Theory of mind

1
Theory of mind (ToM)

• Benson et al.1993
• Ability to reason about mental states
• (MooresFrye, 1991 Perner, 1991 Wellman, 1985)

First-order reasonning reasoning about
another person representation of the
world Second-order reasonning reasoning about
another s representation of yet another
person s representation of the world
2
Theory of mind

• Scott Baron-Cohen, 1996
• Ability to attribute the range of intentional
  states
• (beliefs, intentions, desires, etc.) to agents,
  by way
• of explaining and predicting an agent s actions
• Dennet, 1978 Premack Woodruff, 1978

• Tager-Flusberg Sullivan, 1995
• Ability to interpret one s own and others 
  action as
• causally linked to representational and other
  kinds of
• mental states
• (Bruner, 1986  landscape of consciousness )

3
Theory of mind

• Perner, Frith, Leslie Leekman (1989)
• Ability to conceive of mental states in oneself
• and others
• Ability to attribute false beliefs
• Factors involving a lack of ToM
• difficulties in appreciation of bodily
  expression of feeling states
• difficulties in use of gesture to express
  mental states
• difficulties with the pragmatics of langage
  (joint attention, old/new info.)

4
Histoire de 1er niveau (Benson et al. 1993,
adaptée de Hogrefe et al. 1986)
5
Histoire de 1er niveau (Benson et al. 1993,
adaptée de Hogrefe et al. 1986)
6
First-order story
One day, Sylvester the Cat and Daffy Duck are in
the palyground. Sylvester is playing with his
skateboard. Soon he sees Tweety Bird s house.
He says  I  m going to hide my skateboard under
the picnic table . So he hides his skateboard
under the picnic table. Then Sylvester says to
Daffy,  Don t play with my skateboard while
I m gone . Then he goes to Tweety s
bird house. (Content-Q1Where did Sylvester hide
the skateboard?) (Content-Q2 Where did Sylbester
go when he left the playground?) now Daffy is
alone in the playground because Sylvester is in
Tweety s bird house. Sylvester cannot see what
Daffy is doing . Daffy is mad at Sylvester
for telling him not to play with the skateboard.
Daffy decides to play a trick on Sylvester.
Daffy takes the skateboard out from under the
picnic table and hides it under the
teeter-totter. (Content-Q3 Where did Daffy
hide the skateboard?) Sylvester comes back
to the playground to play with his skateboard.
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Second-order story
Episode 1 One day, Sylvester is on his way to
school when he sees Tweety Bird and Goofy in the
park. Goofy is selling cookies from his cookie
cart. Sylvester wants to buy a cookie, but he
doesn t have time because he s late for school.
Goofy says to Sylvester  You can come back
to the park after school and buy my cookie after
school. I ll be here in the park all day
long .  Then I ll come back to the park after
school and buy a cookie.  says Sylvester.
(Content-Q1 Where would Sylvester go to look for
the cookie cart?). Now, only Tweety bird and
Goofy are in the park. Goofer is eating the
cookies from the cart. Soon all the cookies are
gone, the cart is emplty. Goofy says,  Oh! My
cookie cart is empty. Time to go . Where are
you going Goofy?   I m taking my cookie cart
back to the cookie store. I m going to stay at
the cookie store. I ll stay at the cookie store
the rest of the day  says Goofy. (Content-Q2
What did Goofy tells Tweety bird?)
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Second-order story
Episode 2 Tweety bird says goodbye to Goofy.
Tweety bird goes back to Love Street. Goofy
takes his cookie cart and leaves the park. On
the way he passes the school. Sylvester sees
Goofy.  Where are you going?  says
Sylvester.  I m taking my cookie cart back to
the cookie store. I ll stay at the cookie store
with my cart the rest of the day.  says Goofy.
 Oh, I  m so glad that I know that now. 
(Content-Q3 Where did Tweety bird go?
Content-Q4 What did Goofy tell Sylvester when he
saw him at school?)
Episode 3 Then Goofy goes to the cookie store.
He takes the cookie cart into the store.
(Content-Q5 Where would Sylvester look for the
cookie cart?
9
Histoire de 2ième niveau (Benson et al.
1993,adapté de Hogrefe et al., 1986)
A
10
Histoire de 2ième niveau (Benson et al.
1993,adapté de Hogrefe et al., 1986)
A
B
11
A
B
12
Histoire de 2ième niveau (Benson et al.
1993,adapté de Hogrefe et al., 1986)
A
A
B
13
Histoire de 1 er niveau
Q-d Ignorance Est-ce que Sylvester-le-chat
sait où se trouve cachée sa planche à
rouler? Rép Non
Q-Croyance erronée Où Sylvester-le-chat
cherchera sa planche à rouler?
14
Histoire de 1 er niveau
Q-Justification Pourquoi est-ce que tu penses
que Sylvester-le-chat ira chercher sa planche
à rouler (à l endroit qu a mentionné
l enfant)?
Q-Connaisance Est-ce que Daffy-le-canard sait
où setrouve la planche à rouler en ce
moment? Rép Oui
15
Histoire de 2 ème niveau
Q-d Ignorance Est-ce que Tweetie bird sait
que Sylvester connaît l emplacement du
biscuit en ce moment? Rép Non
Q-Croyance erronée Où tweetie bird pense que
Sylvester ira chercher le biscuit? Rép
Tweetie pense que Sylvester ira chercher le
biscuit à son endroit d origine (A).
16
Histoire de 2 ème niveau
Q-Justification Pourquoi tweetie bird pense que
Sylvester ira voir (à l endroit qu a
mentionné l enfant) pour chercher son biscuit?
Q- Connaissance Est-ce que Goofy connaît
l endroit où se trouve le biscuit?