Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind

Symbolic reasoning is the ability to realize that one thing might actually stand for something else – that a logo, a sound or even the small pushes of a button may imply another thing entirely. Symbolic reasoning is so pervasive that it's possible to miss it. But it plays hardball with the rest of the plans. It may be the one thing that separates us from every other animal.

Symbolic reasoning is in the bones of artistic expression. It lies at the heart of advanced toolmaking. It's the brains behind mathematics. It's at the center of our language abilities, spoken or written. It's the ability to impute to something a series of characteristics that something does not intrinsically possess.

The sophistication of our symbolic reasoning may be the answer to the question of what separates us from animals. We speak uniquely because we can reason uniquely. But where did we get the ability to reason symbolically, to impute to something characteristics we cannot otherwise observe?

There is no end of speculation, but many researchers agree that social interaction is involved – perhaps as a direct result of our wimpiness. These researchers invoke something called a false belief test as an illustration.

There are many variations of the false belief test, but one is sometimes referred to as the Sally-Anne test. It shows that small children believe their perspective is everybody's perspective. After age four, however, children somehow realize that other people can have perspectives different from their own. The core cognitive gadget is that they have begun to virtualize a perception. 

The ability to understand the mental world of someone else requires the ability to virtualize, to imagine. If you can hold in your head something that isn't physically there, impute to something a series of characteristics not readily perceived, you are on the way toward uncoupling the signifier from the signified. This is the left ventricle of symbolic reasoning. Symbolic reasoning also uncouples the signifier from the signified.

This ability to understand the motivations and intentions of another person is called theory of mind. Although it's a complex concept, theory of mind has two major components: the ability to understand the rewards and punishment systems inside someone's else's head and the ability to understand the the rewards and punishment systems inside your head are not the same as another's, But that person won't react like you do; they react like they do.

Many researchers think that the false belief test measures aspects of theory of mind. Some think that theory of mind and symbolic reasoning dip their feet into the same cognitive pool.

It may seem odd, but there may be a direct link between our ability to understand each other and our ability to understand Shakespeare – and physics. Tucked into this linkage is a bombshell of an idea, an idea that has deep practical significance. It means that the things that make us human come directly from the things that make us relational.

(From Your Best Brain, Course Guidebook, by Professor John J. Medina)

Some animals coordinate their behaviors with ease. Picture by Elena.