The Sally-Anne Test

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Composed by Nathan Thatcher

Performed 4/2/16 Britton Recital Hall, University of Michigan
Merryl Monard and Brice Smith, Flutes

Program Note:

Since the 1960’s, humans have been teaching apes to communicate using sign language. They have learned to answer questions, express emotions, and even produce novel thoughts. But for as long as we have communicated with them, no ape has ever once asked a question. This, of course, isn’t to say that they are not curious, but it indicates that they lack a “theory of mind”: the understanding that others’ minds are separate and different from one’s own, that they have access to unshared knowledge, beliefs, and perspectives.
Even we humans are not born with a theory of mind. The Sally-Anne Test is a simple psychological experiment used to test the development of an child’s theory of mind. In the test, researchers act out a story about Sally and Anne. Sally and Anne have a box, a basket, and a delicious cookie in their room. Sally takes the cookie and puts it in the box and then leaves the room. While Sally is away, Anne takes the cookie out of the box and places it inside the basket. When Sally comes back to the room, researchers ask the children where she will look for the cookie. Obviously, she will look in the box; that is where she left it and she has no way of knowing what Anne did while she was gone. But until about the age of four, children will insist that Sally will look in the basket, because after all, that’s where the cookie is. The children saw the change take place, so why wouldn’t Sally know, too?
My piece deals both with the reality of our theory of mind and with aspects of the Sally-Anne test itself. It is intended to play with the listener’s perception of change and sameness. In the end, we have to confront the fact that we are all alone in our minds and that each person’s experience and perception is fundamentally different from our own. And there is something beautiful about that.