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Developing Intuitions about How Personal and Social Properties Are Linked to the Brain and the Body
Katherine S Choe1, Frank C Keil, Paul Bloom
1Department of Psychology, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Infant and Child Development
|August 25, 2012
Summary
Children and adults believe brain transplants transfer personality traits, fine-motor skills, and social connections. However, they think gross-motor skills and biological traits remain with the original body. This reveals developing intuitions about brain-body property attribution.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Understanding the distinction between brain-based and body-based properties is crucial for cognitive development.
- Previous research has explored children's understanding of body parts and their functions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental trajectory of intuitions regarding which properties are associated with the brain versus the body.
- To examine how children and adults attribute characteristics after a hypothetical brain transplant.
Main Methods:
- A sample of 60 children (ages 6, 8, 10) and 20 adults participated.
- Participants were presented with a scenario involving a brain transplant between two individuals.
- They were then asked to determine the location of various properties post-transplant.
Main Results:
- Adults and older children attributed fine-motor behavior, culpability, social contract, and friendships to the brain.
- Gross-motor behavior, physical/biological properties, ownership, and familial relationships were more often associated with the body.
- This suggests a developing understanding of the brain's role in cognitive and social functions.
Conclusions:
- The findings indicate a domain-specific understanding of brain-body attribution that develops with age.
- These intuitions differentiate between cognitive/social properties (brain-linked) and physical/biological properties (body-linked).
- Domain-based explanations are proposed to account for these developmental patterns.
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