Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:58:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Soares Freitas de Souza.pdf: 2098980 bytes, checksum: 0e5cba009d20fa524b503614f63f02d4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-23 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The ability of attributing mental states - desires, intentions and beliefs - to oneself and others has been named theory of mind. Such ability is necessary for the human being to understand and participate in social relations and it can be revealed in false-belief tasks. There are signals that the child s participation in conversational activities about events that involve mind actions may influence the ability of attributing beliefs to others. Thus, the existence of a narrow relation between the theory of mind and language can be accepted. The purpose of the present study was to check the effects of an intervention process in which mental states of beliefs are explained to participants through conversations in ludic situations concerning the ability of understanding the other ones mind. It was accepted the hypothesis that such process contributes to the acquisition of the ability of attributing mental states of beliefs in preschool children. The present research, which is quisi-experimental type, was developed in three steps: a) pre-test: a test of verbal level and the first five tasks in theory of mind from Wellman and Liu scale were performed; b) intervention: four ludic sessions were carried out in which the researcher told stories involving comprehension and attribution of mental states to the characters, i.e., desires, intentions and beliefs to others, based on the tasks from Wellman and Liu scale, by using some language that emphasizes mental verbs; post-test: in post-test 1, on the day after the last intervention, five pre-test tasks were performed; in post-test 2, two weeks later, the same pre-test tasks were performed. The participants were 10 children, 6 boys and 4 girls, whose age range was 4,9 - 5,11 years old; their socioeconomic level is low and they attend a city public school in the state of Bahia. The results showed that the children achieved progress in understanding false-belief after the intervention process. In general, the conversation strategies used in the intervention collaborated on the advancement in the capacity of attributing mental states of beliefs in others. These results support the hypothesis of a relation between the theory of mind and the development of language / A habilidade de atribuir a si próprio e a outra pessoa, estados mentais como desejos, intenções e crenças, tem sido denominada teoria da mente. Essa habilidade é necessária para o ser humano compreender e participar das relações sociais e pode ser revelada em tarefas de crença falsa. Há indícios de que a participação da criança em atividades de conversações sobre eventos que implicam ações mentais pode influenciar na habilidade de atribuição de crença ao outro. Assim, pode-se aceitar a existência de uma estreita relação entre teoria da mente e linguagem. A presente pesquisa teve por objetivo verificar os efeitos de um procedimento de intervenção em que são explicados aos participantes os estados mentais de crença por meio de conversações em situações lúdicas. Aceitou-se a hipótese de que a utilização desse procedimento contribui para a aquisição da habilidade de atribuição de estados mentais de crença em crianças em idade préescolar. A pesquisa, do tipo quase-experimental, foi feita em três fases: a) pré-teste - foram aplicadas uma prova de nível verbal e as cinco primeiras tarefas em teoria da mente da escala de Wellman e Liu; b) intervenção - foram realizadas 4 sessões lúdicas, com narração de histórias que envolviam compreensão e atribuição de estados mentais aos personagens, com ênfase no uso de verbos mentais; c) pósteste - no pós-teste 1, realizado no dia seguinte à última intervenção, foram reaplicadas as cinco tarefas do pré-teste; no pós-teste 2, realizado após duas semanas do pós-teste 1, foram utilizadas as mesmas tarefas. Participaram 10 crianças, sendo 6 meninos e 4 meninas, com idade variando de 4,9 a 5,11 anos, provenientes de famílias de nível socioeconômico baixo, que frequentavam uma escola municipal no interior do Estado da Bahia. Os resultados mostraram que as crianças progrediram na compreensão da crença falsa após o procedimento de intervenção. De modo geral, as estratégias de conversações empregadas na intervenção favoreceram avanço na capacidade de atribuição de estados mentais de crença ao outro. Esses resultados amparam a hipótese de uma relação entre a teoria da mente e o desenvolvimento da linguagem

La Théorie de l’Esprit est l’ensemble des capacités cognitives permettant à un individu de se mettre à la place d’autrui. Longtemps considérée comme spécifiquement humaine, de plus en plus de comportements sociaux complexes sont rapportés chez les grands singes et plus récemment chez certaines espèces de singes, rendant son existence au sein d’autres espèces hautement débattue. Ce travail s’intéresse aux capacités de macaques à discriminer l’attention, la perception et les intentions d’autrui en situation de coopération ou de compétition, intraspécifique ou interspécifique. Dans ces expériences, les macaques se comportaient différemment selon les états d’attention, la perception visuelle et les intentions de leurs partenaires. Toutefois, les mécanismes sous-jacents à ces comportements complexes restent incertains. Les primates non humains peuvent en effet être de très bons lecteurs de comportements, capables de déchiffrer les comportements des autres sur la base d’apprentissages associatifs, mais pourraient également faire usage de représentations mentales. / Theory of Mind is the set of cognitive abilities allowing an individual to put himself in the place of others. Considered as specifically human for a long time, more and more complex social behaviours are reported in great apes, and more recently in some monkeys’ species. This work focuses on attention, perception and intention reading abilities in macaques in cooperative or competitive experiments and in interspecific and intraspecific situations. In these experiment, macaques behaved differently according to the attentional state, visual perception and intentions of their partners. However, the underlying mechanisms of these complex behaviours remain uncertain. Nonhuman primates would thus be very good behaviour readers, capable of decoding others behaviours via associative learning but could also use mental representations.

Em uma época em que o excesso de informações, técnicas e padrões parecem sufocar o indivíduo; e ao mesmo tempo, incitá-lo a questionar a si próprio e ao próximo diante de situações a serem resolvidas; torna-se imprescindível pensar nas possibilidades de compreensão e simplificação de sua rotina, isso sem causar a perda da essência do que é de fato ser humano. Surgem daí questões fundamentais para investigar a sobrevivência e o convívio harmônico da espécie, ou seja, buscar princípios correspondentes ao anseio de viver juntos e em paz. Posto dessa maneira, a pesquisa em questão tem como objetivo dialogar sobre esses assuntos por meio da educação de novas metodologias frente à aprendizagem de diversos saberes nos quais envolvam o mundo, seus objetos e, por fim, suas relações. Desse modo, a fim de entender melhor as necessidades humanas no processo de aprendizagem, realizei um estudo sobre a teoria da mente, que foi seguido de uma pesquisa de campo cuja base foi observar as novas pedagogias postas em ação, especificamente, em duas escolas: a EMEF Desembargador Amorim Lima e Escola Waldorf. Ao cumprir essa demanda, entrevistei alguns professores para analisar quais motivos que levaram à adoção dessa nova diretriz em suas práticas de ensino. Opção tomada na busca de subsidiar a formação de seus alunos, no sentido de torná-los adultos capazes de criticar e refletir sobre a sua própria realidade, permitindo, assim, a criação de mecanismos de interação com o mundo ao seu redor. / In an age where the sheer breadth of information, techniques and patterns appear to stifle the individual, but at the same time, encourage him/her to question oneself and others in situations that need a resolution, it is important to try and understand and simplify ones approach so as not to lose the essence of what it is to maintain ones \"humanity\". This leads to fundamental questions regarding the survival and harmonious coexistence of the species, i.e., in the effort to find ways and principles that lead to living together in peace. As such, this research intends to address these issues through the promotion (and via education) of newer methodologies and current knowledge (as opposed to outdated knowledge and materials) of the world, its objects and, their complex relationships using the modern marvels of technology, art and other mechanisms heretofor not considered. In the effort to better understand human needs in the learning process, I conducted a study on the theory of the mind, followed by a field study/examination, the purpose of which was to observe how new teaching methods put into action, specifically in two schools: EMEF Desembargador Amorim Lima and Waldorf Schools. Accordingly, I interviewed several teachers to learn their motivations for the adoption of this new direction in their teaching practices, after they graduated from the traditional educational system. I found that their approach took into consideration subsidizing the education of their students in order to give them the opportunity to grow into thinking adults who are able to criticize and reflect on their own reality, thus allowing the creation of mechanisms of interaction with the world around them.

A linguagem tem um papel fundamental para o desenvolvimento infantil, uma vez que possibilita à criança construir conceitos do self e do outro, especialmente nos contextos construídos por seus cuidadores e nas trocas interacionais. A proposta da presente pesquisa é analisar associações entre o tipo de discurso materno, quanto a características de orientação cultural para a interdependência e/ou para a autonomia, e o desenvolvimento cognitivo da criança avaliado pelo desempenho em testes de compreensão de intencionalidade e direção do olhar, no contexto de depressão pós-parto. O projeto insere-se em um estudo longitudinal mais amplo (Temático FAPESP nº 06/59192), que acompanha díades mãe-criança de uma amostra atendida pelo sistema público de saúde, em que era aferido haver ou não depressão por meio da Escala de Edimburgo (pós-parto e 36 meses). Foram feitos registros em vídeo da interação livre mãe-criança por 10 minutos, para avaliação do discurso materno, e da criança nos testes em interação com um pesquisador. O estilo de discurso materno foi classificado segundo categorias elaboradas por Heidi Keller, associadas à ideia de autonomia (ex. agência, autorreferência) ou de relacionamento (ex. coagência, referência a autoridade). O escore correspondente à autonomia e ao relacionamento foi calculado pela soma das frequências das respectivas categorias, controlado pelo número de emissões da fala categorizadas. A compreensão de intencionalidade foi avaliada por meio de duas histórias ilustrativas que mostram um personagem no processo de busca de um objeto (A) em um local previsto e, em seguida, a descoberta inesperada de um objeto diferente, mais desejável (B) em seu lugar. O protocolo avalia cada etapa de aplicação do teste. O teste de direção do olhar foi composto por três tarefas nas quais a criança deveria identificar: qual das figuras está olhando para ela?; o personagem está olhando para onde?, e apontando para onde?, associadas a perguntas sobre o que o personagem quer? Foi verificado um efeito da DPP na adesão à tarefa no teste Compreensão de Intencionalidade (CI). A dificuldade do teste de Direção do Olhar (DO) prevaleceu com o cansaço. Todavia, foi identificada correlação negativa entre o escore da DPP e o desempenho em etapas do teste. A DPP parece ter produzido mais efeito do que a depressão aos 36 meses. Os casos que indicam cronicidade da depressão são mais prejudicados. Um elemento destaque foi a análise do discurso, que revelou muito sobre o contexto de depressão e do desempenho das crianças. O discurso autônomo esteve negativamente relacionado ao escore DPP e aos 36 meses, e positivamente ao desempenho. Destaca-se que no contexto de depressão, as crianças que tiveram bom desempenho foram as das mães que apresentaram maior percentual nas categorias de autonomia, quando comparado com o grupo baixo desempenho e DPP. De modo geral, não encontramos efeitos lineares e diretos da DPP prejudicando o desenvolvimento, mas verificamos variações sugestivas. Tudo indica que o comportamento materno e, principalmente, o resultado deste em termos de desenvolvimento, irá depender muito da configuração geral do contexto socioafetivo, e que a depressão é um dos elementos efetivos desta conjugação / Language has a vital role in children´s construction of self and the relation to others in interactional exchanges. Mothers´ talk to their children reflects their cultural models or ethno-theories. In this presentation the results of a study focusing on the relation between maternal speech, as presenting the characteristics of a cultural orientation to interdependence and / or autonomy, with children\'s cognitive development, assessed by performance on tests of understanding of intentionality and direction of gaze, in the context of postpartum depression. The project is part of a larger, longitudinal study (FAPESP No. 06/59192), which follows a sample of mother-child dyads served by a public health system, when it was measured whether or not depression through Edinburgh Scale (postpartum and 36 months). Video recordings of free mother-child interactions for 10 minutes were made to evaluate the conversational maternal style. Children were observed in their interactional tasks with an experimenter. Mother´s speech style was classified according to categories developed by Heidi Keller, associated with the concept of agency (i.e. mental states, self-reference) or relationship (i.e. co-agency, reference to authority). Scores on both categories were calculated as the sum of the frequencies of the respective categories, controlling the total number of emissions categorized. Intentionality understanding was evaluated by means of two illustrative stories that show a character in the process of searching for an object (A) in a place provided, and then, the unexpected discovery of a different object, the more desirable (B) in its place. The protocol evaluates each step of the test. The test of gaze direction was composed of three tasks that the child should identify: what the figures are looking at; To what is the character is looking; where is he/she pointing, associated to questions about \"what the character wants?\" The effect of PPD was found in adherence to the task in testing Intentionality Understanding (IC). The difficulty of the Gaze Direction (GD) test has prevailed with tiredness, but a negative correlation was identified with scores of PPD and performance in steps of the test. The DPP produced more effect than depression at 36 months, and indicates to the importance of early development. The cases of chronic depressions suggest to be more affected. One key element was the of speech analysis, this revealed much about the context of depression and performance of children. The style of autonomy speech was negatively related to score PPD and the 36 months, and positively to the children\'s performance. It is noteworthy that in the context of depressed children who had good performance their mothers presented greater percentage in autonomy compared to the group of low performance and PPD. Overall, we found no direct linear effects of the DPP that could hinder the development, but we found suggestive variations. Everything indicates that maternal behavior, and especially the result from this in terms of development will greatly depend on the socio-affective context configuration and depression is one of the effective elements of this combination

Les difficultés de théorie de l’esprit (ToM) associées à la schizophrénie (SZ) et la schizotypie (Szt) seraient dues à un trouble élémentaire de traitement du contexte. Or, traiter le contexte engagerait deux types de processus inégalement atteints dans la SZ: les processus prédictifs (génération de prédictions) seraient préservés et les processus intégratifs (intégration a posteriori des informations nouvelles avec le contexte) seraient altérés. Ces processus sont mobilisés lors de la production d’inférences et reflétés par la modulation de la N400 ou de la P600. À l’aide de mesures comportementales et électrophysiologiques, l’objectif de ce travail était de: a) vérifier l’inégale atteinte de ces processus dans la Szt, b) évaluer si ce pattern d’inégale atteinte est observé lors d’une tâche de production d’inférences intentionnelles (PII), c) faciliter la mobilisation des processus altérés par le renforcement du contexte (sémantique, ajout d’un indice social). L’étude réalisée avec un paradigme d’amorçage sémantique en contexte mot confirme l’altération spécifique des processus intégratifs dans la Szt. La suite des études, conduite autour d’une tâche de PII reposant sur les processus prédictifs ou intégratifs dans la SZ et la Szt, montre: 1) des difficultés de PII lorsqu’elle mobilise les processus intégratifs, 2) une réduction de ces difficultés par le renforcement sémantique et 3) que l’ajout d’un indice social pourrait faciliter le traitement du contexte. Ainsi, la PII n’est pas totalement altérée dans la Szt et la SZ. Les études futures devraient considérer cette inégale atteinte des processus en ToM pour aider les patients à attribuer des intentions à autrui. / Theory of mind (ToM) impairments in schizophrenia (SZ) and in schizotypy (Szt) may stem from a context-processing deficit. However, treating the context would involve two types of processes differently affected impacted in SZ: predictive strategy (generation of expectations) would be preserved and integrative strategy (retroactive integration of new information with the context) would be altered. These processes are mobilized during inference generation tasks and reflected by modulations of the N400 and P600 components. Using behavioral and electrophysiological measures, the aim of this thesis was to: (a) confirm the unequal alteration of these processes in the Szt, (b) assess whether this pattern of unequal alteration is observed in intentional inference production tasks (IIP), and (c) facilitate the mobilization of altered processes by increasing the contextual constraints (semantic constraint, contextual reinforcement by social cue). Using a semantic priming task in word context, a first study showed that integrative processes are specifically altered in Szt. Subsequent studies were based on IIP task in which the inference production involved predictive processes or integrative processes. Results showed that: (1) difficulties were observed only when IIP involved integrative processes, (2) semantic constraints decreased these difficulties and (3) context processing may be facilitated by the addition of a social cue. Thus, IIP is not totally altered in Szt and SZ. Future studies should consider this unequal impact of ToM processes to help patients attribute intentions to others.

<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test is a widely used test for measuring aspects of social cognition. The aim of the present study was to provide results from a group of typically developing Swedish children (age 9-12) and to compare these results with children and adults in other Swedish and English studies, as well as results from a group of children with Asperger syndrome. <strong>Method: </strong>A Swedish version of the child version of the test was completed by 83 controls and by six children with Asperger syndrome. Results were compared between the two groups and with data from other studies. <strong>Results: </strong>The children in the current study did not differ on scores compared to children in the same age group in other studies. The children in the current study scored significantly lower than adults in an earlier study. The results from the children with Asperger syndrome did not differ significantly to the results from the controls.</p>

Introduction: The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test is a widely used test for measuring aspects of social cognition. The aim of the present study was to provide results from a group of typically developing Swedish children (age 9-12) and to compare these results with children and adults in other Swedish and English studies, as well as results from a group of children with Asperger syndrome. Method: A Swedish version of the child version of the test was completed by 83 controls and by six children with Asperger syndrome. Results were compared between the two groups and with data from other studies. Results: The children in the current study did not differ on scores compared to children in the same age group in other studies. The children in the current study scored significantly lower than adults in an earlier study. The results from the children with Asperger syndrome did not differ significantly to the results from the controls.

Il presente lavoro prende in considerazione la comprensione dell'ironia verbale in bambini di età prescolastica e scolastica alla luce del suo legame con la teoria della mente (capacità di attribuire stati mentali a se' e agli altri e di prevederne il comportamento sulla base di tali stati) e con le abilità linguistiche dei soggetti. L'obiettivo è verificare quali fattori di tipo relazionale, contestuale e informativo aiutano i bambini nell'interpretare l'ironia verbale prima e dopo l'acquisizione di abilità mentalistiche complesse. Il primo studio si sofferma sulla differenza di status tra gli interlocutori (rapporto simmetrico e asimmetrico) e sulla qualità del legame di attaccamento del bambino con i suoi caregiver. La seconda ricerca approfondisce il ruolo delle conoscenze pregresse che i soggetti hanno a disposizione per comprendere l'enunciato ironico (conoscenze enciclopediche o episodiche) e il tipo di affermazione ironica (costituita da eco o allusione) in rapporto alle abilità mentalistiche e linguistiche. I risultati mostrano che i bambini si avvalgono di alcuni dei fattori individuati per comprendere l'ironia verbale anche prima dell'acquisizione di abilità mentalistiche complesse. / This work considers the verbal irony comprehension in school and preschool age children in the light of its link with theory of mind (the ability to impute mental states to the self and to the others as a way of making sense and predicting behaviour) and linguistic competences of subjects. The aim is to identify the relational, contextual and informative factors helping children to interpret verbal irony before and after the complex mentalistic abilities acquisition. The first study deals with status difference between talkers (symmetric and asymmetric relation) and characteristics of children relationship attachment with their caregivers. The second research elaborates on the role of previous knowledge of subjects to understand irony statement (encyclopaedic or episodic knowledge) and of ironic claim type (echoic or allusional) and the link with mentalistic and linguistic abilities. The results show that children use some of the detected factors to understand verbal irony also before the acquisition of complex theory of mind.

The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend recent findings in the functional contextual literature by 1) establishing complex deictic relational responding skills in 3 persons diagnosed with Schizophrenia and mild-moderate Mental Retardation and 2) assessing generalization through pre and post-instructional measures of Social Anhedonia and Theory of Mind functioning. Results suggest that increasingly complex levels of deictic relational responses were acquired and mastered by all 3 participants and that generalization extended to the Deceptive Container Task (ToM levels 4 & 5) and Hinting Task. Support is provided for the notion that perspective taking skills might be shaped through operant conditioning of deictic frames and that acquisition of these skills may generalize to novel stimuli and settings.

La tesi di dottorato qui presentata si situa all’interno del filone di studi sulla teoria della mente (ToM), intesa come la capacità di attribuire stati mentali a sé e agli altri e di prevedere e spiegare, sulla base di essi, il comportamento proprio e altrui. In particolare, abbracciando le prospettive più recenti, che assegnano un ruolo fondamentale per lo sviluppo della teoria della mente alla qualità della relazione affettiva, gli studi empirici misurano la ToM in bambini di età scolare sia attraverso compiti classici, quali le false credenze, sia nei suoi aspetti più qualitativi, quali le distorsioni e l’accuratezza della lettura della mente. La ToM è analizzata all’interno di significativi contesti di crescita extrafamiliari, quali la scuola per lo sviluppo tipico e la comunità alloggio relativamente ad una popolazione ancora poco indagata dagli studi sulla ToM, cioè i bambini vittime di maltrattamento. In particolare gli aspetti relazionali sono declinati sia in relazioni specifiche, bambino-caregiver professionale e bambino-bambino, sia più generiche, come le relazioni con il gruppo dei pari. La qualità della mentalizzazione viene studiata anche in relazione al rischio di patologia depressiva, alle strategie di coping utilizzate in situazioni di stress tra pari e su aspetti più affettivi, quali la qualità e la reciprocità dell’amicizia. / Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to impute mental states to the self e to the others as a way of making sense and predicting behavior. Recently ToM researchers gave a central role to the qualitative dimensions of child-caregiver affective relationships. So the empirical studies investigate ToM in school age children with classical measures, as false beliefs comprehension, and with more recent measures in order to capture qualitative aspects of mentalization, as distortion and accuracy. ToM is analyzed in important extra-familiar context, for example the school (typical development) and a community for maltreated children (critical development), on which there are few studies in ToM research. In particular, the relationships are delineated as specific interactions (child-caregiver; child-child), and more extended relationships, as peer relationships. The link among mentalization quality and depressive risk, coping strategies in stress peer situation are investigated. Moreover, ToM is examined in relation to affective aspects, as friendship’s quality and reciprocity of friendship.