Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

The purpose of this study is to examine how children use inter-turn-interval (ITI) to reason about social commitment and the moderating role of Theory of Mind (ToM). In the experiment, children watch cartoons in which a squirrel asks two animals for help. One animal responds quickly after a short ITI (500 ms), while the other responds after a longer ITI (3000 ms). Children will then decide which animal ultimately helped the squirrel and answer questions about their social preference for the two animals. Additionally, we include a task in which children judge which character responded faster. This task aims to verify whether children can perceive and distinguish different response delays, ensuring that their choices are truly based on temporal information rather than other factors. In addition, this study includes the rhythm test from the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) to investigate whether children's sensitivity to pauses is related to their ability to perceive rhythm. This will help to explore whether the processing of temporal cues in language interactions is influenced by broader rhythmic cognition. Furthermore, we will use the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI) and the False Belief Task to assess children's ToM development. This will help determine whether their sensitivity to pauses is influenced by their ToM abilities, thus providing insight into the underlying mechanisms of their reasoning.