Presentations

Abstract

Effective communication involves recognizing the disparity between our own perspective and that of the recipient, influenced by factors such as stereotypes and accents. The extent to which Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to ascribe beliefs to others, plays a role in this process is uncertain. We anticipate individuals to speak in line with their beliefs, but what if their words conflict with our expectations? To investigate, we devised a virtual perspective-taking experiment where we manipulated a virtual agent's beliefs. Electroencephalography data were collected as participants listened to statements from the agent that either aligned or clashed with their true or false beliefs. We focused on the N400, an event-related brain component linked to word unexpectedness. As hypothesized, statements inconsistent with the agent's true beliefs triggered more pronounced N400 responses compared to matching statements. Furthermore, we anticipated that when the agent held a false belief, this knowledge would factor into interpreting their statements. Neither statements aligned with nor those diverging from the agent's false beliefs evoked N400 responses. This can be taken as evidence that participants did take the agents perspective into account. These results strongly support the role of Theory of Mind in language comprehension.