Telling the story of theory of mind: Deaf and hearing children's narratives and mental state understanding

Theory of mind (ToM) was examined in late-signing deaf children in two studies by using standard tests and measures of spontaneous talk about inner states of perception, affect and cognition during storytelling. In Study 1, there were 21 deaf children aged 6 to 11 years and 13 typical-hearing children matched with the deaf by chronological age. In Study 2, there were 17 deaf children aged 6 to 12 years and 17 typical-hearing preschoolers aged 4 to 5 years who were matched with the deaf by ToM test performance. In addition to replicating the consistently reported finding of poor performance on standard false belief tests by late-signing deaf children, significant correlations emerged in both studies between deaf children's ToM test scores and their spontaneous narrative talk about imaginative cognition (e.g. 'pretend'). In Study 2, with a new set of purpose-built pictures that evoked richer and more complex mentalistic narration than the published picture book of Study 1, results of multiple regression analyses showed that children's narrative talk about imaginative cognition was uniquely important, over and above hearing status and talking of other kinds of mental states, in predicting ToM scores. The same was true of children's elaborated narrative talk using utterances that either spelt out thoughts, explained inner states or introduced contrastives. In addition, results of a Guttman scalograrn analysis in Study 2 suggested a consistent sequence in narrative and standard test performance by deaf and hearing children that went from (1) narrative mention of visible (affective or perceptual) mental states only, along with FB failure, to (2) narrative mention of cognitive states along with (1), to (3) elaborated narrative talk about inner states along with (2), and finally to (4) simple and elaborated narrative talk about affective/perceptual and cognitive states along with FIB test success. Possible explanations for this performance ordering, as well as for the observed correlations in both studies between ToM test scores and narrative variables, were considered.

Theory of mind and central coherence in adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome

The study investigated theory of mind and central coherence abilities in adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS) using naturalistic tasks. Twenty adults with HTA/AS correctly answered significantly fewer theory of mind questions than 20 controls on a forced-choice response task. On a narrative task, there were no differences in the proportion of mental state words between the two groups, although the participants with HFA/AS were less inclined to provide explanations for characters' mental states. No between-group differences existed on the central coherence questions of the forced-choice response task, and the participants with HTA/AS included an equivalent proportion of explanations for non-mental state phenomena in their narratives as did controls. These results support the theory of mind deficit account of autism spectrum disorders, and suggest that difficulties in mental state attribution cannot be exclusively attributed to weak central coherence.

Mental playmates: Siblings, executive functioning and theory of mind

This study assessed the theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF) abilities of 124 typically developing preschool children aged 3 to 5 years in relation to whether or not they had a child-aged sibling (i.e. a child aged 1 to 12 years) at home with whom to play and converse. On a ToM battery that included tests of false belief, appearance-reality (AR) and pretend representation, children who had at least 1 child-aged sibling scored significantly higher than both only children and those whose only siblings were infants or adults. The numbers of child-aged siblings in preschoolers' families positively predicted their scores on both a ToM battery (4 tasks) and an EF battery (2 tasks), and these associations remained significant with language ability partialled out. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that independent contributions to individual differences in ToM were made by language ability, EF skill and having a child-aged sibling. However, even though some conditions for mediation were met, there was no statistically reliable evidence that EF skills mediated the advantage of presence of child-aged siblings for ToM performance. While consistent with the theory that distinctively childish interaction among siblings accelerates the growth of both TOM and EF capacities, alternative evidence and alternative theoretical interpretations for the findings were also considered.

Husbandry and trade of indigenous chickens in Myanmar - results of a participatory rural appraisal in the Yangon and the Mandalay divisions

There is a variety of professions working with village chickens in developing countries, including farmers, veterinarians and chicken traders. People from all these occupations were involved in a participatory rural appraisal to investigate husbandry practices and trade of village chickens in Myanmar. Data were collected in two climatically different regions of the country, in the Yangon and in the Mandalay divisions. The breeding and training of fighting cocks was practised only in the Mandalay division, with well-trained birds sold for very high prices. Apart from this, chickens were raised in both regions mainly for small disposable income and were generally sold when money was needed, in particular during religious festivals. Chicken traders on bicycles, often called 'middle men', usually purchase birds from farmers in about 10 villages per day. Several 'middle men' supply birds to wealthier chicken merchants, who sell these birds at larger chicken markets. There is in general limited knowledge among farmers about the prevention of Newcastle disease via vaccination. Commercial indigenous chicken production is practised in Myanmar, but family poultry farming dominates indigenous chicken production in the country.

Facilitating IPM: The role of participatory workshops

Successful, long-term implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) requires the integration of key technical and management activities and the participation of a wide range of stakeholders including farmers, researchers, extension officers, crop consultants, government agencies, and industry. A key issue that needs urgent attention is how to achieve the high quality interaction between these different groups which is necessary for sustained IPM. Problem specification and planning workshops (PSPWs) provide one means of facilitating an integrated strategy for tackling complex pest management issues. Since 1992, the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Pest Management has facilitated over 20 PSPWs, focusing on different farming systems in Australia. This paper describes the philosophy, the process involved, and the impact that these PSPWs have had. It examines three specific cases to describe the relationship between plans and results and ways of improving impact. The results reinforce the major role that social scientists can play in providing mechanisms for collaborating with technical researchers and other partners to facilitate effective, participatory ventures in IPM.