“Why do they do it?”: The short‐story task for measuring fiction‐based mentalizing in autistic and non‐autistic individuals

Abstract

This study aimed to validate the short‐story‐task (SST) based on Dodell‐Feder et al. as an instrument to quantify the ability of mentalizing and to differentiate between non‐autistic adults and autistic adults, who may have acquired rules to interpret the actions of non‐autistic individuals. Autistic (N = 32) and non‐autistic (N = 32) adult participants were asked to read “The End of Something” by Ernest Hemingway and to answer implicit and explicit mentalizing questions, and comprehension questions. Furthermore, verbal and nonverbal IQ was measured and participants were asked how much fiction they read each month. Mentalizing performance was normally distributed for autistic and non‐autistic participants with autistic participants scoring in the lower third of the distribution. ROC (receiver operator curve) analysis revealed the task to be an excellent discriminator between autistic and non‐autistic participants. A linear regression analysis identified number of books read, years of education and group as significant predictors. Overall, the SST is a promising measure of mentalizing. On the one hand, it differentiates among non‐autistic individuals and on the other hand it is sensitive towards performance differences in mentalizing among autistic adults. Implications for interventions are discussed.

The effect of reading literary fiction on the theory of mind skills among persons with schizophrenia and normal controls

“…Additionally we evaluated it dichotomously; however, a more detailed description of reading experience could have provided a more comprehensive picture of the relationship between reading and ToM. Nevertheless, our results seem to be in line with the previously cited study, where the number of books read per month was used to assess reading experiences ( 38 ). In addition to quantity, a more detailed analysis would be interesting (e.g., regular reading vs. occasional reading, what genre they read, how characteristic reading was in different developmental periods, etc.).…”

“…It seems reasonable to hypothesize that reading fiction may have a positive impact on ToM skills in subjects at risk of developing schizophrenia, or in patients already living with schizophrenia. This hypothesis is indirectly supported by the recent article mentioned, where the authors found that the number of books previously read predicted the SST performance in autistic and non-autistic individuals (38).…”

“…Reading experience may also be linked to years of education, as we have shown in our analysis. Recently education, spontaneous ToM and the amount of books read were found significant predictors of explicit ToM performance ( 38 ).…”

“…Since the publication of SST, it has also been applied to assess individuals at high clinical risk for psychosis ( 37 ), and most recently, SST was successfully used in subjects with autism spectrum condition ( 38 ).…”

“…. most recently, SST was successfully used in subjects with autism spectrum condition (38). However, based on the aforementioned research data, we can also hypothesize that reading literary fiction may enhance ToM skills (15,17,22,39), which in turn suggests that it may be a potential means of improving ToM deficits in certain psychopathological states, such as schizophrenia (21,36) through remediation.…”