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Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought

Financial Support:. Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought. Josef Perner Austria. In collaboration with. Johannes Brandl — Philosophy Salzburg Martin Doherty — Psychology Sterling Alan Garnham — Psychology Sussex Bibiane Rendl — Psychology Salzburg

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Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought

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  1. Financial Support: Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought Josef Perner Austria Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  2. In collaboration with • Johannes Brandl — Philosophy Salzburg • Martin Doherty — Psychology Sterling • Alan Garnham — Psychology Sussex • Bibiane Rendl — Psychology Salzburg • Manuel Sprung — Psychology S. Mississippi  Innsbruck • Gabi Waidmann — Psychology Salzburg Inspirations by: Mike Martin Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  3. Louis XIII ? Louis XIV Referential ExpressionsRussell’s Problem • Referential expressions are expressions that refer to something. • What do referential terms refer to? • “Napoleon B.” • “The King of France” • “The present King of France” ? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  4. Referential ExpressionsRussell’s Theory of Description • There are more or less no referential descriptions but existential claims: • “The present king of France is bald” • RTD: x (y (Ky  x = y) & Bx) • which captures: • At least one thing is K (present King of France) • At most one thing is K • Whatever is K is B (bald). Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  5. Referential ExpressionsProblems with Russell • The existential interpretation makes it difficult to integrate information from different sentences in a text. • The present King of France is bald. • The present King of France uses NANO*shampoo. • These are two false sentences (full stop). No sense that we are talking, within a story, about the same entity. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition * nicotinic acid N-Oxide

  6. Escaping RussellIntentional objects as referents • Discourse Referents (Karttunen, 1976) • Discourse Referents as Hubs for Information Integration: • Discourse Representation Theory DRT (Kamp & Reily, 1995) • Discourse Referents as File Cards: • File Change Semantics (Heim, 2002): Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  7. + 1 2 3 is a woman was bitten by 2 is a dog bit 1 jumped over 3 is a fence was jumped over by 2 Integrating Information within a storyFile Change Semantics: Heim's Example (a) A woman was bitten by a dog. (b) It jumped over a fence. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  8. 4 Functions of discourse referents • Integrating information within a story • Separation of “what is talked about” (DR) from “what is said about it” (info on DR): cross reference by DR#s. • Reference within story: • Descriptions on card • Relating story to the world • External anchors • Reference to external objects: anchoring conditions • Perspective relative talk • Defining labels put a “perspective” on the external referent • This mouse is big • This animal is small Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  9. #1 :=a mouse is BIG  … cond:is a mouse, on this display, looks like:  Discourse referentsRefinements Discourse referent (DR) DR-identifier Defining label (name): sets perspective discourse reference Attributive information: interpreted in relation to perspective of label Anchoring conditions (formal anchors): determine external referent (anchor) external referent (external anchor) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  10. Discourse referent = mental referent • Discourse referents are mental entities • required for understanding discourse • hence their name • But really they are “intentional objects” • (thought-of objects) • Also required for any kind of thinking that goes beyond perception (maybe even there). • NOT intrinsically tied to language Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  11. Purpose of all this Explaining difficulties with alternative naming Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  12. Experimenter Alternative Naming (Doherty & Perner 1998): Vocabulary check Where is the “bunny?” Where is the “cup?” Where is the “rabbit?” Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  13. Child Experimenter Alternative Naming: Synonyms It is a rabbit  It is a bunny Children have difficulties until they are about 4½ years old (see Perner et al., 2002) Puppet, what’s this? [Name of child], now you say the other name! Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  14. Synonyms Categories Bunny - Rabbit Fruit - Pear Alternative Names: Name-Name (NN) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  15. Name - Colour Name - Part Cup - Red Monkey - Tail Colour - Colour Part - Part Yellow - Green Head - Tail Control Conditions Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  16. Results: Children’s Performance ctd. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  17. Any explanations? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  18. File-card Explanation Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  19. #2 #1 • :=an animal • is small  … :=a mouse is BIG  … #1 cond: cond: :=a ball is part yellow is part green cond:  Alternative Naming: NN Control: CC "This is a mouse.“ “This is green.” "This is an animal.“ “This is yellow.” External anchor   Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  20. #2 #1 :=an animal is small  … :=a mouse is BIG  … info:same as #1 info: same as #2 cond: cond: Alternative Naming: NN "This is a mouse.“ "This is an animal.“ External anchor  This is “meta-cognitive” “meta-representational” information: “DR #2, and DR #1 have same external referent”  Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  21. The developmental claim • Around 4 years (3 – 5 years) children attain the necessary metarepresentational ability to represent identity: info • Younger than 4 tend to fail altertive naming • Older than 4 tend to pass alternative naming • Prediction: • Same age trend for understanding identity statements Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  22. 2 Important Points • The Anchoring Info • constitutes “meta-cognitive” / “meta-representational” information: “DR #2, and DR #1 have same external referent” • It provides an explicit encoding of identity • The Anchoring Conditions • provide a sort of implicit understanding of identity as it anchors the two DRs to the same external entity. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  23. #1 :=a mouse is BIG  … cond: is a mouse, on this display, …  Important distinctions • Types of information: • Defining (identifying) label • Attributive information • Referents • Discourse referent DR • External referent ER DR ER Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  24. Understanding Identity A prediction tested Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  25. 1 a nurse 2  a jewel belongs to 3 3 Susi’s mom owns 2 info: same as 1 Prediction: Problems with identity statements  This is the nurse. This jewel belongs to Susi’s mother. Susi’s mother is the nurse.  ? Give back the jewel! Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  26. Percent correct Identity story(Waidmann): Results r = .77 ** rp= .48** rp= .24 KABC Age Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  27. 1 a nurse   2 3  a dog belongs to 1 a collar belongs to 2  Control: no problems with inferences This is the nurse. This dog belongs to the nurse This collar belongs to the dog Reasoning: If 3 belongs to 2 2 belongs to 1 then 3 belongs to 1 Give back the collar!  give 3 to 1 (the nurse) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  28. 2,0 1 2 3 1,5 IC Mean correct number of test questions 1,0 Inference control ID Identity task 0,5 False belief task FB 0,0 3;3 n=11 Age group 3;8 n=14 4;1 n=15 4;5 n=14 Results: Bibiane Rendl Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  29. Instructive Pitfalls Uncovered by using file cards Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  30. 1 a nurse  2   a jewel belongs to 3 ? Attributive interpretation Pitfalls uncovered by file cards:Attributive “is”  This is the nurse. This jewel belongs to Susi’s mother. Susi’s mother is the nurse. 3 Susi’s mom owns 2 is a nurse Give back the jewel! Susi’s mom  Nurse Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  31. 1 4 a nurse lost 2 Susi  2  a jewel belongs to 1    Avoiding attributive interpretations of identity statements The nurse lost her jewel. ? Here are Susi and her sister. 3 Susi’s sister is a nurse Susi’s sister isthe nurse. info:same as 1 A man finds the jewel. Who should he give it to— ? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  32. Summary and Outlook Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  33. Summary: theoretical analysis • Discourse Coherence  • intentional objects as referents (discourse referents) • Discourse about reality  • Internal (intentional/discourse) vs. external referents • Implicit identity: DRs anchored to same ER • Explicit identity: representing that DRs share same ER (a case of metarepresentation). • Standard means of internal referring: labels • Labels enable use of • Perspectival simplification • (“big” vs. “big for a <label>”) • Default assumptions (birds fly, penguins don’t) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  34. Summary: development • Metarepresentation develops around 4 years • Children below 4 years fail metarepresentational tasks: • Alternative naming • Identity statements • Many others: false belief, visual perspective, … • File-card analysis provides • Processing account of task difficulty Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  35. Future agenda • Can we fit the following into the developmental picture? • Piaget’s class inclusion task: “More boys or children?” • Piaget’s seriation tasks: identity of the middle term • Doherty’s Rejection Task (extension of alternative naming) • How do Discourse Referents relate to Mental Models? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  36. References Discourse Referents Perner, J., Rendl, B., & Garnham, A. (in press). "Objects of desire, thought, and reality: Problems of anchoring discourse referents in development." Mind & Language, Vol, pp-pp. Perner, J., & Brandl, J. (2005). File change semantics for preschoolers: alternative naming and belief understanding. Interaction Studies, 6(3), 483-501. 501. Alternative Naming and False Belief: Perner, J., Brandl, J., & Garnham, A. (2003). What is a perspective problem? Developmental issues in understanding belief and dual identity. Facta Philosophica, 5, 355-378. Perner, J., Stummer, S., Sprung, M. & Doherty, M. J. (2002). Theory of mind finds its Piagetian Perspective: Why alternative naming comes with understanding belief. Cognitive Development, 17, 1451–1472. Perner, J. (2000). RUM, PUM, and the perspectival relativity of sortals. In J. Astington (Ed.). Minds in the making: Essays in honour of David R. Olson (212-232). Oxford: Blackwell. Doherty, M. J. & Perner, J. (1998). Metalinguistic awareness and theory of mind: just two words for the same thing? Cognitive Development, 13, 279-305. Card Sorting Kloo, D. & Perner, J. (2005). Disentangling Dimensions in the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task. Developmental Science, 8, 44-56. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  37. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The END !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

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