Ostensive Cueing, Epistemic Trust, and Reflective Functioning: A Conceptual Review and Exploration of a Quantitative Paradigm

Paper 1: Learning within a social context is a key feature of human development and communication, and there are numerous different theories attempting to explain the processes and mechanisms by which it occurs. This conceptual introduction intends to synthesize the varying concepts and frameworks within the social learning literature into a clearer narrative which further empirical research could use as a foundation. It will review frameworks from social-cognitive and behavioural models that explain social learning mechanisms in infants, before exploring mentalization and epistemic trust as a new framework. This will include a review of the attachment theory literature and how this relates to epistemic trust and learning. The roots of epistemic trust will also be explored through psychoanalytic literature. Ostensive cues are noted to be of importance across the models, and their definition and role is critically examined. These fields will then be linked to the process of learning in adults, alongside an explanation of clinical implications for when these processes are disrupted throughout development and adult life. The field lacks a quantitative measure of epistemic trust, and this conceptual introduction will conclude by setting out research aims for the empirical paper to investigate this. Paper 2: Aims. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how implicit learning is linked to ostensive cues, epistemic trust, and a range of individual differences through a performance-based learning task. The impact of specific ostensive cueing forms (e.g., person vs computer) on implicit learning was also explored. Method. Participants were invited to complete demographics and individual difference questionnaires that included measures of attachment, Borderline Personality Disorder traits, reflective functioning, childhood trauma, and general mental wellbeing. They then completed an implicit learning task involving a mix of ostensive cues that came from the computer, a researcher, both, or neither. Results. Participants in the computer ostensive cueing condition recalled significantly less words, specifically fewer negative words, than those receiving no ostensive cueing or person ostensive cueing. There was no significant difference in accuracy scores. Individual difference measures did not significantly predict the total words recalled by participants when entered into the regression model. Conclusions. The findings from this study suggest a possible negative effect of computer ostensive cues on social learning. This does not align with results from previous research (Fillingham, 2018), and it casts some doubt on the effectiveness of the paradigm as a measure of epistemic trust. However, there are several limitations that require further research