Validity of false belief tasks in blind children.
Previous studies have reported that congenitally blind children without any additional impairment reveal a developmental delay of at least 4 years in perspective taking based on testing first-order false-belief tasks. These authors interpret this delay as a sign of autism-like behavior. However, the delay may be caused by testing blind children with false-belief tasks that require visual experience. Therefore, the present study gave alternative false-belief tasks based on tactile or auditory experience to 45 congenitally blind 4-10-year-olds and 37 sighted 3-6-year-olds. Results showed criterion performance at 80 months (6; 8 years) in blind children compared with 61 months (5; 1 years) in sighted controls. It is concluded that this 19-month (1; 7 year) difference, which is comparable with delays in other developmental areas, is a developmental delay caused by the fact of congenital blindness rather than a sign of a psychopathological disorder of autism-like behavior.
Brambring
Michael
M
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany. m.brambring@uni-bielefeld.de
Asbrock
Doreen
D
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001766:Blindness / Q000151:congenital / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests