Exploring the Components of Advanced Theory of Mind in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Performance of a group of 35 youth and adults with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) was compared with a typical developing (TD) group on three Advanced Theory of Mind tests. The distinction between the social-cognitive and social-perceptual components of Theory of Mind was also explored. The HFA group had more difficulties in all tasks. Performance on the two social-cognitive tests was highly correlated in the HFA group, but these were not related with the social-perceptual component. These results suggest that the youth with HFA have difficulties on all the components of social knowledge but may be using different underlying cognitive abilities depending on the nature of the task.

Autism and Faux Pas. Influences of Presentation Modality and Working Memory

“…Several studies have administered it to autistic people and a neurotypical (NT) comparison group, especially in adults. Their findings indicate that judging different scenarios as they are presented is complex, especially when they involve accidental actions, due to ToM difficulties and respondents’ particular way of processing important information (González-Gadea et al, 2013; Pedreño, Pousa, Navarro, Pàmias, & Obiols, 2017; Spek, Scholte, & van Berckelaer-Onnes, 2010; Zalla et al, 2009). According to Zalla et al (2009), in which study 15 autistic adults and 15 NT adults participated ( M ASD = 28 years-old; M NT = 27.8 years-old), a significant proportion of autistic adults answered incorrectly that the character acted intentionally, believing that the character had deliberately intended to humiliate or offend the other person.…”

Examining the relationship between social cognition and neural synchrony during movies in children with and without autism

“…These regions have been shown previously to be associated with elements of 'plot following' during movie watching (Hasson, Furman, et al, 2008;Hasson, Landesman, et al, 2008;Naci et al, 2014;Nguyen et al, 2019), suggesting that the children in the ASD group were experiencing the movie qualitatively differently than the participants in the other two groups. These results, in particular the fact that the ToM network was less synchronized in the ASD group, are intriguing given that regions within this network are associated with social cognition (Dufour et al, 2013;Mills et al, 2014;Richardson et al, 2018;Rilling et al, 2004), which is known to be affected in ASD (Hamilton et al, 2009;Pedreño et al, 2017;Spencer et al, 2011). While aspects of social cognition are usually discussed in the context of inter-personal relationships, they are also essential components of movie-watching, allowing one to become immersed in the plot by taking the perspective of the characters appropriately, understanding their motives, and following their verbal and nonverbal communication cues.…”

“…Social cognition refers to understanding what other people believe, how they will react in situations, and why they feel the way they do, and is a core element of successful human interactions. Autistic individuals perform poorly on tasks that assess social cognition, such as face perception (Spencer et al, 2011), perspective taking (Hamilton et al, 2009), and theory of mind (ToM), or the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others (Pedreño et al, 2017).…”

La comprensión moral de situaciones accidentales y deliberadas en escolares con autismo

“…Several studies have administered it to autistic people and a neurotypical (NT) comparison group, especially in adults. Their findings indicate that judging different scenarios as they are presented is complex, especially when they involve accidental actions, due to ToM difficulties and respondents' particular way of processing important information (Gonzalez-Gadea et al, 2013;Pedreño, Pousa, Navarro, Pàmias, & Obiols, 2017;Spek et al, 2010;Zalla et al, 2009). According to Zalla et al (2009), in which study 15 autistic adults and 15 NT adults participated (MASD = 28 years; MNT = 27.8 years), a significant proportion of autistic adults answered incorrectly that the character acted intentionally, believing that the character had deliberately intended to humiliate or offend the other person.…”