Two-levels of mental states attribution: from automaticity to voluntariness.
In this paper, I introduce the hypothesis that there are two levels of mindreading. The first level refers to automatic-preconceptual phenomena that specify a primitive understanding of another person's mind. It is based on early-imitation, action and emotion recognition. The second level of mindreading is conceptual and voluntary. It is based on intentionality, empathy, and higher depths of reasoning. The activities in both levels are generated by internal simulative mechanisms. This hypothesis is based on human and nonhuman neuroscientific evidence.
Coricelli
Giorgio
G
Institut des Sciences Cognitives, CNRS 67, Boulevard Pinel 69675, Bron, France. coricelli@isc.cnrs.fr
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement; D012938:Social Perception; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology