On Reading Minds 1(5'10)

So the job of my field of cognitive neuroscience is to stand with these ideas, one in each hand.

And to try to understand how you can put together simple units, simple messages over space and time, in a network.

And get this amazing human capacity to think about minds.

So I'm going to tell you three things about this today.

Obviously, the project, the whole project here is huge.

And I'm going to tell you just our first few steps about the discovery of a special region for thinking about other people's thoughts.

Some observations on the slow development of this system as we learn how to do this difficult job.

And then finally, to show that of some the differences between people, in how we judge others, can be explained by differences in this brain system.

So first, the first thing I want to tell you is that there is a brain region in the human brain, in your brains, whose job it is to think about other people's thoughts.

So it's a picture of it.

It's called the  right Temporo- Parietal Junction. It's above and behind your right ear.

And  this is a brain region you used when you saw the pictures  I showed you, or when you read Romeo and Juliet or when you tried to understand Alan Greenspan.

And you don't use it for solving any other kinds of logical problems.

So this brain region is called the Right TPJ.

And this picture shows the average activation in a group of what we call typical human adults.

They're MIT undergraduates.

The second thing I want to say about this brain system is that although we human adults are  really good at understanding other minds, we weren't always that way.

It take children a long time to break into the system.

And I'm going to show you a little bit of that long, extended process.

The first thing I'm going to show you is a change between  age 3 and 5, as kids learn to understand that somebody else can have beliefs that are different from their own.

So I'm going to show you a 5-year-old who's getting a standard kind of puzzle that we call the false belief task

1. What do kind of  is like Saxe study?

...How the brain constructs thoughts.

Rebecca Saxe:   This is the first pirate. His name is Ivan. And you know what pirates really like?

child:  What?  

Rebecca Saxe: Pirates really like cheese sandwiches.

child: Cheese? I love cheese! 

RS: Yeah. So Ivan has this cheese sandwich, and he says," Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum! I really love cheese sandwiches.

And Ivan puts his sandwich over here on top of the pirate chest.

And Ivan says:“ You know what ? I  need to a drink with my lunch. " And so Ivan goes to get a drink.

And while Ivan is away the wind comes, and it blows the sandwich down onto the grass.

And now, here comes the other pirate. This pirate is called Joshua.

And Joshua also really loves cheese sandwiches. So Joshua has a cheese sandwich and he says," Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum! I love cheese sandwiches.

And he puts his cheese sandwiches over here on the top of the pirate chest.

Child: So, that one is his.

RS: That one is Joshua's. That's right. 

Child: And then his went on the ground.

RS: That's exactly right. 

Children: So he won't know which one is his.

RS: Oh, So now Joshua goes off to get a drink.

Ivan comes back and he says," I want me cheese sandwich." so which one do you think Ivan is going to take.

child： I think he is going to take that one.

RS: Yeah, you think he's going to take that one? All right. Let's see.

Oh, yeah, you were right. He took that one.

So that a 5-year-old boy who clearly understand that other people can have false beliefs and what the consequences are for their actions.

Now, I'm going to show you a three- year-old who got the same puzzle.

视频：

RS: And Ivan says," I want my cheese sandwich." Which sandwich is he going to take?

Do you think he going to take that one? Let's see what happens. let's see what he does. Here comes Ivan. And he says," I want my cheese sandwich." and he takes this one.

Uh-oh, why did he take that one?

Child: His was on the grass.

So the 3-year-old does two things differently.

First, he predicts Ivan will take the sandwich that's really his.

And second, when he sees Ivan taking the sandwich where he left his, where we would say he's taking that one because he thinks it's his.

The three- year- old comes up with another explanation: He's not taking his own sandwich because he doesn't want it, because now it's dirty, on the ground.

So that's why he's taking the other sandwich.

Now of course, development doesn't end at 5.

And we can see the continuation of this process of learning to think about other people's thoughts by upping the ante and asking children now, not for an action prediction, but for a moral judgement.

So first, I'm going to show you the 3-year- old again.

RS: So is Ivan being mean and naughty for taking Joshua's sandwich?

child: Yeah.

RS: Should Ivan get in trouble for taking Joshua's sandwich?

child: Yeah.

So it's maybe not surprising he thinks it was meant of Ivan to take Joshua's sandwich,

Since he thinks Ivan only took Joshua's sandwich to avoid having to eat his own dirty sandwich.

But now I'm going to show you the 5-year-old.

Remember the 5-year-old completely understood why Ivan took Joshua's sandwich.

RS : Was Ivan being meant and naughty for taking Joshua's sandwich? 

Child: Um, yeah.

And so, it's not until age 7 that we get what looks more like an adult response.

RS: Should Ivan get in trouble for taking Joshua's sandwich?

child: No, because the wind should get in trouble.

He says the wind should get in trouble for switching the sandwiches.

1. In the experiment, what will the boy told to do?

...to determine which sandwich the first pirate will take.

2. Which of the statements about the 3 boys in the experiment is true?

...The 7-year-old had developed a sense of moral judgement similar to an adult's.

3. Which of the following is a moral judgement?...

4. 选词填空

So that a 5-year-old boy who clearly understand that other people can have false beliefs and what the consequences are for their actions.

 5. 听 复述 

First, he predicts Ivan will take the sandwich that's really his.

6. It is not until age 7 that we get what looks more like an adult response.