title: Predicting and explaining behavior: a comparison of autistic, mentally retarded and normal children.
abstract: The relationship between performance on a false belief task and a new task designed to elicit explanations of human action was examined in two experiments. In the first study normal preschoolers' performance on both tasks was significantly correlated. The second experiment included matched groups of autistic, mentally retarded, and older normal children. The autistic subjects were significantly worse than controls at offering mentalistic explanations. Performance on the false belief and the explanation of action tasks was highly correlated for the autistic subjects. These findings are discussed in terms of the relationships between language and theory of mind.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Boston 02125-3393.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tager-Flusberg
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009949:Orientation; D011340:Problem Solving; D011936:Reality Testing; D012016:Reference Values