The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention?
Over two decades, the director task has increasingly been employed as a test of the use of Theory of Mind in communication, first in psycholinguistics and more recently in social cognition research. A new version of this task was designed to test two independent hypotheses. First, optimal performanc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Psychonomic Society
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111058 |
| _version_ | 1811095852018565120 |
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| author | Rubio-Fernandez, Paula |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Rubio-Fernandez, Paula |
| author_sort | Rubio-Fernandez, Paula |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Over two decades, the director task has increasingly been employed as a test of the use of Theory of Mind in communication, first in psycholinguistics and more recently in social cognition research. A new version of this task was designed to test two independent hypotheses. First, optimal performance in the director task, as established by the standard metrics of interference, is possible by using selective attention alone, and not necessarily Theory of Mind. Second, pragmatic measures of Theory-of-Mind use can reveal that people actively represent the director’s mental states, contrary to recent claims that they only use domain-general cognitive processes to perform this task. The results of this study support both hypotheses and provide a new interactive paradigm to reliably test Theory-of-Mind use in referential communication. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:31:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/111058 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:31:02Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Psychonomic Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1110582022-09-29T20:04:11Z The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? Rubio-Fernandez, Paula Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Rubio-Fernandez, Paula Over two decades, the director task has increasingly been employed as a test of the use of Theory of Mind in communication, first in psycholinguistics and more recently in social cognition research. A new version of this task was designed to test two independent hypotheses. First, optimal performance in the director task, as established by the standard metrics of interference, is possible by using selective attention alone, and not necessarily Theory of Mind. Second, pragmatic measures of Theory-of-Mind use can reveal that people actively represent the director’s mental states, contrary to recent claims that they only use domain-general cognitive processes to perform this task. The results of this study support both hypotheses and provide a new interactive paradigm to reliably test Theory-of-Mind use in referential communication. 2017-08-29T17:29:16Z 2017-09-03T05:00:05Z 2016-11 2017-08-25T07:08:24Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1069-9384 1531-5320 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111058 Rubio-Fernández, Paula. “The Director Task: A Test of Theory-of-Mind Use or Selective Attention?” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 24, 4 (November 7, 2016): 1121–1128 © 2016 Psychonomic Society, Inc en http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1190-7 Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. Psychonomic Society, Inc. application/pdf Psychonomic Society Springer US |
| spellingShingle | Rubio-Fernandez, Paula The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? |
| title | The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? |
| title_full | The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? |
| title_fullStr | The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? |
| title_short | The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention? |
| title_sort | director task a test of theory of mind use or selective attention |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111058 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rubiofernandezpaula thedirectortaskatestoftheoryofminduseorselectiveattention AT rubiofernandezpaula directortaskatestoftheoryofminduseorselectiveattention |