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Theory of Mind Autism

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THEORY OF MIND

Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand the desires, intentions and
beliefs of others, and is a skill that develops between 3 and 5 years of age in
typically developing children. This is test revision.

Relevance to autism:

Theory of mind is impaired in people with autism. One of the earliest tests for
theory of mind is the false-belief test developed by Simon Baron-Cohen and
Uta Frith1. In the classic version of the test, a little girl named Sally puts a ball
into a basket and goes out for a walk. While she is away, another little girl
named Anne takes the ball out of the basket and puts it into a box. When Sally
comes back, she wants to play with the ball. Where, the children are asked, will
Sally look for the ball? ‘In the box,’ children with autism answer, unable to
imagine that Sally might be operating under a false belief.
In 1985, Baron-Cohen, Frith and Alan Leslie reported that children with autism
systematically fail the false-belief test. Children with Down syndrome pass the
test, despite having lower intelligence quotients than those with autism2. The
researchers concluded that autism leads to a delay in the development of
theory of mind, and that people with autism have difficulty understanding the
mental states of others.
However, researchers stress that it is important to distinguish false-belief
tasks, which rely on language, from full-fledged theory of mind, which is more
deeply impaired in people with autism.
Some children and adults with autism can pass false-belief tests, for example.
But they show more difficulty with theory of mind tasks that do not allow them
to reason through a problem. For example, a 2011 study reported that highly
intelligent young adults with autism express tend not to weigh intention and
outcome when engaged in moral reasoning3.
A 2009 eye tracking study showed that adults with Asperger
syndrome seem to compute theory of mind differently than healthy people
do4.
Other studies have pointed to a biological basis for impaired theory of mind in
people with autism5 6. Finally, much research suggests that different aspects of
,

language are important for developing theory of mind7. These include


communication in social contexts, such as between mother and child or in peer
interactions, knowledge of words and concepts referring to mental states and
complex grammar, especially sentence structures used to express mental states.

REFERENCES:

1. Baron-Cohen S. et al. Cognition 21, 37-46 (1985) PubMed


2. Tager-Flusberg H. Child Dev. 63, 161-172 (1992) PubMed
3. Moran J. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 2688-2692 (2011) PubMed
4. Senju A. et al. Science 325, 883-885 (2009) PubMed
5. Saxe R. and N. Kanwisher Neuroimage 19, 1835-1842 (2003) PubMed
6. Kana R.K. et al. Soc. Neurosci. 4, 135-152 (2009) PubMed
7. Astington J. and J. Baird (Eds.) Why language matters for theory of
mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2005)

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