Language can obscure as well as facilitate apparent-Theory of mind performance: part 1 - An exploratory study with 4 year-Olds using the element of surprise

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of mean ToM performance according to ToM index and gender

	Verbal-explanations Index	Standard Index	Surprise Index	Overall
Girls	2.000 (0.306) 25.0%	2.950 (0.385) 36.9%	4.867 (0.267) 60.8%	3.272 (0.216) 40.9%
Boys	1.160 (0.336) 14.5%	3.060 (0.421) 38.3%	5.360 (0.292) 67.0%	3.193 (0.237) 39.9%
Both	1.580 (0.227) 19.8%	3.005 (0.285) 37.6%	5.113 (0.198) 63.9%	3.233 (0.160) 40.4%

Note: Maximum mean score = 8. Values in parentheses are Standard Errors. Values in italics are means expressed as percentages.

Figure 1. The Surprise index always resulted in higher performance than the standard verbal/pointing index. Also, the levels for the Surprise index varied as a function of the plausibility of the location searched and retrieval outcome.

Note: C1 = Likely-Search, Likely-Outcome. C2 = Likely-Search, Unlikely-Outcome. C3 = Unlikely-Search, Likely-Outcome. C4 = Unlikely-Search, Unlikely-Outcome.

Figure 2. The biggest difference between the bar for the likely situation compared to the corresponding bar for the unlikely situation did not occur when participants were reasoning about others’ minds (i.e., search), but occurred instead when considering where the object should have been really (i.e., outcome).

Note: Search = Likely v unlikely irrespective of outcome; Outcome = Likely v unlikely irrespective of search; Exposure = Exposed v did not expose object at location search.

Table 2. Pearson’s pairwise correlations of ToM

	ToM-Explanation	Lang Precociousness	ToM Standard	ToM Surprise	Gender
ToM-Explanation	-	0.308 (0.011)	0.636 (<0.001)	−0.118 (0.195)	−0.246 (0.035)
Lang Precociousness		-	0.028 (0.419)	−0.076 (0.292)	−0.086 (0.266)
ToM Standard			-	−0.163 (0.117)	0.026 (0.424)
ToM Surprise				-	0.169 (0.109)
Gender					-

Note: ToM-explanation = Verbally explained ToM, Lang Precociousness = Linguistic precociousness, ToM standard = Standard verbal/pointing ToM index, ToM surprise = Surprise index of ToM. The values in parentheses are levels of significance for each correlation.

Table 3. Summary of predictors of ToM-explanations

Variable Name	Unstandardized Beta	Standardized Beta	Partials	p Value
R = 0.738, R^2 = 0.518 (F(3,54) = 20.381, p < 0.001)
ToM Standard	0.521	0.634	0.685	<0.001
Lang Precociousness	0.183	0.269	0.370	0.006
Gender	−0.818	−0.240	−0.334	0.015
Excluded
Surprise	-	0.049	0.070	0.620

Note: Standard = Standard Verbal-Pointing Index of ToM. Surprise = Surprise Index of ToM. Lang Precociousness = Linguistic Precociousness Index (non-ToM).

Table 4. Summary of surprise Sub-Tasks as predictors of ToM-Explanations

Variable Name	Unstandardized Beta	Standardized Beta	Partials	p Value
R = 0.419, R^2 = 0.176 (F(2,54) = 5.546, p 0.007)
Surprise C3	0.709	0.341	0.350	0.009
Gender	−0.963	−0.282	−0.295	0.030
Excluded
Surprise C1	-	−0.139	−0.146	0.296
Surprise C2	-	0.088	0.097	0.488
Surprise C4	-	−0.094	−0.100	0.476

Note: C1 = Likely-Search, Likely-Outcome. C2 = Likely-Search, Unlikely-Outcome. C3 = Unlikely-Search, Likely-Outcome. C4 = Unlikely-Search, Unlikely-Outcome.

Data availability statement

The dataset on which this article is based can be obtained from the first author upon reasonable request. [email protected]