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At two different times while reading, I wrote a note in the margins about how Tomasello's findings would apply to a different aspect of cognition--dreaming--so I'll run with it here in this post.
On page 100, Tomasello says that a joint attentional scene is possible for a child because "it is as she were viewing the whole scene from above, with herself as just one player in it." That image really struck with me, the idea of being able to imagine yourself from a third-person perspective, and how that impacts your thinking. When one (either a child or an adult) constructs hypothetical situations, such as winning the lottery or an encounter with a mugger at night (I suppose we could even call this daydreaming), are they viewing it in their mind from a first- or third-person perspective? I would guess that a good proportion of the time, it's from a third-person perspective, and I think dreaming is the same way. (I remember realizing at some point in my childhood that I viewed myself from a third-person view in my dreams, so I guess this is assertion entirely based on that) I'm also going to go out on a limb (metaphor!) and say that there is some significance in the unconscious nature of dreaming (more on that later).
A dream is the same as a conscious hypothetical in that someone is imagining scenarios that involve themselves. What is the significance in a person constructing hypothetical experiences from a third-person, rather than first-person, view? Is that a cognitive achievement?
Additionally, when Tomasello says "The process of acquiring and using linguistic symbols fundamentally trasnforms the nature of human cognitive representation," it reminded me of how people will often "think" in words or dream "in" languages. (This is often noticed by people who acquire another language when living in another country and find themselves switching languages on occasion). How does our ability to "think" in languages affect our thinking, and how do different languages change or augment that thinking?
Mental Models of Purpose of College
2 years ago
I think this is really interesting. I wonder how we could test to see whether other animals are able to imagine themselves from a 3rd person perspective. I think this is the same as seeing the world from another person's perspective insofar as seeing the world from your perspective I'd have to see myself from your perspective.
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