title: Weak central coherence and its relations to theory of mind and anxiety in autism.
abstract: Recent theory and research suggests that weak central coherence, a specific perceptual-cognitive style, underlies the central disturbance in autism. This study sought to provide a test of the weak central coherence hypothesis. In addition, this study explored the relations between the weak central coherence hypothesis, theory of mind skills, and social-emotional functioning in a group of high functioning children with autism. Results revealed equivocal support for the weak central coherence hypothesis, but found moderate correlations between verbal weak central coherence and theory of mind measures. No significant findings were observed between weak central coherence measures and social-emotional functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA. cburnette@umiami.edu
authors.forename: Courtney P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Burnette
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Mundy
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Steven K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Charak
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D013223:Statistics as Topic