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The theory of mind in infancy: research perspectives
Full text linkThe article is a commentary on Marchetti and Sangiuliano Intra’s theoretical paper that reviews innovative fields of investigation in the arena of Theory of Mind development. The progress of current research on the development of internal state language and on the neural bases of desire-belief reasoning is considered, and some gaps present in the literature are highlighted. The author refers to recent empirical evidence of distinct behavioural and neural patterns for imperative and declarative pointing, and briefly considers its implications for existing theories
La conquista della consapevolezza di Sé nel secondo anno di vita. Contributi delle ricerche sui primati e sui bambini. Rassegna.
No full textThe review provides a picture of the results of research studies carried out with primates on the topic of self-awareness with the mirror-self recognition task. Empirical findings on self-recognition and self-reference in children in their second year of life are then reviewed and discussed. Special attention is focused on methodological issues, overall results and unresolved questions of the various studies
Primi riferimenti a stati interni e consapevolezza di Sé nel secondo anno di vita.
No full textThe ability to linguistically refer to internal states emerges early in human development and is considered by several scholars as an important indicator of the emergence of a 'theory of mind' in children (Bretherton & Beeghly, 1982; Shatz, Wellman, Silber, 1983; Wellman, 1991, Camaioni e Longobardi, 1997). Self-awareness may play a role in highlighting the difference between one’s own and other’s internal states.
Mothers of thirty 18-month-olds were asked to report their children's first spontaneous reference to perceptual, physiological, emotional, volitional and cognitive states. The children were administered an experimental task assessing three aspects of self-awareness: the ability to recognize oneself on the mirror, the ability to refer to self through the pointing gesture and the ability to linguistically refer to self.
Mothers reported that their children used different types of labels to refer to internal states. Most frequently used were terms for perceptual, physiological and emotional states. The task evaluating self-awareness and the ability to label internal states resulted to be positively associated. Children who obtained a higher score on the self-awareness task were better able to refer to internal states also. It is suggested that the organizational role played by the self at age 18 months may contribute to the association between self-awareness and the ability to refer to psychological experience through language
Consapevolezza di Sé e comprensione dell'altrui intenzionalità a 18 mesi di vita
No full textThe aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between the ability to understand other’s intentionality and self-awareness at 18 months of age. Two experimental tasks were administered to 30 Italian children (17 girls; 13 boys) of 18 months of age in a laboratory playroom. First, a task assessing self-awareness (adapted from Asendorpf et al., 1996 and from Pipp-Siegel, 1997) second, a task assessing the ability to understand the intentions of others (Meltzoff, 1995). The Uzgiris-Hunt Scales (1975) were administered to the children to assess their cognitive abilities. Moreover, mothers were asked to fill out the ‘Questionnaire on communicative and linguistic development in the second year of life’ (QSCL, Camaioni et al., 1992) to assess the children’s communicative level. The tasks evaluating self-awareness and understanding of other’s intentionality were associated. Children who were better able to infer other’s intentionality also obtained a higher score on the self-awareness task. The association between the ability to infer the intentions of others and the ability to take the self as a mental object at 18 months appears to be genuine, since the children examined were quite homogeneous as far as their cognitive and communicative abilities were concerned. It is reasonable to think that the representational ability mediates the performance of the children in both experimental tasks administered. However, this does not completely account for the association found between them. What may contribute to the association between self-awareness and the ability to understand other’s intentionality is the organizational role played by the self at 18 months of age. During the second year of life, the self becomes the center of the child’s volitional activity with the role of planning and coordinating one’s own actions with respect to actions and plans of other intentional agents
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