Measuring Theory of Mind in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM)—the ability to interpret others’ beliefs, intentions and emotions—undermine the ability of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to interact in socially normative ways. This study provides psychometric data for the Adult-Theory of Mind (A-ToM) measure using video-scenarios based in part on Happé’s (Instructions for theory of mind story task, 1999) Strange Stories test. The final items discriminated IQ-matched adults with ASD from controls on the social but not the physical items. Additional validity data included a two-component principal components solution, correlations with existing ToM scales, and the absence of correlations with self-report measures of empathy and social anxiety (not requiring inferences about the intent of others). The expected group differences in ToM were accompanied by marked variability in the ASD sample.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3080-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Social cognitive abilities predict psychosocial dysfunction in major depressive disorder

“…Such a measure would need to involve concurrent interpretation of many social cognitive domains in a realistic social scenario, rather than interpretation of single social cognitive domains in isolation. Integrated social cognition scenario tests exist for asperger syndrome and autism (see Brewer, Young, & Barnett, ; Dziobek et al., ), but have not yet been developed for MDD, and hence could not be applied in the current study. In addition, the cross‐sectional nature of this research, should be considered in the interpretation of our findings, such that we demonstrate an acute relationship between social cognitive and psychosocial deficits that should be viewed as preliminary in light of our modest sample size ( N = 213).…”

Recent Advances and New Directions in Measuring Theory of Mind in Autistic Adults

“…We will not dwell on conceptual and theoretical debates about classical ToM tasks, which can be found elsewhere in the literature (see Brewer et al 2017 , for recent discussion). Indeed, we suggest that a focus on classical tasks, and resulting debate, is stymieing development of novel methods, thereby constraining the clinical relevance of ToM research in autistic adults.…”

“…Second, recently developed tasks have sought to measure ToM by examining accuracy, via open-ended or multiple-choice questions, of mental state attribution after watching video-clips of social situations (Brewer et al 2017 ; Dziobek et al 2006 ; Murray et al 2017 ). Video-based tasks require more than simple inference from images or vignettes, and instead require inference of multiple socially relevant cues.…”

The Design of an Adaptive Content Management Learning System for Children with Autism

“…Autistic children experience significant difficulties recognizing existing and non-existing mental states from their textual descriptions. Conversely, controls easy distinguish the possible mental states and their recognition serves as a useful exercise on the way to learning the complex mental states (Brewer, Young, & Barnett, 2017). A means of assisting a system designer to demonstrate a potential system and facilitate the user's mental model is through development of multimedia presentation styles as mentioned in the visual design section would positively assist in building the mental model for children with autism.…”