• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: The Non-Problem of the Other Minds: A Neurodevelopmental Perspective on Shared Intentionality
  • Contributor: Colle, Livia; Becchio, Cristina; Bara, Bruno G.
  • Published: S. Karger AG, 2008
  • Published in: Human Development, 51 (2008) 5-6, Seite 336-348
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1159/000170896
  • ISSN: 1423-0054; 0018-716X
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: In this paper, we combine neurological and developmental evidences in order to differentiate between two levels of sharing: dyadic sharing, virtually present from birth and depending on the activation of shared representation, and triadic sharing, requiring that agents not only share a common representation, but also represent complementary perspectives. Mirror neurons are proposed as a fundamental mechanism to account for <i>dyadic sharing, </i>explaining why infants are able to interact symmetrically and contingently with others from very early on in infancy. In the second part of this paper, we reinterpret the 9-month revolution as a revolution in sharedness: the transition from dyadic sharing to <i>triadic sharing</i>. The neural event which renders this transition possible might be the emergence of a basic mechanism that allows the attribution of actions and intentions to their owner. We suggest two neuronal networks possibly responsible for the shift to triadic sharing.