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Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought

This work explores the interplay of financial support and external referents within developmental discourse. It features insights from notable scholars in philosophy and psychology, including Josef Perner, Johannes Brandl, and others. The discussion examines referential expressions, such as "The present King of France," focusing on Russell's problem and its implications for integrating information across narratives. Essential concepts include discourse representation theory, intentional objects, and the role of discourse referents in cognitive development, particularly in children's understanding of language and concepts.

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Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought

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  1. Financial Support: Discourse and External Anchors in Developmental Thought Josef Perner Austria Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  2. In collaboration with • Johannes Brandl — Philosophy Salzburg • Martin Doherty — Psychology Sterling • Alan Garnham — Psychology Sussex • Bibiane Rendl — Psychology Salzburg • Manuel Sprung — Psychology S. Mississippi  Innsbruck • Gabi Waidmann — Psychology Salzburg Inspirations by: Mike Martin Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  3. Louis XIII ? Louis XIV Referential ExpressionsRussell’s Problem • Referential expressions are expressions that refer to something. • What do referential terms refer to? • “Napoleon B.” • “The King of France” • “The present King of France” ? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  4. Referential ExpressionsRussell’s Theory of Description • There are more or less no referential descriptions but existential claims: • “The present king of France is bald” • RTD: x (y (Ky  x = y) & Bx) • which captures: • At least one thing is K (present King of France) • At most one thing is K • Whatever is K is B (bald). Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  5. Referential ExpressionsProblems with Russell • The existential interpretation makes it difficult to integrate information from different sentences in a text. • The present King of France is bald. • The present King of France uses NANO*shampoo. • These are two false sentences (full stop). No sense that we are talking, within a story, about the same entity. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition * nicotinic acid N-Oxide

  6. Escaping RussellIntentional objects as referents • Discourse Referents (Karttunen, 1976) • Discourse Referents as Hubs for Information Integration: • Discourse Representation Theory DRT (Kamp & Reily, 1995) • Discourse Referents as File Cards: • File Change Semantics (Heim, 2002): Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  7. + 1 2 3 is a woman was bitten by 2 is a dog bit 1 jumped over 3 is a fence was jumped over by 2 Integrating Information within a storyFile Change Semantics: Heim's Example (a) A woman was bitten by a dog. (b) It jumped over a fence. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  8. 4 Functions of discourse referents • Integrating information within a story • Separation of “what is talked about” (DR) from “what is said about it” (info on DR): cross reference by DR#s. • Reference within story: • Descriptions on card • Relating story to the world • External anchors • Reference to external objects: anchoring conditions • Perspective relative talk • Defining labels put a “perspective” on the external referent • This mouse is big • This animal is small Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  9. #1 :=a mouse is BIG  … cond:is a mouse, on this display, looks like:  Discourse referentsRefinements Discourse referent (DR) DR-identifier Defining label (name): sets perspective discourse reference Attributive information: interpreted in relation to perspective of label Anchoring conditions (formal anchors): determine external referent (anchor) external referent (external anchor) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  10. Discourse referent = mental referent • Discourse referents are mental entities • required for understanding discourse • hence their name • But really they are “intentional objects” • (thought-of objects) • Also required for any kind of thinking that goes beyond perception (maybe even there). • NOT intrinsically tied to language Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  11. Purpose of all this Explaining difficulties with alternative naming Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  12. Experimenter Alternative Naming (Doherty & Perner 1998): Vocabulary check Where is the “bunny?” Where is the “cup?” Where is the “rabbit?” Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  13. Child Experimenter Alternative Naming: Synonyms It is a rabbit  It is a bunny Children have difficulties until they are about 4½ years old (see Perner et al., 2002) Puppet, what’s this? [Name of child], now you say the other name! Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  14. Synonyms Categories Bunny - Rabbit Fruit - Pear Alternative Names: Name-Name (NN) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  15. Name - Colour Name - Part Cup - Red Monkey - Tail Colour - Colour Part - Part Yellow - Green Head - Tail Control Conditions Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  16. Results: Children’s Performance ctd. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  17. Any explanations? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  18. File-card Explanation Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  19. #2 #1 • :=an animal • is small  … :=a mouse is BIG  … #1 cond: cond: :=a ball is part yellow is part green cond:  Alternative Naming: NN Control: CC "This is a mouse.“ “This is green.” "This is an animal.“ “This is yellow.” External anchor   Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  20. #2 #1 :=an animal is small  … :=a mouse is BIG  … info:same as #1 info: same as #2 cond: cond: Alternative Naming: NN "This is a mouse.“ "This is an animal.“ External anchor  This is “meta-cognitive” “meta-representational” information: “DR #2, and DR #1 have same external referent”  Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  21. The developmental claim • Around 4 years (3 – 5 years) children attain the necessary metarepresentational ability to represent identity: info • Younger than 4 tend to fail altertive naming • Older than 4 tend to pass alternative naming • Prediction: • Same age trend for understanding identity statements Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  22. 2 Important Points • The Anchoring Info • constitutes “meta-cognitive” / “meta-representational” information: “DR #2, and DR #1 have same external referent” • It provides an explicit encoding of identity • The Anchoring Conditions • provide a sort of implicit understanding of identity as it anchors the two DRs to the same external entity. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  23. #1 :=a mouse is BIG  … cond: is a mouse, on this display, …  Important distinctions • Types of information: • Defining (identifying) label • Attributive information • Referents • Discourse referent DR • External referent ER DR ER Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  24. Understanding Identity A prediction tested Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  25. 1 a nurse 2  a jewel belongs to 3 3 Susi’s mom owns 2 info: same as 1 Prediction: Problems with identity statements  This is the nurse. This jewel belongs to Susi’s mother. Susi’s mother is the nurse.  ? Give back the jewel! Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  26. Percent correct Identity story(Waidmann): Results r = .77 ** rp= .48** rp= .24 KABC Age Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  27. 1 a nurse   2 3  a dog belongs to 1 a collar belongs to 2  Control: no problems with inferences This is the nurse. This dog belongs to the nurse This collar belongs to the dog Reasoning: If 3 belongs to 2 2 belongs to 1 then 3 belongs to 1 Give back the collar!  give 3 to 1 (the nurse) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  28. 2,0 1 2 3 1,5 IC Mean correct number of test questions 1,0 Inference control ID Identity task 0,5 False belief task FB 0,0 3;3 n=11 Age group 3;8 n=14 4;1 n=15 4;5 n=14 Results: Bibiane Rendl Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  29. Instructive Pitfalls Uncovered by using file cards Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  30. 1 a nurse  2   a jewel belongs to 3 ? Attributive interpretation Pitfalls uncovered by file cards:Attributive “is”  This is the nurse. This jewel belongs to Susi’s mother. Susi’s mother is the nurse. 3 Susi’s mom owns 2 is a nurse Give back the jewel! Susi’s mom  Nurse Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  31. 1 4 a nurse lost 2 Susi  2  a jewel belongs to 1    Avoiding attributive interpretations of identity statements The nurse lost her jewel. ? Here are Susi and her sister. 3 Susi’s sister is a nurse Susi’s sister isthe nurse. info:same as 1 A man finds the jewel. Who should he give it to— ? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  32. Summary and Outlook Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  33. Summary: theoretical analysis • Discourse Coherence  • intentional objects as referents (discourse referents) • Discourse about reality  • Internal (intentional/discourse) vs. external referents • Implicit identity: DRs anchored to same ER • Explicit identity: representing that DRs share same ER (a case of metarepresentation). • Standard means of internal referring: labels • Labels enable use of • Perspectival simplification • (“big” vs. “big for a <label>”) • Default assumptions (birds fly, penguins don’t) Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  34. Summary: development • Metarepresentation develops around 4 years • Children below 4 years fail metarepresentational tasks: • Alternative naming • Identity statements • Many others: false belief, visual perspective, … • File-card analysis provides • Processing account of task difficulty Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  35. Future agenda • Can we fit the following into the developmental picture? • Piaget’s class inclusion task: “More boys or children?” • Piaget’s seriation tasks: identity of the middle term • Doherty’s Rejection Task (extension of alternative naming) • How do Discourse Referents relate to Mental Models? Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  36. References Discourse Referents Perner, J., Rendl, B., & Garnham, A. (in press). "Objects of desire, thought, and reality: Problems of anchoring discourse referents in development." Mind & Language, Vol, pp-pp. Perner, J., & Brandl, J. (2005). File change semantics for preschoolers: alternative naming and belief understanding. Interaction Studies, 6(3), 483-501. 501. Alternative Naming and False Belief: Perner, J., Brandl, J., & Garnham, A. (2003). What is a perspective problem? Developmental issues in understanding belief and dual identity. Facta Philosophica, 5, 355-378. Perner, J., Stummer, S., Sprung, M. & Doherty, M. J. (2002). Theory of mind finds its Piagetian Perspective: Why alternative naming comes with understanding belief. Cognitive Development, 17, 1451–1472. Perner, J. (2000). RUM, PUM, and the perspectival relativity of sortals. In J. Astington (Ed.). Minds in the making: Essays in honour of David R. Olson (212-232). Oxford: Blackwell. Doherty, M. J. & Perner, J. (1998). Metalinguistic awareness and theory of mind: just two words for the same thing? Cognitive Development, 13, 279-305. Card Sorting Kloo, D. & Perner, J. (2005). Disentangling Dimensions in the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task. Developmental Science, 8, 44-56. Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

  37. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The END !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Discourse – External Referents ESF- Metacognition

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