Performance of children with autism spectrum disorder on advanced theory of mind tasks.
Although a number of advanced theory of mind tasks have been developed, there is sparse information on whether performance on different tasks is associated. The study examined the performance of 20 high-functioning 6- to 12-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder and 20 controls on three high-level theory of mind tasks: Strange Stories, Cartoons and the children's version of the Eyes task. The pattern of findings suggests that the three tasks may share differing, non-specific, information-processing requirements in addition to tapping any putative mentalizing ability. They may also indicate a degree of dissociation between social-cognitive and social-perceptual or affective components of the mentalizing system.
Brent
Ella
E
Brent Child and Family Clinic, London, UK.
Rios
Patricia
P
Happé
Francesca
F
Charman
Tony
T
D001321:Autistic Disorder; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception; D014888:Wechsler Scales