THEORY OF THE MIND and DEAF CHILDREN

What Does it Mean to Say Someone Has “Theory of the Mind?”

Theory of the Mind: ability to differentiate between your personal beliefs and another person’s beliefs (young children are incapable of this)

Example! Once upon a time, Kermit and Miss Piggy made a cake together. But Kermit wanted to go outside and play with Fozzy before eating his cake, so he put the cake in the cupboard.

While Kermit was outside, Miss Piggy moved the cake to the refrigerator to keep it from melting. Then she left to go visit Gonzo. Kermit comes home and wants to eat his cake. Where do you think Kermit will look for his cake? In the cupboard or in the fridge?

Why is it Important to have a Theory of Mind? Explain and understand other people’s actions Explain and understand other people’s actions ToM in everyday life ToM in everyday life Bruner: reading and “landscape of action” vs. “landscape of consciousness” Bruner: reading and “landscape of action” vs. “landscape of consciousness” Astington and Pelletier: social skills and learning Astington and Pelletier: social skills and learning ToM and Autism ToM and Autism

Testing the Theory of Mind What we know: Development of ToM is different in hearing children and deaf children Development of ToM is different in hearing children and deaf children Deaf children socialize normally Deaf children socialize normally Question: Do deaf children have a ToM, just not the language to understand the research questions or to express their understanding to researchers? Or, does a delay in linguistic ability relate to a delay in ToM development? Question: Do deaf children have a ToM, just not the language to understand the research questions or to express their understanding to researchers? Or, does a delay in linguistic ability relate to a delay in ToM development?

Experiment: Jill G. deVilliers and Peter A. deVilliers Deaf language-delayed children vs. deaf children with immediate language exposure (ages 4-7) Deaf language-delayed children vs. deaf children with immediate language exposure (ages 4-7) Three categories of tests: Three categories of tests: Non-verbal IQ Non-verbal IQ Language assessments Language assessments Vocabulary Vocabulary General syntactic comprehension General syntactic comprehension Processing and production of embedded complement clauses using verbs of cognition and communication Processing and production of embedded complement clauses using verbs of cognition and communication ToM tasks ToM tasks

More on ToM Tasks Low-Verbal and High-Verbal tasks Low-Verbal and High-Verbal tasks Using both isolates ToM from linguistic ability Using both isolates ToM from linguistic ability Basic types of tests: Basic types of tests: Unseen-object-location-change (the Kermit’s cake example) Unseen-object-location-change (the Kermit’s cake example) Unexpected contents: the child expresses expectations (his own and a friend’s) about what should be in a familiar container Unexpected contents: the child expresses expectations (his own and a friend’s) about what should be in a familiar container

Advantages of Experimental Design All tests translated into ASL and carried out by native ASL-signing deaf researchers All tests translated into ASL and carried out by native ASL-signing deaf researchers Careful assessment of language abilities can establish link between linguistic competence and ToM Careful assessment of language abilities can establish link between linguistic competence and ToM

Low-Verbal Tasks The children were tested with two games with low verbal requirements, but still involving Theory of Mind, designed to test their reasoning test their reasoning regarding states of regarding states of knowledge/ignorance knowledge/ignorance and the beliefs of a and the beliefs of a character character

A Low-Verbal Game: “Surprised Face” An object always found in a distinctive container(such as a box of Crayola crayons) is substituted for something one would not usually find in the container. An object always found in a distinctive container(such as a box of Crayola crayons) is substituted for something one would not usually find in the container. 6 pictures telling a story are shown. The story is about two characters, and the pictures are clear enough that no verbal narrative is necessary.

The main character of the story either did or did not see the switch. The main character of the story either did or did not see the switch. The child must decide whether a character will be surprised when they open the container and find the new object inside by choosing between two faces (a “not surprised” face and a “surprised” face).

High-Verbal Tasks These are used with hearing children These are used with hearing children (tests are adapted for deaf children by native ASL speakers) to determine whether a child can understand and express (using language) the false (tests are adapted for deaf children by native ASL speakers) to determine whether a child can understand and express (using language) the false beliefs of a character, a friend, and beliefs of a character, a friend, and themselves. themselves.

Types of High-Verbal Tasks Unseen-object-location-change (the Kermit’s cake example): the child is asked to tell the researcher where the uninformed character would look and why he would look there Unseen-object-location-change (the Kermit’s cake example): the child is asked to tell the researcher where the uninformed character would look and why he would look there Unexpected contents (the surprised face game is the low-verbal counterpart): A high-verbal demonstration! Unexpected contents (the surprised face game is the low-verbal counterpart): A high-verbal demonstration!

Results Deaf children with deaf, ASL-signing parents performed comparably to hearing children Deaf children with deaf, ASL-signing parents performed comparably to hearing children Oral deaf children and deaf children with non-signing parents did worse than the deaf children of deaf parents on both low and high verbal tasks Oral deaf children and deaf children with non-signing parents did worse than the deaf children of deaf parents on both low and high verbal tasks

(The Linguistic Abilities of Each Age Group) (The Number of ToM Tasks Completed By Each Age Group Tested)

Conclusions Maybe success on ToM is dependent on having linguistic framework for expression of knowledge, which deaf children lack (Woolfe, Want, and Siegal (2002)) Maybe success on ToM is dependent on having linguistic framework for expression of knowledge, which deaf children lack (Woolfe, Want, and Siegal (2002)) But, there is a close relationship between complementation and success on ToM tasks But, there is a close relationship between complementation and success on ToM tasks

Statistical Analysis of the Results

Conclusion: deVilliers and deVilliers “The data are just what one would expect if the acquisition of complementation in language made possible the representation of certain relationships, those holding between people’s minds and states of affairs, that were inaccessible or incomplete before.” “The data are just what one would expect if the acquisition of complementation in language made possible the representation of certain relationships, those holding between people’s minds and states of affairs, that were inaccessible or incomplete before.”

Sources Jill G. deVilliers, Peter A. deVilliers (2003) Language for Thought: Coming to Understand False Beliefs. Jill G. deVilliers, Peter A. deVilliers (2003) Language for Thought: Coming to Understand False Beliefs. Brenda Schick, Peter deVilliers, Jill deVilliers, and Robert Hoffmeister (2002). Theory of Mind: Language and Cognition in Deaf Children online/archives/2002/q4/f htm Brenda Schick, Peter deVilliers, Jill deVilliers, and Robert Hoffmeister (2002). Theory of Mind: Language and Cognition in Deaf Children online/archives/2002/q4/f htm online/archives/2002/q4/f htm online/archives/2002/q4/f htm Brenda Schick, Peter de Villiers, Jill de Villiers, Robert Hoffmeister (2007) Language and Theory of Mind: A Study of Deaf Children Child Development 78 (2), 376– synergy.com/doi/abs/ /j x Brenda Schick, Peter de Villiers, Jill de Villiers, Robert Hoffmeister (2007) Language and Theory of Mind: A Study of Deaf Children Child Development 78 (2), 376– synergy.com/doi/abs/ /j xhttp:// synergy.com/doi/abs/ /j xhttp:// synergy.com/doi/abs/ /j x Tyron Woolfe, Stephen C Want, Michael Siegal (2002) Signposts to Development: Theory of Mind in Deaf Children Child Development 73 (3), 768– synergy.com/links/doi/ / Tyron Woolfe, Stephen C Want, Michael Siegal (2002) Signposts to Development: Theory of Mind in Deaf Children Child Development 73 (3), 768– synergy.com/links/doi/ / http:// synergy.com/links/doi/ / http:// synergy.com/links/doi/ / Josef Perner; Uta Frith; Alan M. Leslie; Susan R. Leekam. Exploration of the Autistic Child's Theory of Mind: Knowledge, Belief, and Communication. Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 3. (Jun., 1989), pp Stable URL: % %2960%3A3%3C689%3AEOTACT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0 Josef Perner; Uta Frith; Alan M. Leslie; Susan R. Leekam. Exploration of the Autistic Child's Theory of Mind: Knowledge, Belief, and Communication. Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 3. (Jun., 1989), pp Stable URL: % %2960%3A3%3C689%3AEOTACT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0Exploration of the Autistic Child's Theory of Mind: Knowledge, Belief, and Communicationhttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici= % %2960%3A3%3C689%3AEOTACT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0Exploration of the Autistic Child's Theory of Mind: Knowledge, Belief, and Communicationhttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici= % %2960%3A3%3C689%3AEOTACT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0