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.

L’étude de l’orientation mentale (OM), soit l’habileté des parents à concevoir et à traiter leur enfant comme un individu disposant d’une vie mentale autonome et active (Meins, 1997), a gagné en intérêt grâce à la démonstration de ses associations avec plusieurs sphères du développement de l’enfant, entre autres avec le style d’acquisition linguistique chez les enfants de 20 mois ainsi que le développement de la théorie de l’esprit chez les enfants d’âge préscolaire (p. ex., Meins & Fernyhough, 1999). En dépit de ces résultats, l’étude du développement du vocabulaire et des stades initiaux de la théorie de l’esprit chez les enfants a été négligée dans cette littérature. La présente thèse est composée de trois articles empiriques et vise à combler certaines lacunes de la littérature actuelle. Le premier article vise à examiner les liens longitudinaux entre l’OM maternelle et le vocabulaire expressif chez les enfants de 2 ans. Les deuxième et troisième articles ont pour but d’évaluer les relations longitudinales entre l’OM maternelle, la sécurité d’attachement des enfants et les toutes premières articulations de la théorie de l’esprit chez les enfants de 2 ans, puis 2 ans plus tard, avec la théorie de l’esprit chez les enfants de 4 ans. Les données des trois articles proviennent de cinq visites effectuées au domicile de 84 dyades mère-enfant. À 12 mois, l’OM maternelle a été mesurée lors de jeux libres mère-enfant à l’aide du système de codification de Meins et al. (2001). À 15 mois, la sécurité d’attachement de l’enfant a été mesurée par un observateur avec le Q-Sort d’attachement (Waters & Deane, 1985). À 2 ans, les mères ont évalué le langage de leur enfant à l’aide des inventaires MacArthur du développement de la communication (Dionne, Tremblay, Boivin, Laplante, & Pérusse, 2003). Finalement, la théorie de l’esprit de l’enfant a été mesurée à 2 et 4 ans à l’aide de diverses tâches expérimentales (Carlson, Mandell, & Williams, 2004). Les résultats du premier article indiquent que l’OM maternelle est associée au développement du vocabulaire expressif des enfants de 2 ans. Les résultats des deuxième et troisième articles indiquent que la compréhension des enfants de 2 et 4 ans aux tâches de théorie de l’esprit est associée à l’OM maternelle. De plus, ces deux articles ont démontré que les garçons, mais pas les filles, présentant des comportements d’attachement davantage sécures ont obtenu de meilleures performances à une tâche demandant la compréhension des perspectives visuelles de leur mère à 2 ans et de celles d’une étrangère à 4 ans. En conclusion, les résultats de la thèse suggèrent que l’utilisation que les mères font de commentaires mentaux à 12 mois semble favoriser l’acquisition de mots dans le vocabulaire expressif de leur enfant à 2 ans ainsi que le développement d’une meilleure compréhension aux tâches de théorie de l’esprit à 2 et 4 ans. / Studies on mind-mindedness (MM), which is an indication of parents’ inclination to conceive and treat their child as an independent individual with an autonomous and active mental life (Meins, 1997), have grown in interest because of the associations found with children’s developmental areas, such as with 20-month-olds’ acquisition of linguistic style and with preschoolers’ theory of mind development (ToM) (e.g., Meins & Fernyhough, 1999). Despite these results, studies on expressive vocabulary and earlier ToM stages were neglected in this literature. This thesis is composed of three empirical articles and aims to fill the gaps in the current literature. The first paper aims to examine the longitudinal links between maternal MM and children’s expressive vocabulary at 2 years of age. The second and third articles aim to evaluate the prospective relations between maternal MM, children’s attachment security and 2-year-olds’ first articulations of ToM understanding, and 2 years later, with 4-year-olds’ ToM understanding. The data of the three articles was collected from five home visits made with 84 mother-infant dyads. At 12 months, maternal MM was measured during mother-child free plays with Meins et al. (2001) coding scheme. At 15 months, children’s attachment security was measured with the Attachment Q-Sort (Waters & Deane, 1985) by a research assistant. At 2 years of age, mothers were asked to complete the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Dionne, Tremblay, Boivin, Laplante, & Pérusse, 2003) to measure their child’s expressive vocabulary. Finally, children’s ToM was assessed with different experimental tasks at 2 and 4 years of age (Carlson, Mandell, & Williams, 2004). Results of the first paper suggested that maternal MM is related to children’s expressive language at 2 years of age. Results of the second and third papers proposed that 2- and 4-year-olds’ understanding on ToM tasks is associated with maternal MM. Furthermore, results from these two articles showed that more securely attached boys, but not girls, performed better on a task requiring comprehension of their mothers’ visual perspective at 2 years of age and of a stranger’s visual perspective at 4 years of age. In conclusion, results of this thesis suggest that mothers more inclined to use mental comments at 12 months have children that acquire more words in their expressive vocabulary at 2 years of age and who show a better understanding on ToM tasks at 2 and 4 years of age.

摘要 本研究旨在探討幼兒的依附關係、語文智能及人際智能與心智理論能力之關係，以及人口變項(性別、年齡與社經地位)與心智理論能力之關係。研究參與者來自台北縣市公私立幼稚園四至六歲之幼兒，共124位。本研究所採用之研究工具分為三部份，分別為：「幼兒心智理論能力測驗」、「幼兒依附關係量表」、「幼兒多元智能檢核表」－語文智能分量表、人際智能分量表。調查所得資料分別以描述統計、單因子多變量變異數分析、典型相關、區別分析等統計方法進行分析。本研究的主要發現如下： 1.男、女生之間在語文智能、人際智能上有顯著的差異存在，而在依附關係方面則沒有差異;女生在語文智能、人際智能上均優於男生。 2.人口變項方面，不同性別、中高社經地位的幼兒在心智理論能力上沒有差異存在;不同年齡的幼兒在心智理論能力上有顯著的差異存在;以六歲組高於五歲組、四歲組，四歲組為最低。年齡愈高者，其心智理論能力的表現愈好。 3.幼兒的心智理論能力表現不因其所屬依附類型不同而產生差異，且不同程度的安全型依附、矛盾型依附及逃避混亂型依附之幼兒，在心智理論能力上亦沒有差異。 4.不同語文智能的幼兒，其心智理論能力有差異;語文智能愈高，其心智理論能力的表現愈好。 5.不同人際智能的幼兒，其心智理論能力有差異存在。人際智能愈高，其心智理論能力的表現愈好。 6.幼兒的安全依附、語文智能及人際智能與其心智理論能力之各測試作業有正相關，且語文智能與錯誤信念作業的關係最為密切。 7.幼兒的安全依附、語文智能及人際智能有效聯合預測心智理論能力的組別。 最後，本研究依據上述的研究結果進行討論，並提出相關建議，以供親職教育、教育輔導、教學及後續研究之參考。 / Abstract The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between preschoolers’ attachment styles, verbal intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, demographic variables, and their theory of mind. The participants included 124 4- to 6-year-old children from kindergartens in Taipei city. The employed instruments in this study were The Tasks of Preschoolers’ Theory of Mind, The Inventory of Preschoolers’ Attachment Styles, and two subscales from The Inventory of Multiple Intelligences--verbal intelligence and interpersonal intelligence. The applied analysis methods included descriptives, one-way MANOVA, canonical correlation, and discriminant analysis. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1. While the girls outperformed the boys in both the verbal and the interpersonal intelligences, no significant gender differences on attachment styles were found. 2. There were no significant gender differences or SES differences on the preschoolers’ theory of mind. However, there were significant age differences on the preschoolers’ theory of mind; more specifically, the 6-year-old children outperformed the 5-year-old and the 4-year-old children on the tasks of theory of mind. 3. The preschoolers’ performances on the tasks of theory of mind did not vary as their attachment styles were different. 4. Verbal intelligence and Interpersonal intelligence had significant effects on the preschoolers’ theory of mind. In other words, the better verbal intelligence and Interpersonal intelligence the children had, the higher level their theory of mind were. 5. The preschoolers’ secure attachment style, verbal intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence were positively related to their theory of mind, and their verbal intelligence had the strongest relation to their theory of mind. 6. The preschoolers’ secure attachment style, verbal intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence could jointly predict their theory of mind. Finally, after discussion, the researcher proposed some suggestions for educational instruction and future studies.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:20:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FlaubertMO_TESE.pdf: 2034180 bytes, checksum: 1a4e89488a7ee3e546c1b63c149d6232 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-26 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The objective of this work is to analyze the phenomenon of lying, highlighting some uses and social consequences. Lies are a ubiquitous phenomenon, and in many cases they even promote social harmony. Furthermore, telling lies is an expression of individuality: it is the expression of relative autonomy that the subject has towards their social environment allowing them to defend their most personal interests. The work also aims to examine the concept of habitus applied to the social production of lies. Thus, the liars produce their lies aiming to obtain certain effects on their audiences. There are certain social cognitive principles that structure the kind of lie that is usually told to the public. Finally, the perpetrators of crimes of fraud and other deceptive practices may suffer a criminal prosecution because the damage they cause affects important social values recognized by the state, and are not restricted to the victim‟s chagrin. In the most common forms of fraud, the crooks make tempting offers to victims exploiting some of their standardized behaviors and reactions. To understand the fragility of the victims to scams is an attempt to understand how a social phenomenon as usual as is the lie can still surprise and cause perplexity / O objetivo deste trabalho ? fazer uma an?lise sobre o fen?meno da mentira, destacando alguns usos e consequ?ncias sociais. As mentiras s?o um fen?meno onipresente, e em muitos casos elas at? mesmo promovem a conviv?ncia social. Al?m disso, contar mentiras ? uma express?o da individualidade: ? a express?o da autonomia relativa que o sujeito tem perante seu meio social, permitindo-lhe defender seus interesses mais pessoais. O trabalho tamb?m se prop?e a analisar o conceito do habitus aplicado ? produ??o social da mentira. Desta forma, as mentiras s?o produzidas a partir dos efeitos que os mentirosos almejam produzir no seu p?blico. H? certos princ?pios sociocognitivos que estruturam o tipo de mentira que se conta. Por fim, os perpetradores de crimes de fraude e outras pr?ticas enganadoras podem sofrer processo judicial, pois os danos que eles causam atingem valores sociais maiores, reconhecidos pelo Estado, que n?o se restringem ao dissabor da v?tima. Nas modalidades mais usuais de fraude, os vigaristas fazem propostas tentadoras ?s v?timas explorando alguns de seus comportamentos e rea??es padronizadas. Entender a fragilidade das v?timas aos golpes ? uma tentativa de entender como um fen?meno social t?o usual como ? a mentira pode ainda assim causar surpresa e perplexidade

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-02-15T12:11:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciaaparecidadasilva.pdf: 683162 bytes, checksum: cc290b9c1aa17f60bd8bebe2c077de39 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-02-26T12:22:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciaaparecidadasilva.pdf: 683162 bytes, checksum: cc290b9c1aa17f60bd8bebe2c077de39 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-26T12:22:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciaaparecidadasilva.pdf: 683162 bytes, checksum: cc290b9c1aa17f60bd8bebe2c077de39 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-29 / A capacidade que o ser humano possui de inferir estados mentais próprios e alheios, denominada pela literatura como “Teoria da mente”, constitui um dos aspectos centrais do desenvolvimento sociocognitivo. As investigações atuais têm abordado, dentre outros aspectos, a sua relação com a linguagem, o desenvolvimento social e a escolarização. Neste contexto de interface, a leitura mediada de livros de histórias infantis constitui um recurso útil para a promoção da linguagem referente aos estados mentais e da consciência metatextual A presente investigação envolve um estudo de seguimento a uma pesquisa com intervenção que implementou um programa dirigido a promover a linguagem referente aos estados mentais, com ênfase nos termos emocionais, e a consciência metatextual, em crianças do 1º ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública mineira. Objetivou-se avaliar possíveis efeitos positivos sobre a empatia e a compreensão leitora, bem como sobre a consciência metatextual decorrido oito meses. Participaram 54 alunos com média de 7,9 anos de idade, participantes do referido programa de intervenção. Após procedimentos éticos, iniciou-se a avaliação individualmente: aplicou-se a Escala de Empatia para crianças e adolescentes; o Teste de Cloze voltado para os estados mentais; e solicitou-se à criança que escrevesse uma história a partir da imagem de um livro infantil. Os dados foram tabulados e submetidos à análise estatística. Os resultados indicaram bom desempenho dos alunos nas três variáveis pesquisadas – empatia, compreensão leitora e consciência metatextual. Houve diferença quanto ao sexo, a favor das meninas, nas variáveis empatia e consciência metatextual. O coeficiente de Spearman indicou correlação significativa entre a compreensão leitora e a produção de narrativa. Os resultados obtidos permitem considerar que o programa que originou esta pesquisa contribuiu para o desenvolvimento das habilidades empáticas e da compreensão leitora. De forma complementar, é possível considerar que a estimulação da consciência metatextual favoreceu a produção de narrativas. Os resultados ratificam a importância da utilização da literatura infantil na realização dos programas de intervenção dirigidos a promover aspectos sociocognitivos e a consciência metatextual. / The ability that humans have to infer their own mental states and those of others, known in the literature as "theory of mind", is one of the central aspects of social cognitive development. Current investigations have addressed, among other things, its relationship with language, social development and education. In this context of interface, mediated reading of children's storybooks is a useful resource for the promotion of language as regards mental states and meta-textual awareness. This research involves the follow-up study to intervention research that implemented a program aimed at promoting language referring to mental states, with emphasis on emotional terms, and meta-textual awareness in children in the first year of elementary school in a public school in Minas Gerais. This study aimed to evaluate possible positive effects on empathy and reading comprehension, as well as meta-textual awareness after a period of eight months. 54 students took part, with a mean age of 7.9 years, who had participated in the above-mentioned intervention program. After ethical procedures, assessment was carried out individually: we applied the Empathy Scale for children and adolescents, the Cloze Test directed at mental states, and the child was asked to write a story based on a picture from a children’s book. The data were tabulated and analyzed statistically. Results indicated a good performance by the pupils in the three variables under study – empathy, reading comprehension and meta-textual awareness. There was a gender difference in favor of the girls, for the variables empathy and meta-textual awareness. The Spearman coefficient indicated a significant correlation between reading comprehension and narrative production. The results support the view that the program that gave rise to this research contributed to the development of empathic skills and reading comprehension. In a complementary way, it can be considered that the stimulation of meta-textual awareness favored the production of narratives. These results confirm the importance of using children's literature when carrying out intervention programs to promote socio-cognitive and meta-textual awareness.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-09-16T15:21:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 luisagoncalvesrodrigues.pdf: 354646 bytes, checksum: 5195e46052b4b0a1a4589f7ac74ba150 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Diamantino Mayra (mayra.diamantino@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-26T20:22:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 luisagoncalvesrodrigues.pdf: 354646 bytes, checksum: 5195e46052b4b0a1a4589f7ac74ba150 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-26T20:22:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 luisagoncalvesrodrigues.pdf: 354646 bytes, checksum: 5195e46052b4b0a1a4589f7ac74ba150 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-03 / A teoria da mente envolve a compreensão acerca dos estados mentais (desejos, emoções e crenças) e desempenha um importante papel na adaptação social infantil. Estudos mostram que a linguagem ocupa importante lugar no seu desenvolvimento; definindo-se “linguagem da mente” como o uso explícito de termos semânticos para referir-se aos estados mentais. Pesquisadores da área enfatizam que o uso de termos denotando estados mentais pode refletir um entendimento infantil acerca da mente e, além disso, os livros de histórias infantis, principalmente os que contêm apenas imagens, constituem um recurso útil para explorar e favorecer a linguagem referente a estados mentais. Este estudo objetivou investigar a ocorrência de termos mentais na leitura de crianças de 5 e 6 anos, de duas escolas de educação infantil (rede pública), mediante a utilização de três livros de histórias infantis com diferentes perfis de narrativa por imagem, classificados em função da estrutura narrativa, número de páginas e figuras: Truks (Editora Ática) – perfil simples de narrativa –; O Amigo da Bruxinha (Editora Moderna) – perfil intermediário de narrativa –; A Bruxinha e o Godofredo (Editora Global) – perfil de narrativa mais complexo – . Oitenta crianças realizaram, individualmente, a leitura dos livros; os relatos foram gravados, transcritos e codificados em quatro categorias de termos mentais: termos cognitivos, emocionais, desejo/intenção e perceptivos. Os resultados indicaram que as crianças, de ambas as idades, utilizaram termos referentes a estados mentais na leitura por imagem. Não foi observada diferença significante entre o total de termos evocados pelas crianças de 5 e 6 anos, entretanto, os resultados foram diferentes entre as duas escolas. Também ocorreu diferença entre o total de termos mentais evocados pelas crianças utilizando os diferentes livros, sendo maior na leitura do livro mais complexo e menor na leitura do livro com estrutura de narrativa mais simples. Não houve diferença significante entre o livro intermediário e o mais complexo. Em relação à ocorrência de termos por categorias de estados mentais (cognitivos, emocionais, desejo/intenção e perceptivos), não foi observado um perfil único, variando de acordo com a idade e escola. Os dados sugerem que, tanto o perfil da narrativa dos livros quanto fatores relacionados a experiências individuais e culturais (como linguagem cotidiana, experiências escolares, interações sociais) pode ter influenciado quantitativa e qualitativamente a diversidade referente à atribuição de termos mentais. / Theory of mind deals with mental states (desires, emotions and beliefs) and plays an important role in child social adaptation. Studies have shown that language can be very important in its development, and the expression “mental language” refers to the explicit use of semantic terms related to mental states. Researchers in this area emphasize that the use of terms to denote mental states can reflect infant understanding of mind, and that children´s storybooks, specially those that are only comprised of images, constitute a useful resource to explore and facilitate language related to mental states. This study has the purpose of investigating the occurrence of mental terms in 5-6 year-old children´s reading, in two public kindergarten schools, through the use of three children´s storybooks that have different profiles in terms of image narrative, that were classified considering its narrative structure, number of pages and pictures: Truks (Editora Ática) – simple narrative profile –, O Amigo da Bruxinha (Editora Moderna) – intermediate narrative profile –, A Bruxinha e o Godofredo (Editora Global) – a more complex narrative profile. The books were individually read by 80 children; reports were recorded, transcribed and coded into four categories of mental terms: cognitive, emotional, desire/intention and perceptive. Results show that children of both ages used terms related to mental states in image reading. Though no significant difference was observed among 5 and 6-year-olds in terms of the total of terms evoked, differences were perceptible between the two schools. Another difference was related to the total of mental terms evoked and associated with the three different books, with the biggest total corresponding to the most complex book and the smallest one being related to the book that presented a simpler narrative. There was no significant difference between the intermediate and the more complex book. As for the occurrence of terms specified by categories of mental states (cognitive, emotional, desire/intention and perceptive), it was not possible to detect a unique profile, for variations occurred according to age and school. The data suggest that not only the books´ narrative profile but also factors related to individual and cultural experiences (such as quotidian language, school experiences, and social interactions) could have both quantitatively and qualitatively influenced the diversity related to the attribution of mental states.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-04-12T19:29:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 flaviosouzarodrigues.pdf: 1707181 bytes, checksum: 731154a321c494d35da614e5bf732452 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-04-18T13:16:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 flaviosouzarodrigues.pdf: 1707181 bytes, checksum: 731154a321c494d35da614e5bf732452 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-18T13:16:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 flaviosouzarodrigues.pdf: 1707181 bytes, checksum: 731154a321c494d35da614e5bf732452 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-21 / Esta dissertação apresenta, como objeto de estudo, a aquisição da Língua Brasileira de Sinais como primeira língua de crianças e jovens surdos, filhos de pais ouvintes, e discute a importância da aquisição espontânea dessa língua em idade semelhante à que crianças ouvintes adquirem a língua oral. Em consonância com a abordagem bilíngue, assume-se que o acesso à língua de sinais permite o desenvolvimento linguístico do surdo de forma natural e espontânea (QUADROS, 2005; MAHER; 2007; QUADROS & SCHMIEDT, 2006; QUADROS & CRUZ, 2011). Seguindo essa abordagem, considera-se, neste trabalho, a Libras como primeira língua (L1) e o Português Brasileiro como segunda língua (L2). O objetivo do estudo em questão é o de caracterizar, por meio de uma metodologia de base experimental, as consequências decorrentes da aquisição da Libras por essas crianças e jovens, iniciada em diferentes contextos e, em muitos casos, tardiamente, ou seja, após os 4 anos. O atraso de linguagem (compreensiva e expressiva), em nível cognitivo, implica dificuldades de percepção, atenção, memória, afetando a capacidade de generalização, formação de conceitos, dentre outras. A hipótese que norteia esta pesquisa é a de que a língua de sinais (neste caso, a Libras) permite resolver dificuldades concernentes ao desenvolvimento das funções mentais superiores, que necessitam da língua como mediadora nesse processo. Assume-se uma concepção de aquisição da linguagem inatista, segundo a qual, independentemente da qualidade do input a que a criança está exposta, por ser algo ativado a partir de poucos elementos disponíveis, efetiva-se a aquisição da língua (CHOMSKY, 1965, 1981, 1995). Considera-se, ainda, uma perspectiva psicolinguística de aquisição da linguagem – Bootstrapping Sintático (GLEITMAN, 1990) e Semântico (PINKER, 1987; 1989). Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que quanto mais tardia a aquisição da Libras como primeira língua, mais significativo o impacto na dificuldade de julgamento de estados mentais por crianças surdas, cujo acesso ao input convencional não ocorreu na fase inicial de aqusição da linguagem. / This dissertation has as its study object the acquisition of Brazilian sign language as the first language of deaf children and young individuals, who have hearing parents, and debates over the importance of a spontaneous acquisition of such language at a similar age hearing children acquire oral language. In accordance with a bilingual approach, we assume that the access to the sign language allows the linguistic development of deaf people in a natural and spontaneous way (QUADROS, 2005; MAHER; 2007; QUADROS & SCHMIEDT, 2006; QUADROS & CRUZ, 2011). According to such approach, it takes into account in the present work Libras as a first language (L1) and the Brazilian Portuguese as a second one (L2). This study aims at characterizing, by means of an experimental basis methodology, the consequences arising from Libras acquisition by those children and young individuals, initiated in different contexts and, in most cases, later, that is, after the age of four. Language delay (receptive and expressive), in a cognitive level, implies perception, attention and memory difficulties, affecting the ability of generalization, concept formation, among others. The hypothesis that guides this study is that the sign language (in this case, Libras) allows to solve problems concerning the development of higher mental functions, which require the language as a mediator in this process. We assume an inate conception of language acquisition, acordding to which, independently from the quality of input the child is exposed to, for being triggered from few availabe elements, the language is acquired (CHOMSKY, 1965, 1981, 1995). We also assume a psycholinguistic perspective of language acquisition– Syntactic Bootstrapping (GLEITMAN, 1990) and Semantic Boostrapping (PINKER, 1987; 1989). The results suggest the later the aquisition of Libras as a first language the more significative will be the impact on the difficulty of judging mental states by deaf children whose access to the conventional input did not occur in the initial stage of language acquisition.