Exploring the relationship between anthropomorphism and theory-of-mind in brain and behaviour

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Artificial Intelligence

Background:

• Understanding artificial minds involves processes similar to understanding human minds.
• Anthropomorphism (attributing human-like qualities to non-human entities) is often assumed to be analogous to theory-of-mind (ToM), the capacity to infer others' mental states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the formal overlap between anthropomorphism and theory-of-mind.
• To examine the relationship between anthropomorphism and ToM using both neural and behavioral measures.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Bayesian regression analysis of dispositional anthropomorphism and theory-of-mind brain network activity (n=108).
• Experiment 2: Multi-method assessment including situational and dispositional anthropomorphism, and general theory-of-mind measures during movie viewing (n=311).

Main Results:

• No consistent relationship was found between dispositional anthropomorphism and activity in the theory-of-mind network.
• Only situational anthropomorphism predicted the ability to understand and predict characters' behavior in a film.
• No association was observed between situational or dispositional anthropomorphism and general theory-of-mind.

Conclusions:

• Anthropomorphism and theory-of-mind may overlap situationally but appear distinct at the personality level.
• Findings suggest a potential dissociation between neural and behavioral measures concerning anthropomorphism and ToM.
• The study clarifies the relationship between attributing human-like qualities and inferring mental states.