懂你英语 流利说 Level7 Unit3 Part2 : On Reading Minds 2

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 of...) the whole project here is huge.

And I'm going to tell you just our first few steps about the discovery of a special brain 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 some of 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.

This is a picture of it.

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

And this is the 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 takes 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 three and five, 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 five-year-old who is getting a standard kind of puzzle that we call the false belief task.

What does Saxe suggest when she says "although adults are good at understanding other minds, we weren't always that way"? It takes several years before children can understand how people think.

What is the role of the RTPJ in the brain? To think about other people’s thoughts.

What do "cognitive neuroscience" like Saxe's study ? How the brain constructs thoughts.

(Video - )

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

Child: What? RS: Pirates really like cheese sandwiches.

Child: Cheese? I love cheese! RS: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

RS: And he puts his cheese sandwich over here on 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: Yeah.

RS: That's exactly right. Child: So he won't know which one is his. RS: Oh. So now Joshua goes off to get a drink.

RS: Ivan comes back and he says, "I want my 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.

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

( - Video)

So that's a five-year-old who clearly understands 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.

(Video - )

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

RS: Do you think he's 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.

RS: Uh-oh. Why did he take that one? Child: His was on the grass.

(- Video)

So the three-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 five.

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 judgment.

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

(Video - )

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

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

(- Video)

So it's maybe not surprising he thinks it was mean 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 five-year-old.

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

(Video - )

RS: Was Ivan being mean and naughty for taking Joshua's sandwich? Child: Um, yeah.

( - Video)

And so, it is not until age seven that we get what looks more like an adult response.

(Video - )

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

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

( - Video)

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

*

In this experiment, what were the boys told to do? To determine which sandwich the first pirate will take.

The three-year-old thought the first pirate was mean and naughty, because he thought the first pirate … took other's sandwich on purpose.

What did Saxe learn from the experiment? The seven-year-old demonstrated an adult-like moral judgment.

Which of the following is a moral judgment? he is a mean and selfish man.

Which of the statements about the three boys' experiment is true? The seven-year-old had developed a sense of moral judgment similar to an adult.

Why did the-five-year-old think Ivan was going to take the sandwich on the pirate chest? He could understand why Ivan would mistake the sandwich as his.

- He didn't want the dirty one on the grass.

*

So that's a five-year-old who clearly understands that other people can have false beliefs and what the consequences are for their actions.

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

*

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

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

Moral judgments are evaluations about whether an action or a person is good or bad.

That's a five-year-old who clearly understands that other people can have false beliefs and what the consequences are for their actions.

The experiment shows that the ability to understand others’ thoughts develops gradually.

The seven-year-old has developed a sense of moral judgment similar to an adult.

You don't use the RTPJ for solving any other kinds of logical problems.

*

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