Rethinking theory of mind measurement in neurotypical adults: response generation and selection

Yeung, Kit Ling ORCID: 0000-0002-6935-8997 (2024). Rethinking theory of mind measurement in neurotypical adults: response generation and selection. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The research on mindreading in adults has proliferated over the past two decades, but not all measures are equally suitable for assessing individual differences in mindreading performance among neurotypical adults. This thesis presents a systematic review of the measures used to evaluate mindreading in neurotypical adults, identifying measurement challenges and a limited evidence base for assessing the psychometric properties of even popular measures. Additionally, focusing on tasks that present social stimuli without a known ground truth of the mental states of portrayed characters, this thesis proposes alignment, or social agreement, as a practical alternative criterion for mindreading success instead of “accuracy”. A series of eight empirical studies were conducted to examine the presence of multiple legitimate mental state interpretations, task-related factors influencing these interpretations, and the role of context in the generation and selection of mental state interpretations. The results challenged the notion of a single best mental state interpretation of ambiguous social stimuli, revealing multiple popular interpretations among participants that varied between groups, and that the format of the task and contextual information about the depicted social interactions influenced mental state interpretations. The findings also provided support for studying the generation and selection of mental state interpretations as distinct processes, with context strongly influencing the selection of the best interpretation while more weakly constraining the generation of plausible interpretations. Possible indices of individual differences in adult mindreading were explored, showing that the tendency to generate multiple interpretations was a more promising direction than alignment and flexibility to adjust interpretations with reference to changes in context. The concluding chapter summarises the findings, discusses the implications and limitations of the current studies, and suggests future research directions for measuring mindreading in neurotypical adults and unravelling the cognitive basis of mindreading.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):