Perspective tracking in progress: Do not disturb

Rubio-Fernández, P. (2013). Perspective tracking in progress: Do not disturb. Cognition, 129(2), 264-272. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2013.07.005.
Two experiments tested the hypothesis that indirect false-belief tests allow participants to track a protagonist’s perspective uninterruptedly, whereas direct false-belief tests disrupt the process of perspective tracking in various ways. For this purpose, adults’ performance was compared on indirect and direct false-belief tests by means of continuous eye-tracking. Experiment 1 confirmed that the false-belief question used in direct tests disrupts perspective tracking relative to what is observed in an indirect test. Experiment 2 confirmed that perspective tracking is a continuous process that can be easily disrupted in adults by a subtle visual manipulation in both indirect and direct tests. These results call for a closer analysis of the demands of the false-belief tasks that have been used in developmental research.
Publication type
Journal article
Publication date
2013

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