This article explores what we can learn about truth and meaning from fiction, through a reading of George Orwell's (Eric Blair's) dystopic novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949) in the light of philosopher Stanley Cavell's notion of "lived skepticism." The article suggests that we can conceive of the novel as portraying…

The stereotype of autism spectrum conditions (ASC or 'autism') focuses on the social and communicative elements of the diagnostic criteria. In this review, we step back from autism as a social and communicative disorder and focus on the autistic self. The autistic self is a key component of the condition which has nevertheless received…

Drawing on cognitive criticism, and using Theory of Mind, transportation, and imaginative resistance as a framework, this essay analyzes the ways in which Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows Duology, can build understanding of and empathy for people with living with mental illnesses. Maria Nikolajeva's germinal work on cognitive approaches to literature…

Intercultural Understanding and Personal and Social Capability are two General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum. However, the level of engagement anticipated by students in addressing these general capabilities across the learning continua provided in the curriculum differs significantly both in terms of the cognitive level expected of…

This paper forwards the position that the adventure sports coaching environment contains features that are accentuated in comparison with traditional sports coaching contexts, and that these accentuated features are conducive to the development of sophisticated epistemic beliefs. We consider the manner in which physical, social and temporal…

The recent expansion of research on children's understanding of others' minds (or 'theory of mind', ToM) into middle childhood provides fresh opportunities to consider its origins and consequences. In this paper, we propose that, in addition to supporting children's social interactions, individual differences in ToM benefit academic achievement,…

'Theory of Mind' (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to others to make sense of their behaviour. ToM research has informed understanding of (a)typical social behaviour, including the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This began with research on ToM in autistic children and there has been a noticeable increase in the study of…

Purpose: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work with a variety of populations at risk for poor autobiographical and episodic memory. The purpose of this tutorial is to describe autobiographical memory and how it is affected in children with autism spectrum disorder, attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder, hearing loss, and childhood trauma, as…

This article combines research results centred on theory of mind (ToM) from cognitive and developmental psychology (Goldman 2006; Apperly 2010; Wilkinson and Ball 2012) with the notion of intersubjectivity in usage-based linguistics (i.a. Verhagen 2005; Nuyts 2012; Traugott 2012). It identifies some of the controversies in the literature from both…

The construct of metacognition appears in an ever increasing number and range of contexts in educational, developmental, and cognitive psychology. Can it retain its status as a useful construct in the face of such diverse application? Or is it merely an umbrella term for diverse mental phenomena that are loosely if at all connected? Here I argue…

The ability to understand the mental states of other individuals is central to human social behavior, yet some theory of mind capacities are shared with other species. Comparisons of theory of mind skills across humans and other primates can provide a critical test of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for different theory of mind skills to…

Individual differences in children's social communication have been shown to mediate the relationship between poor vocabulary or grammar and behavioural difficulties. Moreover, there is increasing evidence that social communication skills predict difficulties with peers over and above vocabulary and grammar scores. The essential social…

During the 2020-21 school year, remote instruction due to COVID-19 significantly limited children's access to school-based social interactions. As schools return to in-person instruction, we ask: Can poetry and metaphor be used to develop theory of mind (ToM)/reflective functioning and emotional literacy in the early elementary setting? This…

Does language have a role to play in conceptual development, and if so, what is that role? Understanding the contents of another person's mind parallels the development in early childhood of mental state language. Does the conceptual understanding get reflected in and drive the language development, or does the language allow the representation of…

The question of the acquisition of the first social phenomena by newborns is a crucial issue both in understanding the mental development and the ontogenesis of social interaction. The review attempts to investigate other researches that observe social behavior in studies with no communication between subjects. This current analysis reviews…