FMRI studies of the relationship between language and theory of mind in adult cognition

Language is the primary means for human interaction, and communicative success requires an ability to reason about a conversation partner's beliefs, desires, and goals (e.g., Grice 1957, 1968, 1975; Sperber & Wilson, 1986). Many questions remain about the precise nature of the relationship between language processing and Theory of Mind (ToM), and their neural substrates. On the one hand, the two domains share an intimate connection given that a) language appears to have been shaped by communicative pressures; b) pragmatic inference is prevalent in language; c) aspects of ToM are important for language acquisition; and d) language is, in turn, critical for acquiring some of the more complex aspects of ToM. But interestingly, prior neuroimaging and patient work have provided some evidence for a dissociation between basic linguistic processing and reasoning about mental states. In this thesis, I use functional MRI to elucidate the relationship between these two core human capacities.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Paunov, Alexander(Alexander Marinov)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Edward Gibson.

• Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121828

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/121828