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語用論(Pragmatics)を考える

Mini Mental State

In spite of the remarkable progress made in the burgeoning field of social neuroscience, the neural mechanisms that underlie social encounters are only beginning to be studied and could-paradoxically-be seen as representing the "dark matter" of social neuroscience. Recent conceptual and empirical developments consistently indicate the need for investigations that allow the study of real-time social encounters in a truly interactive manner. This suggestion is based on the premise that social cognition is fundamentally different when we are in interaction with others rather than merely observing them. In this article, we outline the theoretical conception of a second-person approach to other minds and review evidence from neuroimaging, psychophysiological studies, and related fields to argue for the development of a second-person neuroscience, which will help neuroscience to really "go social"; this may also be relevant for our understanding of psychiatric disorders construed as disorders of social cognition.

/pdf/toward-a-second-person-neuroscience-3cc8z1fj3t.pdf

Toward a second-person neuroscience.

https://ezequieldipaolo.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/dejaegher_dipaolo_gallagher_tics_2010.pdf

Can social interaction constitute social cognition

Jokes understanding is an important part of people’s social life, especially in aging. However, little is known about older adults’ humor understanding and the role of the cognitive skills underpinning social communication, mainly pragmatics and theory of mind (ToM). To fill this gap, we created the Phonological and Mental Jokes (PMJ) task, a fine-grained task distinguishing two types of jokes based on the mentalistic load. The PMJ task was administered, together with the Assessment of Pragmatic Abilities and Cognitive Substrates (APACS) test for pragmatics and the Strange Stories for ToM, to 147 older adults (age-range 60–85). Through structural equation modeling (SEM), we analyzed: i) the latent structure of the PMJ task; ii) the relationships between humor comprehension, pragmatics, and ToM, controlling for other background variables (vocabulary, education, and age). Results revealed a two-latent-factor model for the PMJ task, which separated phonological from mental jokes. Furthermore, pragmatic skills predicted humor comprehension irrespective of the type of joke, whereas the relationship between humor understanding and ToM skills was specific, being significant for mental, but not for phonological, jokes. These results suggest that humor understanding is part of the larger pragmatic competence of older adults and that it may additionally tax ToM skills when reasoning about the mental states of the joke’s characters is required. These findings pave the way to a lifespan consideration of humor in social communication and add to the debate over the relationship between pragmatics and ToM, showing the different role of these abilities in humor.

Pragmatics and theory of mind in older adults’ humor comprehension

Background
Translating research findings into practice should be one of the objectives of developmental psychology. Recently, research demonstrated the existence of individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood that are crucial for children's academic and social adjustment.

Aims
This study aims to transfer the results of recent experimental studies on ToM interventions into primary-school teachers’ practices. It examines whether a ToM training programme, based on conversations about mental states, can be effective under real-world school conditions and if it can be translated in such a way that it becomes suitable for primary-school teachers.

Sample
Seventy-two 8- to 9-year-old children took part in the study. A total of four classes were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental (34 children, 18 boys) or to the control condition (38 children, 18 boys).

Methods
The ToM group and the control group were matched at pre-test for age, ToM, socio-economic background, verbal ability, working memory, and planning. Teachers were trained in four teacher-training sessions; the classroom-training programme was delivered by teachers in four sessions (each 50 min long). Children were assessed before the intervention, after the end of the programme, and 2 months later.

Results
The ToM group improved ToM skills significantly more than the control group both in the short and in the long term.

Conclusions
Teachers can successfully promote their pupils’ ToM development during their regular teaching hours. Results are discussed in the light of the importance of ToM promotion for children's school adjustment.

/pdf/translating-child-development-research-into-practice-can-3mgzfeoccw.pdf

Translating child development research into practice: Can teachers foster children's theory of mind in primary school?

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others in order to explain and predict social behaviour. Meta-analytic results have shown a decline in ToM abilities in healthy older adults. Recent research has also highlighted the possibility of enhancing older adults' ToM performance through group conversations focused on mental states. Our aim was to determine whether the extent to which older people benefited from a ToM training was predicted by performance on a battery of executive functioning tasks, on baselines in ToM tasks, on verbal knowledge. Forty-three older adults (60-84 years) participated in a three-session ToM training programme that has previously shown to be effective in improving ToM ability. Results showed that verbal knowledge predicted training gains in practiced ToM tasks. In addition, age, executive functions and baseline performance predicted training gains in non-practiced ToM tasks. Results are discussed in light of the amplification model.

Theory of mind plasticity in aging: The role of baseline, verbal knowledge, and executive functions.

Objectives Older adults tend to exhibit more prosocial behavior than younger adults. However, little research has focused on understanding the factors that may explain such differences in the social decision-making process. The first aim was to examine if, and to what degree, the content of social information about a recipient has an impact on young vs. older adults' prosocial behavior. The second aim was to understand if empathic concern, Theory of Mind, and reasoning explain the (expected) age differences in prosociality. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting The study was conducted in northern Italy in a laboratory setting. Participants Forty-eight younger adults (Mage = 23.29; SD = 2.20) and 48 older adults (Mage = 70.19; SD = 5.13). Measurements Prosocial behavior was measured using the Dictator Game in which participants split a sum of money with recipients presented with four levels of description: no information, physical description, positive psychological description, and negative psychological description. In addition, participants performed tasks on emphatic concern, Theory of Mind, and reasoning. Results Results showed that older adults are more prosocial than younger adults in the Dictator Game. This finding was evident when the recipient was described with positive psychological and physical features. This pattern of results was statistically explained by the reduction in reasoning ability. Conclusion These findings suggest a relationship between age-related reduction in reasoning ability and older adults' prosocial behavior. The theoretical and practical implication of the empirical findings are discussed.

Prosocial behavior in aging: which factors can explain age-related differences in social-economic decision making?

Congruence constitutes a relevant topic in studying interpersonal relationships from a theoretical and methodological point of view but it has rarely been analysed systematically. The main goal of this study was to explore the grade of congruence in sibling and friend dyads. Forty-eight children, their sibling closest in age and their best friend were recruited. Subjects were between 6 and 11 years of age (M = 8.8, SD = 1.4). Friend dyads were of the same age and mostly also of the same gender. An age gap ranging from 1 to 4 years characterized sibling dyads (M = 2.5; SD = 0.9), which varied in terms of gender pairings. Children completed a verbal and a pictorial task. Analyses of their responses focused on four dimensions: Affection, Conflict, Power and Similarity. Members of friend dyads showed significant agreement on Affection and Conflict. Moreover, members of the same sibling dyad appeared to be unrelated in presenting Affection, Conflict, Power and Similarity. These results seem to be unaffected by...

Serena Lecce

Papers

Pragmatics and theory of mind in older adults’ humor comprehension

Translating child development research into practice: Can teachers foster children's theory of mind in primary school?

Theory of mind plasticity in aging: The role of baseline, verbal knowledge, and executive functions.

Prosocial behavior in aging: which factors can explain age-related differences in social-economic decision making?

Agreement in children's evaluations of their relationships with siblings and friends