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Why are listeners sometimes (but not always) egocentric?: Making inferences about using others’ perspective in referential communication

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Why are listeners sometimes (but not always) egocentric? Making inferences about using others’ perspective in referential communication. / Wang, Jen Jessica; Ciranova, Natalia; Woods, Bethany et al.
In: PLoS ONE, Vol. 15, No. 10, e0240521, 26.10.2020.

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Wang JJ, Ciranova N, Woods B, Apperly I. Why are listeners sometimes (but not always) egocentric? Making inferences about using others’ perspective in referential communication. PLoS ONE. 2020 Oct 26;15(10):e0240521. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240521

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@article{00d8bd50073844f5b7125c6f5fbe79bc,
title = "Why are listeners sometimes (but not always) egocentric?: Making inferences about using others{\textquoteright} perspective in referential communication",
abstract = "Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to understand others{\textquoteright} mental states, and that these mental states can differ from our own. Although healthy adults have little trouble passing conceptual tests of ToM (e.g., the false belief task [1]), they do not always succeed in using ToM [2,3]. In order to be successful in referential communication, listeners need to correctly infer the way in which a speaker{\textquoteright}s perspective constrains reference and inhibit their own perspective accordingly. However, listeners may require prompts to take these effortful inferential steps. The current study investigated the possibility of embedding prompts in the instructions for listeners to make inference about using a speaker{\textquoteright}s perspective. Experiment 1 showed that provision of a clear introductory example of the full chain of inferences resulted in large improvement in performance. Residual egocentric errors suggested that the improvement was not simply due to superior comprehension of the instructions. Experiment 2 further dissociated the effect by placing selective emphasis on making inference about inhibiting listeners{\textquoteright} own perspective versus using the speaker{\textquoteright}s perspective. Results showed that only the latter had a significant effect on successful performance. The current findings clearly demonstrated that listeners do not readily make inferences about using speakers{\textquoteright} perspectives, but can do so when prompted.",
keywords = "Theory of Mind (ToM), Perspective-taking, Referential communication, self and other representation",
author = "Wang, {Jen Jessica} and Natalia Ciranova and Bethany Woods and Ian Apperly",
year = "2020",
month = oct,
day = "26",
doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0240521",
language = "English",
volume = "15",
journal = "PLoS ONE",
issn = "1932-6203",
publisher = "Public Library of Science",
number = "10",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Why are listeners sometimes (but not always) egocentric?

T2 - Making inferences about using others’ perspective in referential communication

AU - Wang, Jen Jessica

AU - Ciranova, Natalia

AU - Woods, Bethany

AU - Apperly, Ian

PY - 2020/10/26

Y1 - 2020/10/26

N2 - Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to understand others’ mental states, and that these mental states can differ from our own. Although healthy adults have little trouble passing conceptual tests of ToM (e.g., the false belief task [1]), they do not always succeed in using ToM [2,3]. In order to be successful in referential communication, listeners need to correctly infer the way in which a speaker’s perspective constrains reference and inhibit their own perspective accordingly. However, listeners may require prompts to take these effortful inferential steps. The current study investigated the possibility of embedding prompts in the instructions for listeners to make inference about using a speaker’s perspective. Experiment 1 showed that provision of a clear introductory example of the full chain of inferences resulted in large improvement in performance. Residual egocentric errors suggested that the improvement was not simply due to superior comprehension of the instructions. Experiment 2 further dissociated the effect by placing selective emphasis on making inference about inhibiting listeners’ own perspective versus using the speaker’s perspective. Results showed that only the latter had a significant effect on successful performance. The current findings clearly demonstrated that listeners do not readily make inferences about using speakers’ perspectives, but can do so when prompted.

AB - Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to understand others’ mental states, and that these mental states can differ from our own. Although healthy adults have little trouble passing conceptual tests of ToM (e.g., the false belief task [1]), they do not always succeed in using ToM [2,3]. In order to be successful in referential communication, listeners need to correctly infer the way in which a speaker’s perspective constrains reference and inhibit their own perspective accordingly. However, listeners may require prompts to take these effortful inferential steps. The current study investigated the possibility of embedding prompts in the instructions for listeners to make inference about using a speaker’s perspective. Experiment 1 showed that provision of a clear introductory example of the full chain of inferences resulted in large improvement in performance. Residual egocentric errors suggested that the improvement was not simply due to superior comprehension of the instructions. Experiment 2 further dissociated the effect by placing selective emphasis on making inference about inhibiting listeners’ own perspective versus using the speaker’s perspective. Results showed that only the latter had a significant effect on successful performance. The current findings clearly demonstrated that listeners do not readily make inferences about using speakers’ perspectives, but can do so when prompted.

KW - Theory of Mind (ToM)

KW - Perspective-taking

KW - Referential communication

KW - self and other representation

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0240521

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0240521

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 10

M1 - e0240521

ER -