We examined the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying the processing of a false belief task using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Twenty adults performed a false belief task adapted for MEG. Regions of interest were selected based on source analyses on the contrast between false and true belief, and MEG source time-course reconstructions were generated and analyzed to determine the temporal architecture of neural activations specific to false belief reasoning. We found frontal, temporal and parietal regions to activate during false belief processing, confirming prior findings. We also extend previous findings by adding information about the temporal profile of neural activity during theory of mind processing, an area lacking in the literature. We found that increased frontal activity began at 100 ms bilaterally, followed by parietal regions from 200 to 330 ms and temporal regions at 350 ms, at which point frontal activity became lateralized to the right hemisphere.

Prosocial behaviours are a diverse group of actions that are integral to human social life. In this dissertation I propose and test a three-factor model of prosocial behaviour. Specifically, in a series of four studies I examined the ability of infants and toddlers to engage in helping, sharing, and comforting behaviour. Additionally, I examine the consistency with which children produce these behaviours longitudinally over time and the associations between these three subtypes of prosocial behaviour and social cognitive perspective taking, effortful control, affective perspective taking, and temperament. In Study 1, I found that 18-month-old infants were able to engage in helping and sharing, but not comforting behaviour. In Study 2, I found that between 18 and 30 months, there was no individual consistency in the production of prosocial behaviours, either across types (helping, sharing) or times (18, 24, or 30 months). Moreover, I found that even at 30 months of age, young children were not recognizing and responding to the emotional needs of others. In Study 3, I examined the relation between helping and sharing and three measures of social cognitive perspective taking and general cognitive development. I found unique relations between the behavioural correlates and the measures of prosocial behaviour. Specifically, I found that sharing was associated with imitation and that helping was associated with general cognitive development. Finally, Study 4 demonstrated that helping was the most frequent prosocial behaviour that the children engaged in, and it did not increase over time. I also observed a significant developmental increase in comforting behaviour from 2 to 3 years. Additionally, I found low rates of sharing behaviour that were stable over time. Importantly, I observed consistency in the production of prosocial behaviour within each subtype and defined a three-factor structure that differentiated between the helping, sharing, and comforting tasks. Further, I observed a significant association between effortful control and comforting behaviour, but no other significant associations between any of the subtypes of prosocial behaviour and the behavioural correlates (effortful control, affective perspective taking, and temperament). The implications for the construct of prosocial behaviour and the presence of a “prosocial disposition” are discussed. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-20 15:08:27.842

We examined the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying the processing of a false belief task using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Twenty adults performed a false belief task adapted for MEG. Regions of interest were selected based on source analyses on the contrast between false and true belief, and MEG source time-course reconstructions were generated and analyzed to determine the temporal architecture of neural activations specific to false belief reasoning. We found frontal, temporal and parietal regions to activate during false belief processing, confirming prior findings. We also extend previous findings by adding information about the temporal profile of neural activity during theory of mind processing, an area lacking in the literature. We found that increased frontal activity began at 100 ms bilaterally, followed by parietal regions from 200 to 330 ms and temporal regions at 350 ms, at which point frontal activity became lateralized to the right hemisphere.

The present mixed-methods study examined adolescents’ social perspective taking in contexts of social justice as demonstrated by their awareness and interpretations of hypothetical peer interactions depicting racism and sexism. Fifty adolescents in Grades 9 and 12 participated in a semi-structured interview in which they were presented with two scenarios, involving adolescents in conflicts portraying racism and sexism. They were asked a series of questions designed to elicit their awareness and understanding of social group differences. Qualitative analyses revealed three categories of adolescents’ responses, reflecting distinct interpretations of social group differences. On average, adolescents assumed a perspective that was naïve to the disparities existing between vulnerable and less vulnerable social groups. Furthermore, it was shown that older adolescents had significantly more sophisticated social justice understandings than younger adolescents. These findings highlight the need to educate adolescents about issues of social justice and facilitate an appreciation of social group differences.

Theory of mind, the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, has traditionally been investigated in humans and nonhuman primates. However, non-primate species, such as domestic dogs, may also be potential candidates for such a faculty. Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) evolved from a social-living, wolf-like ancestor, and were the first species to be domesticated, with likely selection for sensitivity to human cues and human-like cognitive abilities. Dogs typically spend their lives in the rich social environment of human families, and thus dogs are naturally enculturated. The combination of these factors make dogs an excellent candidate for having a functional theory of mind. Yet perhaps surprisingly, prior research on theory of mind in dogs is limited, with inconclusive and contradictory results. The research described in this thesis is a systematic investigation of dogs' potential to demonstrate a functional theory of mind in their interactions with humans. Four experiments are presented, based on the Knower-Guesser paradigm (Povinelli et al., 1990), in which a knowledgeable and an ignorant human informant indicated the location of hidden food to the dog. In Experiment 1, one informant was absent (Guesser) and one present (Knower) during the food-hiding, and the dogs chose the Knower. However, when both informants were present, the dogs chose the informant that did the baiting, but this preference was less than when the Guesser was absent. In Experiments 2 and 3, a third experimenter hid the food while the informants covered their cheeks (Knower) or eyes (Guesser) with their hands, or were attentive (Knower) or inattentive (Guesser) to the food-hiding. In both cases, the dogs showed a significant preference for the Knower. In Experiment 4, the dogs showed no preference between the informants when they had equal perceptual access to the baiting, and were unsuccessful at selecting any container when the informants did not provide communicative cues. Overall, the present research provides the most definitive evidence yet that domestic dogs may be able to attribute differential states of knowledge to human observers, and thus may possess a functional theory of mind.

Infants' characteristics, including temperament and cognitive ability, contribute to individual differences in language development. However, the process through which such traits influence language learning remains unclear. One possibility is that temperament and cognitive capacities affect the way in which infants learn words by influencing their ability to successfully use contextual referential cues. Social cues, such as eyegaze, pointing and gesturing, and emotional expressions, are one important type of referential cue. The present study explored the role of such social cues in the relation between infant characteristics and vocabulary in 71 18-month-olds. It was hypothesized that infants' characteristics would be associated with both their vocabulary and their use of such social cues, and that social cue use would be related to overall vocabulary. Further, it was predicted that infants' ability to use social cues effectively would mediate the relation between infants' temperament and cognitive ability, and their vocabulary. Participants watched six word-learning videos on a Tobii 1760 Eyetracker. In each video, a speaker labeled a novel object using one social referential cue. Infants' ability to use that cue to learn the object label was assessed by tracking the time spent looking toward the target object. Infants' cognitive and language abilities were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition. Both parents and observers provided ratings of child temperament, and parents also completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences form. Both correlation and bias-corrected bootstrap mediation analyses were conducted. Temperament did not make a unique contribution to infants' vocabulary, but both cognitive ability and social cue use did. Mediation analyses indicated that social cue use did mediate the relation between early cognitive ability and vocabulary, but only for infants with lower than average cognitive ability. These results indicate that social cues may be especially important for language development in infants and young children with low IQ, possibly because they provide additional supports for word learning. This has important implications for both typically developing infants as well as young children with language disorders.

Introduction: Impaired neurocognition, especially social cognition, predicts disability in schizophrenia. Early intervention to target impairment is theoretically attractive as a means to minimise chronic disability. Many trials confirm that Cognitive Remediation (CR) produces meaningful, durable improvements in cognition and functioning but few interventions remediate social cognition or focus on the early stages of schizophrenia. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of CR in first episode psychosis (FEP) was completed. A randomised controlled pilot trial was then conducted to investigate a combined CR and social cognition training (CR+SCT) intervention in FEP compared to CR alone, assessing cognition, functioning and symptoms at baseline and follow-up. Qualitative feedback was also obtained in a nested feasibility and acceptability study to assess engagement, intervention suitability and attrition. Results: In the systematic review and meta-analysis, random effects models revealed a non-significant effect of CR on global cognition in FEP. However, there was a significant effect on functioning and symptoms, which was larger in trials with adjunctive psychiatric rehabilitation and small group interventions. In the pilot trial, the CR+SCT group had significantly better social functioning scores post-treatment, especially on the interpersonal relationships scale, however there was no significant effect on social cognition. CR+SCT also improved visual learning and set-shifting. There was no specific effect on symptoms. The nested feasibility and acceptability study found CR and CR+SCT to be acceptable and feasible for early intervention in psychosis service users, with high engagement rates and high user-reported satisfaction. Users perceived improvements in neurocognition and reported using strategies learnt during CR in daily life. Conclusions: Meta-analysis suggests that CR is beneficial in FEP. Evidence from the pilot trial shows that a CR intervention enhanced with SCT can improve functioning more than CR alone and that such an intervention is feasible and acceptable. A larger RCT is required to explore the full benefits of a CR+SCT intervention compared to CR and treatment as usual.

This study examined the development of social cognition in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as the influence of behavioral and molecular genetics on these higher-order cognitive abilities. Specifically, it was hypothesized that children with ASD would perform more poorly on all social cognitive tasks compared with typically developing peers. In addition, it was hypothesized that typically developing children who performed better on a simpler social cognitive task at ages 3 or 4 would perform better at follow-up (i.e., one time between the ages of 6-10). Lastly, it was hypothesized that children who had at least one risk allele in both the DRD4 and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms would perform worse than those who had at least one risk allele in either polymorphism, who, in turn, would perform worse than children without any risk alleles. The twin sample included 62 families of multiples (twins, triplets, or quadruplets) who were recruited through the Southern Illinois Twins and Siblings Study (SITSS), and the ASD sample included 25 children who were recruited from the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at SIU. Significant group differences were found for children's performance on all of the social cognitive tasks. Furthermore, results showed that some areas of social cognition (theory of mind and the understanding of non-literal language) are more influenced by genetic factors than are other cognitive skills. Lastly, results from the molecular genetic analyses suggest that basic social cognitive skills (e.g., theory of mind) may be influenced by underlying biological factors in the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways. The present study provided useful information on how psychological and genetic factors influence the development of social cognitive abilities in children with and without ASD.

Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to accurately predict and reason about the mental states and beliefs of others, has yet to be explored in Emerging Adulthood, the 18-25 age range characterized by variability and developing a flexible worldview. The current study attempts to predict accuracy and response time on two ToM tasks, The Mind in the Eyes task (MiE), and the Empathetic Accuracy Paradigm (EAP) task by acting experience (whether the participant has acted in a live theater performance) and college experience (freshmen, sophomore, etc.) in 116 college participants. It was hypothesized that regression models including acting experience and college experience will account for more variance than models including only demographic variables and that the models including acting and college experience will significantly predict accuracy and response time on all ToM tasks. All such models predicting accuracy were significant, while only a model predicting response time on the EAP task was significantly predictive. It was hypothesized that acting experience will enable participants to use Theory of Mind skills faster and more accurately (Goldstein & Winner, 2012). Multiple regression analyses confirmed that acting experience is a significant predictor in all models predicting accuracy on Theory of Mind tasks, however response time was a significant predictor in only one of two tasks. It was also hypothesized that college experience will result in a more flexible worldview, open to multiple viewpoints and opinions, significantly influencing response time and accuracy. Multiple regression analyses revealed college experience approached significance in a model predicting accuracy on the MiE task, but no other significant contributions. Implications for the benefits of acting and college experience, the study of Theory of Mind in Emerging Adulthood, and practical applications of the findings in academia and therapeutic settings are discussed.

For children, high quality friendships are associated with adaptive social, emotional and academic functioning. There is also evidence that children experience real and imaginary friendships in similar ways, and that imagined relationships could have an impact on development. However, less is known about the relationships made possible by virtual agents in digital media. This dissertation research was designed to provide preliminary data about children’s concepts of virtual agents, and the social opportunities they attribute to such entities. In Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 48), preschool aged children differentiated the social affordances of a stuffed dog and a virtual dog. Participants played a game in which they guessed whether a child in a video was referring to a stuffed dog or a virtual dog in a series of statements. Items designed to assess high quality friendships, such as comfort, protection and love, were attributed more to the stuffed dog than the virtual dog. Studies 3 and 4 examined adult and child concepts of a virtual child, and how concepts of this entity might differ from a real child, a child on a video chat program (e.g., Skype™) and an inanimate doll. Adults and children attributed a range of properties to each child agent, including biological, psychological and social properties, as well as opportunities for relationships. In Study 3 (N = 144), adults did not differentiate between the virtual child and the doll on the social property; however, they favored the doll on opportunities for unilateral relationships. In Study 4 (N = 30), five to eight-year-old children indicated an overall preference for the doll on the social property, as well as on opportunities for reciprocal relationships. Children also favored the doll on opportunities for love, companionship, and intimate disclosure. Altogether, these findings suggest that virtual agents afford more limited social opportunities than inanimate artifacts, and they are less likely to be loved by children and adults alike. These results raise important questions about the design goals for virtual agents, and the functions they are intended to serve in our everyday lives. This dissertation includes both previously published and co-authored material.