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Why some autistic people fail "theory of mind" tasks while…
Why some autistic people fail "theory of mind" tasks while others pass them?
What is "theory of mind" (ToM)
'ability to impute mental states to self and other people'
Premack & Woodruff (1978)
Why do we use ToM?
to understand the ours and others' minds (mental states)
make predictions/inferences about people's thoughts and behaviours
ToM in Autism
Dysfunctional ToM -> difficulty in understanding minds in autism
Baron-Cohen et al. (1985)
DSM-5: Deficit in social communication and interactions (APA, 2013)
Studies where most autistic children fail ToM tasks
Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith (1985)
Sally-Anne (orginally by Wimmer & Perner, 1983)
Being able to accurately predict that Sally will look for the marble in the basket
80% of children with severe ASD and intellectual issues FAILED (20% passed)
Factor 1: using compensator strategies
Fletcher, Watson. & Happe (2019)
Autistic woman used deduction to pass the Sally-Anne task
Livingston et al. (2018)
Factor 2: Tasks not just about mental state
Complex cognitive demands
Iao & Leekam (2004)
Bowler et al. (2005)
Leekam & Perner (2008)
General issue and not specific mental states
Factor 3: Autism hetergenous condition
intellectual disabilities
Often (~50%) accompanied by some level of intellectual disability (e.g., Baird et al., 2006)
Co-occuring mental disorders
very often (~80%) accompanied by co-occurring mental and physical health conditions (Anxiety, Epilepsy, ADHD etc) (e.g., Simonoff et al., 2008).
Severity of ASD
Hoogenhout & Malcolm-Smith (2016)