Lisette Mol

Learning to Apply Theory of Mind

In everyday life it is often important to have a mental model of the knowledge, beliefs, desires, and intentions of other people. Sometimes it is even useful to to have a correct model of their model of our own mental states: a second-order Theory of Mind. In order to investigate to what extent adults use and acquire complex skills and strategies in the domains of Theory of Mind and the related skill of natural language use, we conducted an experiment. It was based on a strategic game of imperfect information, in which it was beneficial for participants to have a good mental model of their opponent, and more specifically, to use second-order Theory of Mind. It was also beneficial for them to be aware of pragmatic inferences and of the possibility to choose between logical and pragmatic language use. We found that most participants did not seem to acquire these complex skills during the experiment when being exposed to the game for a number of different trials. Nevertheless, some participants did make use of advanced cognitive skills such as second-order Theory of Mind and appropriate choices between logical and pragmatic language use from the beginning. Thus, the results differ markedly from previous research.

Seeing and being seen : The effects on gesture production

Speakers are argued to adapt their language production to their addressee’s needs. For instance, speakers produce fewer and smaller hand gesture sw hen interlocutors cannot see each other. Yet is this because speakers know their addressee cannot see them, or because they themselves do not see their addressee? By means of computer-mediated communication we manipulated these factors independently. We found that speakers took into account what their addressee saw. They produced more and larger gestures when they knew the addressee could see them. Seeing the addressee increased gesture production only if speakers could readil yi nterpret the addressee’s eye gaze, which is not usually the case in mediated interaction. Adding this affordance resulted in gesturing being similar in mediated and unmediated communication.

Pantomime production by people with aphasia : What are influencing factors?

PURPOSE The present article aimed to inform clinical practice on whether people with aphasia (PWA) deploy pantomime techniques similarly to participants without brain damage (PWBD) and if not, what factors influence these differences. METHOD We compared 38 PWA to 20 PWBD in their use of 6 representation techniques (handling, enact, object, shape, deictic, and other) when pantomiming objects, and determined whether PWA used the same defaults as PWBD. We assessed the influence of (non-)dominant arm use, ideomotor apraxia, semantic processing, aphasia severity, and oral naming. RESULTS PWA used various pantomime techniques. Enact, deictic, and other were used infrequently. No differences were found for the use of shape techniques, but PWA used fewer handling and object techniques than PWBD and they did not use these for the same objects as PWBD did. No influence was found for (non-)dominant arm use. All other variables correlated with the use of handling, object, and defaults. CONCLUSION In our study, PWA were able to use various pantomime techniques. As a group, they used these techniques differently from PWBD and relied more heavily on the use of shape techniques. This was not influenced by a hemiparesis, but seemed dependent on semantic processing. Clinical implications are discussed.

Conceptual and lexical effects on gestures: the case of vertical spatial metaphors for time in Chinese

ABSTRACT The linguistic metaphors of time appear to influence how people gesture about time. This study finds that Chinese English bilinguals produce more vertical gestures when talking about Chinese time references with vertical spatial metaphors than (1) when talking about time conceptions in the English translations, and (2) when talking about Chinese time references with no spatial metaphors. Additionally, Chinese English bilinguals prefer vertical gestures to lateral gestures when perceiving Chinese time references with vertical spatial metaphors and the corresponding English translations, whereas there is no such preference when perceiving time references without spatial metaphors. Furthermore, this vertical tendency is not due to the fact that vertical gestures are generally less ambiguous than lateral gestures for addressees. In conclusion, the vertical gesturing about time by Chinese English bilinguals is shaped by both the stable language-specific conceptualisations, and the online changes in linguistic choices.