Thinking While Talking: Adults Fail Nonverbal False-Belief Reasoning

Authors: Newton, Ashley M.; Villiers, Jill G. de

Source: Psychological Science, Volume 18, Number 7, July 2007 , pp. 574-579(6)

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Abstract:

This experiment tested the ability of 81 adult subjects to make a decision on a simple nonverbal false-belief reasoning task while concurrently either shadowing prerecorded spoken dialogue or tapping along with a rhythmic shadowing track. Our results showed that the verbal task, but not tapping, significantly disrupted false-belief reasoning, suggesting that language plays a key role in working theory of mind in adults, even when the false-belief reasoning is nonverbal.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01942.x

Affiliations: 1: Smith College

Publication date: 2007-07-01