The goal of the current study is to investigate whether perspective-taking abilities impact reading comprehension among adolescents at different stages of puberty. To find out if there are any...Show moreThe goal of the current study is to investigate whether perspective-taking abilities impact reading comprehension among adolescents at different stages of puberty. To find out if there are any relations between perspective-taking and reading comprehension the influence of an imposed perspective on the mental representation of a text was investigated for 98 participants. Puberty is taken into account as a factor that could contribute to the mental representation of a text. The Director Task and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index were used to measure perspective-taking abilities. Results on the Director Task show significant differences in error rates amongst the three puberty groups. Post-hoc analysis revealed significant differences between all puberty groups in the Director Experimental conditions. The IRI scores increased between the puberty groups, but was not correlated to the scores on the Director Task. Reading comprehension was measured through two narrative text, the tekst ‘Het Huis’ and the text ‘Het Vakantiepark’. The study revealed a better recall of perspective-relevant elements for the text ‘Het Huis’, increasing between the puberty groups. The total score on the IRI was identified as a significant predictor for memory of elements on ‘Het Huis’. Contradictory to the text ‘Het Huis’, no significant differences were found between perspective-relevant and perspective-irrelevant elements on the text ‘Het Vakantiepark’. The findings align with previous research pointing out that perspective-taking abilities develop throughout puberty. There are some effects of perspective-taking abilities on reading comprehension, but there could be more aspects that influence the effectiveness of applying a reading perspective while reading a text. More investigation into the role of executive functions on the implementation of reading with a perspective is needed.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Communication involves understanding the difference between our own perspective (visual perspective, beliefs, and knowledge) and that of an addressee. Previous research found that knowledge about a...Show moreCommunication involves understanding the difference between our own perspective (visual perspective, beliefs, and knowledge) and that of an addressee. Previous research found that knowledge about a speaker’s background (e.g., stereotypes, accent, etc.) affects online language processing in listeners. However, the role and automaticity of Theory of Mind (ToM) – the ability to attribute beliefs to someone - remains unclear. Typically, we expect individuals to speak according to their beliefs and perspectives. But what if their utterances mismatch with what we expect them to know? We designed a novel perspective-taking paradigm in a virtual environment, which manipulates an agent’s belief. We then recorded electroencephalographical data from participants, while they listened to the agent making statements either matching or mismatching their false or true beliefs. Specifically, we analyzed the N400: a component, which amplitude scales with the unexpectedness of a content word. We predicted that statements mismatching an agent’s true belief (e.g., seeing a car and saying “That’s a screwdriver”) would result in larger N400 components, compared to statements matching the true beliefs. We found strong evidence for this prediction. Further, we predicted that knowledge of an agent’s unawareness that the state of affairs has changed (i.e., a false belief) is considered when interpreting their statements. We found indirect evidence for this: statements matching their false beliefs do not elicit an N400. However, statements mismatching their false beliefs (e.g., agent says something they couldn’t have known) neither are marked by the N400. Results support ToM’s role in interpreting language.Show less
