Pieter Six, a PhD Candidate of VUW, will speak on: The role of motor simulation in false belief processing

Abstract:

Studies show that humans can track others’ mental states such as their beliefs. There is also evidence that our own motor system plays an important role in predicting the outcome of others’ actions. The role of motor simulation in belief tracking, however, is still poorly understood. I discuss the workings of our new behavioural paradigm that allowed us to successfully discover whether and to what extent adults can generate accurate predictions, based on integration of motor- and belief-relevant cues, about an agent’s reach-to-grasp movements. This research is supported through a Marsden Grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand.