The Theory of Mind Concept by Premack and Woodruff - Paper Example

Describe what Premack and Woodruff mean by the concept Theory of Mind

Theory of mind is described by the ability to predetermine the unique perspective of other persons and its influence on their behavior. The concept of the theory of mind as described by Premack and Woodruff is the understanding of the mental status of others and the factors that influence their behavior. This is the ability of a person to understand that the feeling of others might be different from what they feel and sometimes is different from the actual reality. Theory of mind points out at influences to some social interactions such as cooperation, lying, following instructions and the feeling of empathy. Premack further states that having difficulty to understanding and predicting other peoples behavior occurs when one lacks an adequate theory of mind.

In addition to infancy and childhood before four years, the children lack the Theory of Mind as they can't consider another person point of view. However, as time goes by the children will start to develop the theory of mind as they will start putting into account the point of view of other people. Some impairment is associated with the lack of sufficient development of the Theory of Mind. The impairment may result from a neurological, cognitive or emotional deficit. This impairment is common in people with Autism spectrum disorder. They have difficulty in determining other people's motives and intentions which is sometimes referred to as mind-blindness.

Describe one example of the data that support their claim that chimps know something about the mental states of another actor

In an experiment, a chimpanzee is given an example of how a human will solve a particular problem that showed him how to go about it. The animal was therefore given the same task as what it had been shown an example and given the opportunity to solve it. The animal in this experiment could demonstrate how the human could solve the problem as it had seen in the picture and videos. In many of the tests conducted the chimpanzee was able to think of a solution that was done in the video by the human and therefore apply the solution to its current problem and solve it. The chimpanzee only failed on a test, and after continuous exposure to the solution to the human, it eventually managed to solve the problem. The chimpanzee according to the experiment failed thrice, and after getting it right, it managed to get the correct solution three times.

Therefore this experiment proved that the chimpanzee could know what others are thinking especially when they are exposed to the same situation before they are confronted with the situation in real life. Sometimes it will require repetition of the situation for it to know if presented with it in real life.

Describe the response properties of mirror neurons and how they relate to Rizzolatti et al.s notion of high- and low-level resonance

Mirror neurons are a special class of neurons that are functional during both a motor action execution and when a person is observing a similar action being done by another person. However, it has not yet been established the extent to which mirror coding motor act to a specific action will react to the observation of a motor action at the same time achieving artificial effectors. These mirror neurons were first discovered in the ventral premotor are called the F5 that is tasked by the discharge of both execution and discharge of target-specific motor actions. These neurons enable individuals to develop an understanding of the actions of other persons also referred to as the automatic type of action understanding.

Rizzolatti et al.s notion of high- and low-level resonance was demonstrated using an experiment that observed the monkey. It was claimed that when a monkey observed actions that are intransitive, its mirror neurons will not be activated in the brain. The observational study was able to demonstrate that the nation object-directed actions moderate the discharge of mirror neurons and the experiment investigated more in-depth in the actions that can trigger mirror neurons to be discharged. In the experiment with the monkey as the subject a moving hand. It was demonstrated mirror neurons response both transitive and intransitive action observation would discharge different response on the observation of object and none object-directed actions. Additionally, it should be noted that the response pattern will heavily depend on the similarity seen in the observed motor action and what the hand will demonstrate also referred to the original motor template. The results of the experiment support the claims that observation of actions kinematics will directly affect the action mirroring activities. In general mirror neurons in the case of a monkeys brain will respond specifically to the observation of object-directed actions.

Discuss Kinsbourne and Jordans notions of enactive perception, imitation, embodied reciprocity, and communication, making sure to reference Horner and Whiten (2005), Galantucci (2005), and Bargh& Chartrand (1999).

Kinsbourne and Jordans propose that the brain has a role in communication that makes it a vehicle for many embodiments of anticipation. The proposal also indicates that anticipation is a continuous process as it is a characteristic of the brain. On the other hand, if there is no anticipated module pre-saved in the brain there will be any anticipation by the brain. The brain anticipation based on the proposal is mainly based on the previous experience of the individual. Previous experience will ready the brain to respond to the event that is yet to occur. This proposal suggests that the concept of conversation is highly determined by the anticipated action that preceded the conversation and will go on as long as the conversation will last.

When participating in a conversation individuals will develop nonverbal anticipating features that will suggest how the interaction will possibly proceed. While some of the actions are involuntary others will be done on purpose to express their thoughts and intentions. These actions can be interpreted without a key to interpreting the meaning of the gestures.

Galantucci (2005) states that to look into the human communication can be done using two major approaches that will give the strengths and weakness in the communication of human beings. The participants in an experiment to demonstrate this theory we to play a game that required communication then letter they were to play without using standard communication methods. Therefore it was noted that communication systems would develop very fast during games due to the behavior coordinating procedures. This theory suggested that the signs in communication originated from different mapping, sign system can develop informally, and the signs will be distinct from one conversation or situation to another.

Compare and contrast Premack and Woodruffs versus Kinsbourne and Jordans approach to Theory of Mind.

Both Premack et al. and Kinsbourne et al. indicate in their theory of mind explanation the when there is the repetition of activities there will be a predictable way the animal will react if they will be exposed to the same situation like the one that they observed before. The two theories additionally show that an individual can anticipate or predict the action of others that is if they have been exposed to a similar situation previously.

The contrast between the two theories of mind is the fact that in the Premacks et al. model a person will develop an approach of mind from childhood as the progress to be able to predict the feelings of another person. However, in the Kinsbourne et al. theory the developments are not necessarily developed gradually, but they develop at any time especially when a person will be exposed to a particular situation repeatedly they will start to anticipate the reactions of others in that manner.

Additionally, in the Premacks et al. theory, the anticipation of action is the general action that is what the other person likes, what they are likely to do in a specific situation and so on. On the other hand, the Kinsbourne et al. theory is mainly based on the communication part as people will anticipate what others will say in a specific situation and what gestures they will give to point to a particular action in a nonverbal way.

Question three

Describe the data patterns that support the assertion that subjects learn something about the sequence according to Koch research on implicit learning

According to experiment one done it was demonstrated the essential task sequences learning with RCI and CSI of 100Ms. The data that was collected during this experiment indicated that the study groups were able to learn about a fixed task sequence both by the use of stimuli and the responses were random. Additionally, the tasks in this experiment had been cued therefore giving the participants the advantage of knowing what tasks they were going to perform long before they did the tasks.

The learning effects additionally were seen to have notable effects on the shift in cost. This meant that prediction of the task to be done and learning about them benefited the participants regardless of whether the task was to be, maintained or shifted. The interview data indicated that the RT lifted will not be combined with the explicit knowledge of the task to be done. This, therefore, indicated a shift that was not specific to the learning benefit to the participants. The benefits were almost automatic regardless of the shift of maintaining the cost.

Describe the data patterns that indicate subjects do not seem to be learning the actual sequence.

In experiment 3 the aim was to determine if learning of actual sequence was not achieved. The observation was to determine if there was learning even if there was a long CSI. From the experiment, it is not surprising that the learning effects disappeared in this analysis. It is assumed that the participants of the research strongly depended on the task cues for reparation when using long CSI. This was indicated by the high benefits of about 200ms. What accounted for the lack of learning effect included the strong preparation benefit that may have swallowed the learning effects and therefore learning could not transform into performance.

The second factor observed in the experiment that blocked learning is the overshadowing phenomenon. It is stated that learning one activity that was predicted hinders participants from learning the second equally predicted action due to lack of attention to the second activity. Additionally, the long CSI did not seem to help the participants to reconfigure the task switch.

Question five

Wagman et al utilized the ecological approach to perception

Perception is mainly related to those environmental properties around an individual. To understand the ecological approach to understand an experiment was conducted on the transfer of calibrations paradigm, and the results demonstrated the presence of the recalibration of perceptions due to the lengths of transfer from the point of audition to touch. This result showed the independence of the calibration properties such as the feedback about the length and the patterns. This experiment is significant as it demonstrated that perception is transferred in both directions that are from audition to touch and the other way round. This experiment also indicated that perceptions are modality independent as they are consistent with the stimulation patterns.

Wagman et al ecological approach to perception meaning of perception-action cycle

The ecological approach to perception-action cycle By Wagman et al. describes that action is specified by the perception and that the events are created by the actions t...