When You and I Share Perspectives: Pronouns Modulate Perspective-Taking During Narrative Comprehension

Brunyé, Tad T.; Ditman, Tali; Mahoney, Caroline R.; Augustyn, Jason S.; Taylor, Holly A.

doi:10.1037/e527312012-840

Cited by 67 publications

(143 citation statements)

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“…Specifically, we employed three types of contents: action sentences referring to concrete manual actions, abstract sentences referring to mental states or processes, and perceptive sentences referring to sensory events. All sentences were written in the second person because the pronoun "you" most likely induces an egocentric perspective (Brunyé et al, 2009), and in the future tense because preparing to perform an action elicits stronger motor activity than an action already performed (Candidi et al, 2010). We expected to find mu and beta modulation (suppression) in action sentences but not in abstract sentences, confirming our previous findings (Moreno et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Brain dynamics in the comprehension of action-related language. A time-frequency analysis of mu rhythms

et al. 2015

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oArticle history: Accepted 2 January 2015 Available online 9 January 2015 Keywords:Mu rhythms Beta rhythms Embodied meaning Action language Perceptive language EEG mu rhythms (8-13 Hz) recorded at fronto-central electrodes are generally considered as markers of motor cortical activity in humans, because they are modulated when participants perform an action, when they observe another's action or even when they imagine performing an action. In this study, we analyzed the time-frequency (TF) modulation of mu rhythms while participants read action language ("You will cut the strawberry cake"), abstract language ("You will doubt the patient's argument"), and perceptive language ("You will notice the bright day"). The results indicated that mu suppression at fronto-central sites is associated with action language rather than with abstract or perceptive language. Also, the largest difference between conditions occurred quite late in the sentence, while reading the first noun, (contrast Action vs. Abstract), or the second noun following the action verb (contrast Action vs. Perceptive). This suggests that motor activation is associated with the integration of words across the sentence beyond the lexical processing of the action verb. Source reconstruction localized mu suppression associated with action sentences in premotor cortex (BA 6). The present study suggests (1) that the understanding of action language activates motor networks in the human brain, and (2) that this activation occurs online based on semantic integration across multiple words in the sentence.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Brain dynamics in the comprehension of action-related language. A time-frequency analysis of mu rhythms

et al. 2015

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“…Participants were presented with either a social cue (avatar; , a semisocial cue (arrow, which possesses both symbolic and social characteristics; Kingstone, Tipper, Ristic, & Ngan, 2004;Ristic, Friesen, & Kingstone, 2002; see also Zwickel, 2009), or a non-social cue (a dualcoloured block). Additionally, given the known effect of pronoun use pa ti ula l the use of ou on inducing or modulating social perspective taking (Brunyé, Ditman, Mahoney, Augustyn, & Taylor, 2009), we modified the instructions for selecting perspective across conditions by employing personal pronouns in the social cue condition but replacing them in the other two conditions. Thus, whilst we kept the basic selection requirements constant across conditions, the social content of the cue stimuli and instructions was varied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inclined to see it your way: Do altercentric intrusion effects in visual perspective taking reflect an intrinsically social process?

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Levy

et al. 2015

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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It has been suggested that some aspects of mental state understanding recruit a rudimentary, but fast and efficient, processing system, demonstrated by the obligatory slowing down of judgements about what the self can see when this is incongruent with what another can see. We tested the social nature of this system by investigating to what extent these altercentric intrusions are elicited under conditions that differed in their social relevance and, further, how these related to self-reported social perspective taking and empathy. In Experiment 1, adult participants were asked to make “self” or “other” perspective-taking judgements during congruent (“self” and “other” can see the same items) or incongruent conditions (“self” and “other” cannot see the same items) in conditions that were social (i.e., involving a social agent), semisocial (an arrow), or nonsocial (a dual-coloured block). Reaction time indices of altercentric intrusion effects were present across all conditions, but were significantly stronger for the social than for the less social conditions. Self-reported perspective taking and empathy correlated with altercentric intrusion effects in the social condition only. In Experiment 2, the significant correlations for the social condition were replicated, but this time with gaze duration indices of altercentric intrusion effects. Findings are discussed with regard to the degree to which this rudimentary system is socially specialized and how it is linked to more conceptual understanding.

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“…Researchers have also shown that object properties are more accessible if the spatial perspective allows for perception of the property, as compared to when it does not. For example, from the simulated perspective of inside a restaurant, participants were faster to verify that restaurants have tables than from the perspective of outside a restaurant (Borghi, Glenberg, & Kaschak, 2004; see also Brunyé, Ditman, Mahoney, Augustyn, & Taylor, 2009;Horton & Rapp, 2003;Wu & Barsalou, 2009). In addition, Spivey and Geng (2001) showed that the perspective of a story affected the direction of participants' eye movements, even though they were looking at a blank screen.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mental states inside out: Switching costs for emotional and nonemotional sentences that differ in internal and external focus

et al. 2011

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Mental states-such as thinking, remembering, or feeling angry, happy, or dizzy-have a clear internal component. We feel a certain way when we are in these states. These internal experiences may be simulated when people understand conceptual references to mental states. However, mental states can also be described from an "external" perspective, for example when referring to "smiling." In those cases, simulation of visible outside features may be more relevant for understanding. In a switching costs paradigm, we presented semantically unrelated sentences describing emotional and nonemotional mental states while manipulating their internal or external focus. The results show that switching costs occur when participants shift between sentences with an internal and an external focus. This suggests that different forms of simulation underlie understanding these sentences. In addition, these effects occurred for emotional and nonemotional mental states, suggesting that they are grounded in a similar way-through the process of simulation.

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When You and I Share Perspectives: Pronouns Modulate Perspective-Taking During Narrative Comprehension

Cited by 67 publications

References 0 publications

Brain dynamics in the comprehension of action-related language. A time-frequency analysis of mu rhythms

Brain dynamics in the comprehension of action-related language. A time-frequency analysis of mu rhythms

Inclined to see it your way: Do altercentric intrusion effects in visual perspective taking reflect an intrinsically social process?

Mental states inside out: Switching costs for emotional and nonemotional sentences that differ in internal and external focus

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