The influence of constructing robot's behavior on the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) and Theory of Artificial Mind (ToAM) in young children

A new theoretical scheme named ToAM (Theory of Artificial Mind) was examined by means of qualitative and quantitative methodology among twenty four 5-7 year old children from central Israel. The study also examined the effects of interacting with behaving artifacts (constructing versus observing the robot's behavior) using the "RoboGan" interface on children's development of ToAM and ToM and looked for conceptions that evolve among children while interacting with behaving artifacts which are indicative of the acquisition of ToAM. The quantitative analysis indicated that the interaction with behaving artifacts, for both age and condition groups brought into awareness children's ToM as well as influenced their ability to understand that robots can behave independently and based on external and environmental conditions. The qualitative analysis indicated that the engagement in building the robot's behavior influenced the constructors' ability to explain several of the robots' behaviors, their understanding of the robot's script-based behavior and rule-based behavior and the children's metacognitive development. The theoretical and practical importance of the study is discussed.