Individuals endowed with a ‘Theory of Mind’ (‘ToM’) understand themselves and others as agents whose actions are driven by unobservabl e psychological states. How and when human infants come to such an understa nding has been extensively resear ched in the visual domain. In my dissertation, I addressed three gaps in the extant literature about what great apes’ know about others' visual perceptions and perceptual beliefs. In study 1, I investigated orangutans’ understanding of visual attenti on and others’ visual perspectives in a competitive situation. Overall, the results suggest that orangutans have a limited understanding of others’ perspectives, relying mainly on cues from facial and bodily orientation and egocentric ruleswhen making perspective judgements. In study 2, I explored whether apes and 20 month old human infants requesting a desired object from a human experimenter would use communicative means to direct visual attention towards the object. While infants used pointing to alter the experimenter’s focus of attention, we found no evidence that apes’ employ their point gestures in this way. In study 3, I examined chimpanzees’ and 5.5 year old human children’s understanding of perceptual beliefs. By designing two novel false belief tasks which required reduced executive functioning, I attempted to find out whether chimpanzees’ historical failure in explicit false belief tasks was due to their lack of inhibitory control Neither the chimpanzees nor the 5.5 year-olds succeeded in the novel tasks.

The purpose of the dissertation is to investigate the degree of compatibility of two fields: phenomenology and computational cognitive science. The former field proposes to explicate all structures of conscious experience in terms of conscious experience. The latter proposes to explicate all structures of consciousness partly in terms of unconscious causal factors. These endeavors have been seen as mutually exclusive. I put forward the thesis that the original formulation of phenomenology may be seen to have a computational theory of mind in the background. To this end, I show in the first chapter that the founder of phenomenology articulated, prior to founding phenomenology, a computational theory of mind in terms of its two modern theses: (1) syntactic representations, and (2) their causal generation and interaction. Insofar as I am able to provide sufficient evidence for this thesis, I am theoretically licensed to proceed to trace its influence on the founding of phenomenology proper. On the above textual basis, I proceed in the second chapter to discuss Husserl's methodology in the founding work of phenomenology - the Logical Investigations. I there show how my compatibility thesis may be true; indeed, I demonstrate that formal evidence is the causal product of what Husserl calls “unsere Denkmaschine” – a thought-machine that manipulates syntactic symbols. The third chapter discusses several arguments against (Humean) associationism, and by extension against (Churchlandian) connectionism, and show that they demand in their stead computationalism, both on account of the nature of the explananda as well as for the sake of theoretical completeness. In the fourth chapter, I discuss, with a view to deepening my interpretation, the much-celebrated property (since Chomsky) of productivity. This leads to a discussion of the methodological relation between “universal grammar,” as it appears directly in the 4th Logical Investigation, and the computational theory of mind. In the fifth chapter, I discuss how Husserl’s descriptive treatment of the propositional attitudes (as act-matters & act-qualities), nominalization, and categorial intuition may be supplemented on the explanatory side by a language of thought.

This study was an exploration of adults with long-term hearing loss (LTHL) and how it may relate to social intelligence (SI) proficiency. The outcome of this study was intended to illuminate a gap in the literature, namely, the manner in which those with long-term LTHL were able to understand social situations and communicate with others when auditory comprehension was limited. A quantitative nonexperimental method was used that provided the Tromso Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS) to a group of 66 adults with LTHL who were diagnosed with hearing loss as children, as well as a group of 70 adults with no discernable hearing loss (NDHL). The TSIS was used to determine if those with LTHL would have scored higher on the total scale score and the subscales of social information processing and social awareness, than would those with NDHL. The results of the study were determined by an independent t test. There was no significant difference in the total scale and subscale scores between LTHL and NDHL for this relatively small samples study. These findings could aid the hearing loss community at large through a focus on SI skills to improve confidence and communication for those with LTHL. One social change benefit of this study demonstrates that SI for people with LTHL is comparable to people with NDHL. Such a finding suggests that while people with LTHL did not rate higher in SI, they also are not impaired in social situations because of their hearing loss.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) and forgiveness both involve interpreting emotional content. Empirical study of a relationship between these two constructs is lacking. This is a problem as many psychological studies infer a relationship between these two constructs. The purposes of this study were to explore whether EI and forgiveness are correlated and to identify whether predictor variables (empathy, life satisfaction, emotional management, and emotional understanding) contribute to the probability of forgiveness within an interpersonal relationship. A quantitative, nonexperimental research design, based on the theory of mind, was used to answer two research questions: Does a correlational relationship exist between the two EI domains (emotional understanding and emotional management ability) and the three forgiveness domains (affective, behavioral, and cognitive)? And do empathy, life satisfaction, emotional management ability, and emotional understanding predict forgiveness? The sampling strategy involved a convenience sample of Internet users. There were a total of 142 participants. Statistical analysis of data were carried out on the 95 participants whom completed all of the survey items. Results of a Pearson r correlational analysis show no significant relationship between study variables was detected. A multiple regression analysis was planned but not implemented. EI ability directly impacting the process of forgiveness and the process of forgiveness directly impacting EI was unsubstantiated. Social change implications involve consideration of situations and conflict resolution rather than a specific emphasis on EI ability or ability to forgive. Doing so may promote research fostering positive mental health outcomes.

Autismspektrumtillstånd (AST), är ett spektrum av funktionsvariationer som visar sig i sociala-, emotionella- samt empatiska interaktioner. AST-personers tolkning samt brist i inkännandet av andra personer bidrar till sociala-, empatiska-, samt emotionella problem. Resultat presenterade från kognitiv neurovetenskap studier visar positiv korrelation för förmågan att mentalisera, även känt som Theory of Mind (ToM), och hjärnregionen mediala prefrontala hjärnbarken (mPFC) som modererar, det vill säga styr sociala beteenden, exekutiva funktioner (handlingsförmågan) samt tolkningen av andra människors mentala tillstånd. Prefrontala hjärnregioner samt limbiska systemet visar på positiv korrelation till empatiska-, emotionella- samt sociala förmågor. Huvudfråga för denna systematiska översikt var hur personer med AST påverkas socialt, empatiskt samt emotionellt i interventionsutövandet av ToM och sociala förmågor. Fem studier fokuserade på AST-personer (vuxna, unga vuxna eller barn) och deras förmågor inom sociala-, empatiska- samt emotionella områden. Olika interventionsprogram (ToM och sociala förmågor) och mätningsinstrument bidrog till resultat gällande AST-deltagares potentiella utveckling. Slutresultaten visade på varierat utfall gällande vilka interventionsprogram som bidrog till ökad social-, empatisk- eller emotionell förståelse, vilket slutligen demonstrerade att mer empirisk data anses nödvändig inom AST-forskningen.

No description available.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer mental states of others and this skill relies on a distributed network of brain regions. A brain region that has been traditionally disregarded in relation to non-motor functions is the cerebellum. Here, we leveraged large-scale multimodal neuroimaging data to elucidate the structural and functional role of the cerebellum in ToM. We used functional activations to determine whether the cerebellum has a domain-general or domain-specific functional role. We found that the cerebellum is organized in a domain-specific way. We used effective connectivity and probabilistic tractography to map the cerebello-cerebral ToM network. We found a left cerebellar effective and structural lateralization, with more and stronger effective connections from the left cerebellar hemisphere to the contralateral cerebral ToM areas and greater cerebello-thalamo-cortical (CTC) and cortico-ponto-cerebellar (CPC) streamline counts from and to the left cerebellum. Lastly, we examined the relationship between CTC and CPC white matter and ToM speed and accuracy but found no correlation. Our study provides novel insights to the network organization of the cerebellum, an overlooked brain structure, and ToM, one of humans’ most essential abilities to navigate the social world. / Psychology

Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) exhibit impaired performance on social cognition and theory of mind (ToM) measures, like the Video Social Inference Test (VSIT). The frontal lobe, being the primary region involved in higher level cognitive functions mediates the neural mechanisms involved in social cognition and ToM abilities, according to studies on brain and behaviour. The goal of this study was to examine if individuals with TBI who did not damage their frontal lobe would perform differently on the VSIT than individuals with TBI who did. This study was a secondary analysis of documented imaging data and VSIT scores obtained from 51 adults with moderate-to-severe TBI (23 females). A comparison was made between scores obtained on the VSIT between participants with and without frontal lobe lesions. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two groups, in other words, site of lesion in participants with TBI did not predict performance on the VSIT. The results suggest that while the VSIT may yield critical information about social cognition, it is not sensitive to individual site of lesion. There is evidence that aspects of social cognition are impaired in this clinical population, however, most research in this area is obstructed by the complex nature of TBI neuropathology in addition to small heterogenous samples involved in studies. Further research in this area is required in order to reveal and enhance our understanding of social cognition deficits following TBI. Keywords: social cognition, traumatic brain injury, theory of mind, frontal lobe lesions, video social inference test / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Ironic statements are commonly used in our everyday communication. They are characterised by a meaning opposite to the literal one. They rely on mutual understanding of the contrast in the expressed ironic statement, which is based on common experience, knowledge, or understanding of the situational context. In this experiment, we aimed to find the neural correlates involved in the understanding of irony, as well as differences between brain regions involved in the understanding of deceits and the truth. The theoretical part of this thesis places irony into the broader context of higher cognitive functions and provides a solid theoretical background for its understanding from different points of view, such as neurobiological and psychological. Moreover, it describes a method called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a non-invasive imaging technique allowing researchers to have deeper understanding and locate activations in various conditions. Practical part provides a detailed description of the experiment, including description of participants, methods, and analysis methods. Specifically, 17 healthy volunteers - 10 females and 7 males took part in this fMRI project. They were to evaluate 20 statements in 3 different contexts - ironic, deceitful, and truthful. Measured data in form of...

Embodied cognition is the study of how actions and interactions with objects and individuals affect cognitive processing. Neuroaesthetics deals with the neural, biological and evolutionary aspects of aesthetic experience which occur through the senses and consist of the emotional value placed onto objects, for example the appreciation of art work, dance, or music. These are individual and differ depending on level of expertise and experience within the art. The main aim of the thesis was to investigate the link between embodiment and aesthetics through examining people’s level of creativity, colour perception and sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) in relation to levels of empathy and theory of mind (ToM). Research into this is sparse as the role of the body in relation to aesthetic experiences is a relatively new concept. Preference for portraits versus landscapes was also investigated to look at any role of social stimuli in aesthetic preference. Results demonstrate that participants with (i) higher levels of creativity (for some types of creativity) and (ii) more acute colour perception had higher levels of empathy/ToM. Individuals who had higher SPS demonstrated higher empathy/ToM. It was also found that colour perception and empathy levels decrease with age, and aesthetic preference for portraits increase with age. These results have implications for education/schools, the prison service, for specific clinical conditions such as autism, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, particularly given the role of dopamine in these disorders and in colour perception. Future research should investigate these findings using brain imaging and physiological measures.