title: Performance of children with autism spectrum disorder on advanced theory of mind tasks.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Brent Child and Family Clinic, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ella
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brent
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rios
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Happé
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Charman
mesh_terms: 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