuropsychol 2021; 27:491-515. [PMID: 33459163 DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2020.1868419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The study analyses the dimensionality of executive functions (EF) and its relationship with behavior in typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children. In study 1, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to investigate the validity of a one-factor model in 117 preschoolers. Since this model was not confirmed, a two-factor model was identified through exploratory factor analysis. In study 2, the validity of the new two-factor versus one-factor model was tested on a new sample of 128 children through a series of CFAs. The relationship between the models and specific behavioral aspects of the children was investigated. The results suggest that a bidimensional structure showed a better fit to the data and more ecological validity than a unitary structure.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicoletta Scionti
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, MI, Italy
| | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Ghrear S, Fung K, Haddock T, Birch SAJ. Only Familiar Information is a "Curse": Children's Ability to Predict What Their Peers Know. Child Dev 2020; 92:54-75. [PMID: 32844428 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The ability to make inferences about what one's peers know is critical for social interaction and communication. Three experiments (n = 309) examined the curse of knowledge, the tendency to be biased by one's knowledge when reasoning about others' knowledge, in children's estimates of their peers' knowledge. Four- to 7-year-olds were taught the answers to factual questions and estimated how many peers would know the answers. When children learned familiar answers, they showed a curse of knowledge in their peer estimates. But, when children learned unfamiliar answers to the same questions, they did not show a curse of knowledge. These data shed light on the mechanisms underlying perspective taking, supporting a fluency misattribution account of the curse of knowledge.
Collapse
|
7
|
Tran CD, Arredondo MM, Yoshida H. Early Executive Function: The Influence of Culture and Bilingualism. BILINGUALISM (CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND) 2019; 22:714-732. [PMID: 31558885 PMCID: PMC6762025 DOI: 10.1017/s1366728918000160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Evidence suggests that cultural experiences and learning multiple languages have measurable effects on children's cognitive development (EF). However, the precise impact of how bilingualism and culture contribute to observed effects remains inconclusive. The present study aims to investigate how these factors shape the development of early EF constructs longitudinally, between monolingual and bilingual children at ages 3, 3 ½ and 4 years, with a set of EF tasks that are uniquely relevant to the effects of bilingualism and cultural practices. We hypothesize that the effects of bilingualism and cultural backgrounds (i.e., Eastern) are based on different, though related, cognitive control processes associated with different EF constructs. Results revealed a significant bilingualism effect on cognitive control processes measuring selective attention, switching, and inhibition; while an effect of culture was most pronounced on behavioral regulation/response inhibition. Contributions of bilingualism and cultural experiences on individual EF constructs across development are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Crystal D. Tran
- Department of Psychology, University of St. Thomas, 3800 Montrose Boulevard, Houston, TX 77006
| | - Maria M. Arredondo
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
| | - Hanako Yoshida
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Houston, TX 77204
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Hayashi H, Nishikawa M. Egocentric bias in emotional understanding of children and adults. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 185:224-235. [PMID: 31164226 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2019] [Revised: 04/13/2019] [Accepted: 04/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
This study examined whether egocentric bias in emotional understanding occurs in children and adults. Children aged 8 and 9 years (third graders), 11 and 12 years (sixth graders), and 15 and 16 years (tenth graders), as well as adults, participated. They were presented with two types of stories in both negative and positive contexts. In one story, an actor intentionally harmed or helped a protagonist. In the other story, an actor accidentally harmed or helped a protagonist. In the knowledge condition, the protagonists in both stories watched the actors and therefore knew that the actors intentionally or accidentally harmed or helped. In the ignorance condition, the protagonists in both stories did not watch the actors and therefore did not know the actors' intentions. Participants were asked which protagonists felt sadder or happier. Not only in the knowledge condition but also in the ignorance condition, all age groups judged that the protagonists who were harmed or helped by the actors' intentional actions felt sadder or happier than the protagonists who were harmed or helped by the actors' accidental actions, aligning with participants' current knowledge. This tendency was greater in third and sixth graders than in tenth graders and adults. These results indicate that egocentric bias in emotional understanding occurred irrespective of age and negative or positive context, although this bias was stronger at younger ages.
Collapse
|
9
|
Rafetseder E, Perner J. Belief and Counterfactuality: A Teleological Theory of Belief Attribution. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PSYCHOLOGIE-JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2018; 226:110-121. [PMID: 30519524 PMCID: PMC6263035 DOI: 10.1027/2151-2604/a000327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2017] [Revised: 12/23/2017] [Accepted: 12/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. The development and relation of counterfactual reasoning
and false belief understanding were examined in 3- to 7-year-old children
(N = 75) and adult controls
(N = 14). The key question was whether false
belief understanding engages counterfactual reasoning to infer what somebody
else falsely believes. Findings revealed a strong correlation between false
belief and counterfactual questions even in conditions in which children could
commit errors other than the reality bias
(rp = .51).
The data suggest that mastery of belief attribution and counterfactual reasoning
is not limited to one point in development but rather develops over a longer
period. Moreover, the rare occurrence of reality errors calls into question
whether young children’s errors in the classic false belief task are
indeed the result of a failure to inhibit what they know to be actually the
case. The data speak in favor of a teleological theory of belief attribution and
challenges established theories of belief attribution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Josef Perner
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Austria.,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Gordo C, Moreno-Ríos S. Children’s Illusory Transparency of Intention: Construal versus Pragmatic View. DISCOURSE PROCESSES 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/0163853x.2018.1508264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Gordo
- Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento Campus Universitario de La Cartuja, Granada, Spain
| | - Sergio Moreno-Ríos
- Facultad de Psicología Campus Universitario de La Cartuja, Granada, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Pohl RF, Bayen UJ, Arnold N, Auer TS, Martin C. Age Differences in Processes Underlying Hindsight Bias: A Life-Span Study. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2018.1476356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
|
12
|
Birch SAJ, Brosseau-Liard PE, Haddock T, Ghrear SE. A 'curse of knowledge' in the absence of knowledge? People misattribute fluency when judging how common knowledge is among their peers. Cognition 2017. [PMID: 28641221 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Knowledge can be a curse: Once we have acquired a particular item of knowledge it tends to bias, or contaminate, our ability to reason about a less informed perspective (referred to as the 'curse of knowledge' or 'hindsight bias'). The mechanisms underlying the curse of knowledge bias are a matter of great import and debate. We highlight two mechanisms that have been proposed to underlie this bias-inhibition and fluency misattribution. Explanations that involve inhibition argue that people have difficulty fully inhibiting or suppressing the content of their knowledge when trying to reason about a less informed perspective. Explanations that involve fluency misattribution focus on the feelings of fluency with which the information comes to mind and the tendency to misattribute the subjective feelings of fluency associated with familiar items to the objective ease or foreseeability of that information. Three experiments with a total of 359 undergraduate students provide the first evidence that fluency misattribution processes are sufficient to induce the curse of knowledge bias. These results add to the literature on the many manifestations of the curse of knowledge bias and the many types of source misattributions, by revealing their role in people's judgements of how common, or widespread, one's knowledge is. The implications of these results for cognitive science and social cognition are discussed.
Collapse
|
13
|
New Insights into the Inter-Individual Variability in Perspective Taking. Vision (Basel) 2017; 1:vision1010008. [PMID: 31740633 PMCID: PMC6835961 DOI: 10.3390/vision1010008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2016] [Revised: 12/04/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to test whether individual differences in perspective taking could be explained with two underpinning cognitive dimensions: The ability to handle the conflict between our egocentric perspective and another person’s perspective and the relative attentional focus during processing on the egocentric perspective versus another person’s perspective. We conducted cluster analyses on 346 participants who completed a visual perspective-taking task assessing performance on these two cognitive dimensions. Individual differences were best reduced by forming four clusters, or profiles, of perspective-takers. This partition reflected a high heterogeneity along both dimensions. In addition, deconstructing the perspective-taking performance into two distinct cognitive dimensions better predicted participants’ self-reported everyday life perspective-taking tendencies. Altogether, considering attentional focus and conflict handling as two potential sources of variability allows forming a two-dimensional space that enriches our understanding of the individual differences in perspective taking.
Collapse
|
14
|
Perspectives on Perspective Taking: How Children Think About the Minds of Others. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2017; 52:185-226. [PMID: 28215285 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Perspective taking, or "theory of mind," involves reasoning about the mental states of others (e.g., their intentions, desires, knowledge, beliefs) and is called upon in virtually every aspect of human interaction. Our goals in writing this chapter were to provide an overview of (a) the research questions developmental psychologists ask to shed light on how children think about the inner workings of the mind, and (b) why such research is invaluable in understanding human nature and our ability to interact with, and learn from, one another. We begin with a brief review of early research in this field that culminated in the so-called litmus test for a theory of mind (i.e., false-belief tasks). Next, we describe research with infants and young children that created a puzzle for many researchers, and briefly mention an intriguing approach researchers have used to attempt to "solve" this puzzle. We then turn to research examining children's understanding of a much broader range of mental states (beyond false beliefs). We briefly discuss the value of studying individual differences by highlighting their important implications for social well-being and ways to improve perspective taking. Next, we review work illustrating the value of capitalizing on children's proclivity for selective social learning to reveal their understanding of others' mental states. We close by highlighting one line of research that we believe will be an especially fruitful avenue for future research and serves to emphasize the complex interplay between our perspective-taking abilities and other cognitive processes.
Collapse
|
15
|
|
16
|
Begeer S, Bernstein DM, Aßfalg A, Azdad H, Glasbergen T, Wierda M, Koot HM. Reprint of: Equal egocentric bias in school-aged children with and without autism spectrum disorders. J Exp Child Psychol 2016; 149:134-45. [PMID: 27262614 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Egocentric bias is a core feature of autism. This phenomenon has been studied using the false belief task. However, typically developing children who pass categorical (pass or fail) false belief tasks may still show subtle egocentric bias. We examined 7- to 13-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n=76) or typical development (n=113) using tasks with a continuous response scale: a modified false belief task and a visual hindsight bias task. All children showed robust egocentric bias on both tasks, but no group effects were found. Our large sample size, coupled with our sensitive tasks and resoundingly null group effects, indicate that children with and without ASD possess more similar egocentric tendencies than previously reported.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sander Begeer
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
| | - Daniel M Bernstein
- Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia V3W 2M8, Canada
| | - Andre Aßfalg
- Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia V3W 2M8, Canada; Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Halima Azdad
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Tessa Glasbergen
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Marlies Wierda
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Hans M Koot
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Petersen IT, Hoyniak CP, McQuillan ME, Bates JE, Staples AD. Measuring the development of inhibitory control: The challenge of heterotypic continuity. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2016; 40:25-71. [PMID: 27346906 PMCID: PMC4917209 DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2016.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Inhibitory control is thought to demonstrate heterotypic continuity, in other words, continuity in its purpose or function but changes in its behavioral manifestation over time. This creates major methodological challenges for studying the development of inhibitory control in childhood including construct validity, developmental appropriateness and sensitivity of measures, and longitudinal factorial invariance. We meta-analyzed 198 studies using measures of inhibitory control, a key aspect of self-regulation, to estimate age ranges of usefulness for each measure. The inhibitory control measures showed limited age ranges of usefulness owing to ceiling/floor effects. Tasks were useful, on average, for a developmental span of less than 3 years. This suggests that measuring inhibitory control over longer spans of development may require use of different measures at different time points, seeking to measure heterotypic continuity. We suggest ways to study the development of inhibitory control, with overlapping measurement in a structural equation modeling framework and tests of longitudinal factorial or measurement invariance. However, as valuable as this would be for the area, we also point out that establishing longitudinal factorial invariance is neither sufficient nor necessary for examining developmental change. Any study of developmental change should be guided by theory and construct validity, aiming toward a better empirical and theoretical approach to the selection and combination of measures.
Collapse
|
18
|
Ghrear SE, Birch SAJ, Bernstein DM. Outcome Knowledge and False Belief. Front Psychol 2016; 7:118. [PMID: 26903922 PMCID: PMC4751303 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2015] [Accepted: 01/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Virtually every social interaction involves reasoning about the perspectives of others, or ‘theory of mind (ToM).’ Previous research suggests that it is difficult to ignore our current knowledge when reasoning about a more naïve perspective (i.e., the curse of knowledge). In this Mini Review, we discuss the implications of the curse of knowledge for certain aspects of ToM. Particularly, we examine how the curse of knowledge influences key measurements of false belief reasoning. In closing, we touch on the need to develop new measurement tools to discern the mechanisms involved in the curse of knowledge and false belief reasoning, and how they develop across the lifespan.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Siba E Ghrear
- Laboratory of Knowledge, Imagination, and Development, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Susan A J Birch
- Laboratory of Knowledge, Imagination, and Development, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Daniel M Bernstein
- Laboratory of Lifespan Cognition, Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University Surrey, BC, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Begeer S, Bernstein DM, Aßfalg A, Azdad H, Glasbergen T, Wierda M, Koot HM. Equal egocentric bias in school-aged children with and without autism spectrum disorders. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 144:15-26. [PMID: 26687336 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.10.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2015] [Revised: 09/10/2015] [Accepted: 10/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Egocentric bias is a core feature of autism. This phenomenon has been studied using the false belief task. However, typically developing children who pass categorical (pass or fail) false belief tasks may still show subtle egocentric bias. We examined 7- to 13-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n=76) or typical development (n=113) using tasks with a continuous response scale: a modified false belief task and a visual hindsight bias task. All children showed robust egocentric bias on both tasks, but no group effects were found. Our large sample size, coupled with our sensitive tasks and resoundingly null group effects, indicate that children with and without ASD possess more similar egocentric tendencies than previously reported.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sander Begeer
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
| | - Daniel M Bernstein
- Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia V3W 2M8, Canada
| | - Andre Aßfalg
- Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia V3W 2M8, Canada; Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Halima Azdad
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Tessa Glasbergen
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Marlies Wierda
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Hans M Koot
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Section Clinical Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Lockhart KL, Goddu MK, Smith ED, Keil FC. What Could You Really Learn on Your Own?: Understanding the Epistemic Limitations of Knowledge Acquisition. Child Dev 2015; 87:477-93. [PMID: 26660001 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Three studies explored the abilities of 205 children (5-11 years) and 74 adults (18-72 years) to distinguish directly versus indirectly acquired information in a scenario where an individual grew up in isolation from human culture. Directly acquired information is knowledge acquired through firsthand experience. Indirectly acquired information is knowledge that requires input from others. All children distinguished directly from indirectly acquired knowledge (Studies 1-3), even when the indirectly acquired knowledge was highly familiar (Study 2). All children also distinguished difficult-to-acquire direct knowledge from simple-to-acquire direct knowledge (Study 3). The major developmental change was the increasing ability to completely rule out indirect knowledge as possible for an isolated individual to acquire.
Collapse
|
21
|
False Belief Understanding and Justification Reasoning according to Information of Reality amongst Children Aged 3, 4 and 5. ADONGHAKOEJI 2015. [DOI: 10.5723/kjcs.2015.36.5.135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
|
22
|
Demetriou A, Spanoudis G, Shayer M, van der Ven S, Brydges CR, Kroesbergen E, Podjarny G, Swanson HL. Relations between speed, working memory, and intelligence from preschool to adulthood: Structural equation modeling of 14 studies. INTELLIGENCE 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2014.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
|
23
|
Moll H, Kadipasaoglu D. The primacy of social over visual perspective-taking. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:558. [PMID: 24058341 PMCID: PMC3767909 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2013] [Accepted: 08/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In this article, we argue for the developmental primacy of social over visual perspective-taking. In our terminology, social perspective-taking involves some understanding of another person's preferences, goals, intentions etc. which can be discerned from temporally extended interactions, including dialog. As is evidenced by their successful performance on various reference disambiguation tasks, infants in their second year of life first begin to develop such skills. They can, for example, determine which of two or more objects another is referring to based on previously expressed preferences or the distinct quality with which these objects were jointly explored. The pattern of findings from developmental research further indicates that this ability emerges sooner than analogous forms of visual perspective-taking. Our explanatory account of this developmental sequence highlights the primary importance of joint attention and the formation of common ground with others. Before children can develop an awareness of what exactly is seen or how an object appears from a particular viewpoint, they must learn to share attention and build common "experiential" ground. Learning about others' as well as one's own "snapshot" perspectives in a literal, i.e., optical sense of the term, is a secondary step that affords an abstraction from all (prior) pragmatic involvement with objects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Henrike Moll
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
24
|
Hansen Lagattuta K, Sayfan L, Harvey C. Beliefs About Thought Probability: Evidence for Persistent Errors in Mindreading and Links to Executive Control. Child Dev 2013; 85:659-74. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
25
|
Massaro D, Castelli I, Sanvito L, Marchetti A. The ‘I knew it all along’ phenomenon: second-order false belief understanding and the curse of knowledge in primary school children. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s10212-013-0200-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
26
|
Sommerville JA, Bernstein DM, Meltzoff AN. Measuring Beliefs in Centimeters: Private Knowledge Biases Preschoolers' and Adults' Representation of Others' Beliefs. Child Dev 2013; 84:1846-54. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
27
|
Bright-Paul A, Jarrold C, Wright DB, Guillaume S. Children's memory distortions following social contact with a co-witness: Disentangling social and cognitive mechanisms. Memory 2012; 20:580-95. [DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2012.690039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
|
28
|
Nilsen ES, Graham SA. The Development of Preschoolers’ Appreciation of Communicative Ambiguity. Child Dev 2012; 83:1400-15. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01762.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
29
|
Begeer S, Bernstein DM, van Wijhe J, Scheeren AM, Koot HM. A continuous false belief task reveals egocentric biases in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2012; 16:357-66. [PMID: 22399450 DOI: 10.1177/1362361311434545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
This study reports on a new false belief measure in a sample of 124 children and adolescents with or without high functioning autism (HFASD). In the classic paradigm, a participant predicts in which of two discrete locations a deceived protagonist will look for an object. In the current Sandbox task, the object is buried and reburied in a sandbox, thus creating a continuum between locations. Compared to typically developing individuals (n=62), those with HFASD (n=62) showed a larger egocentric bias on the Sandbox task. They failed to take the protagonist's false belief into account, despite their adequate ability to infer advanced mental states. This indicates that sensitive measures can reveal subtle first order Theory of Mind impairments in HFASD individuals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sander Begeer
- Vu University Amsterdam, the Netherlands and University of Sydney, Australia.
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
30
|
Bernstein DM, Thornton WL, Sommerville JA. Theory of Mind Through the Ages: Older and Middle-Aged Adults Exhibit More Errors Than Do Younger Adults on a Continuous False Belief Task. Exp Aging Res 2011; 37:481-502. [DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2011.619466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
|
31
|
|
32
|
Bernstein DM, Erdfelder E, Meltzoff AN, Peria W, Loftus GR. Hindsight bias from 3 to 95 years of age. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2011; 37:378-91. [PMID: 21299327 PMCID: PMC3084020 DOI: 10.1037/a0021971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Upon learning the outcome to a problem, people tend to believe that they knew it all along (hindsight bias). Here, we report the first study to trace the development of hindsight bias across the life span. One hundred ninety-four participants aged 3 to 95 years completed 3 tasks designed to measure visual and verbal hindsight bias. All age groups demonstrated hindsight bias on all 3 tasks; however, preschoolers and older adults exhibited more bias than older children and younger adults. Multinomial processing tree analyses of these data revealed that preschoolers' enhanced hindsight bias resulted from them substituting the correct answer for their original answer in their recall (a qualitative error). Conversely, older adults' enhanced hindsight bias resulted from them forgetting their original answer and recalling an answer closer to, but not equal to, the correct answer (a quantitative error). We discuss these findings in relation to mechanisms of memory, perspective taking, theory of mind, and executive function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Bernstein
- Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666-72nd Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, V3W 2M8 Canada.
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
33
|
Metcalfe J, Finn B. People's hypercorrection of high-confidence errors: did they know it all along? J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2011; 37:437-48. [PMID: 21355668 PMCID: PMC3079415 DOI: 10.1037/a0021962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the "knew it all along" explanation of the hypercorrection effect. The hypercorrection effect refers to the finding that when people are given corrective feedback, errors that are committed with high confidence are easier to correct than low-confidence errors. Experiment 1 showed that people were more likely to claim that they knew it all along when they were given the answers to high-confidence errors as compared with low-confidence errors. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated whether people really did know the correct answers before being told or whether the claim in Experiment 1 was mere hindsight bias. Experiment 2 showed that (a) participants were more likely to choose the correct answer in a 2nd guess multiple-choice test when they had expressed an error with high rather than low confidence and (b) that they were more likely to generate the correct answers to high-confidence as compared with low-confidence errors after being told they were wrong and to try again. Experiment 3 showed that (c) people were more likely to produce the correct answer when given a 2-letter cue to high- rather than low-confidence errors and that (d) when feedback was scaffolded by presenting the target letters 1 by 1, people needed fewer such letter prompts to reach the correct answers when they had committed high- rather than low-confidence errors. These results converge on the conclusion that when people said that they knew it all along, they were right. This knowledge, no doubt, contributes to why they are able to correct those high-confidence errors so easily.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Janet Metcalfe
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
34
|
Montgomery DE, Koeltzow TE. A review of the day–night task: The Stroop paradigm and interference control in young children. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2010.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|