Exploring different explanations for performance on a theory of mind task in Williams syndrome and autism using eye movements.
The current study explored the looking behaviours of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Williams syndrome (WS), and typically developing (TD) children while they were administered a low-verbal Theory of Mind (ToM) task. Although ToM performance in both clinical groups was impaired, only participants with WS showed small differences in looking behaviour at the start of the video. Furthermore, while TD children who passed the ToM task looked longer at the original hiding place there was no such contrast in the clinical groups. This shows that looking behaviour in ASD and WS is not necessarily atypical when saliency aspects such as language, background, and colour are removed and that differences in looking behaviour cannot explain ToM performance.
Department of Psychology, Kingston University, United Kingdom.
Jo
J
Van Herwegen
Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom.
Tim J
TJ
Smith
Lifespan Learning and Sleep Laboratory, UCL, Institute of Education, United Kingdom. Electronic address: d.dimitriou@ioe.ac.uk.
Dagmara
D
Dimitriou
D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005145:Face; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D056345:Theory of Mind; D018980:Williams Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*
Autism Spectrum Disorders; Eye movements; Theory of mind; Williams syndrome