Critically Discuss the claim that Individuals with Autism are impaired in Theory of Mind.
Include studies using advanced theory of mind tasks and eye-tracking methods in your
answer.
German Psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler was the first to discuss the concept of Autism in 1911, in
which he described its symptoms as severe cases of schizophrenia, which is yet another
concept he created. Autistic thinking was considered to have 'fantasised illusions', according
to Bleuler. (Bleuler 1950). Autisms is defined as a ‘Neurological disorder that affects
multiple development with behaviours that persist over time’. (Premack & Woodruff, 1978)
Autism is characterized by a lack of a sense of self, as well as an inability to comprehend
other people's mental states, i.e., Theory of mind.
Simon Baron-Cohen developed the Theory of Mind. His theory of attention asserts that it is
the first aspect of a fully developed mind. The process of interests begins at an early age
when infants grasp the gesture of pointing or focus their attention on the same interest,
representing the very beginnings of theoretical thinking. (Baron-Cohen, 1985). False-belief
tests are traditionally used to assess a child's ability to understand that others have beliefs
about the world that differ from their own. These tests indicate that children with ASD have
difficulty with ToM tasks. Cultural differences are another factor to consider when
identifying ToM tasks. A toddler's mental development is influenced by culture to the extent
that certain milestones are engrained in their minds in a particular order.
As an example, in the U.S., a greater emphasis is placed on learning to acknowledge others'
different opinions and beliefs than one's own, but in more collectivist cultures such as China,
this skill isn't as emphasized so it may not be developed as soon after. (Shahaeian, 2011).
Senju et al. (2010) used eye gaze to focus on the anticipations and actions of young children
to study spontaneous anticipations and actions. The study noted that there was a link between
children with ASD who do not pass the false belief task as compared to 4-year-olds with TD.
Considering that children with autism do not automatically attribute mental states to people's
actions, it was hypothesized that they would be able to complete the non-verbal version of the
false belief task as well as to see anticipatory eye gaze in the eye-gaze task.
An assessment was conducted that included a non-verbal false belief test. The stimuli were an
actor watching an object being hidden inside a box. In the left-hand box, the puppet places a
ball. The actor is interrupted by a phone call and turns away. In the FB part of the task, the
puppets pop up and take the ball before disappearing. The actor then turns back to the boxes.
A non-verbal portion of the test involved how long and where the children looked. The verbal
record was the children being asked which window the actor will open to look for the ball.
Children with TD predict the actor's action by using eye-tracking by making longer fixations
towards the correct window based on the false belief they infer. Particularly, when they
anticipated that the actor would open a window and reach for the box, the eye-tracking
resulted in longer fixations. It was found that ASD children did not show spontaneous
anticipation looking in comparison to TD children. Compared to children with TD, ASD
children did not show evidence of spontaneous anticipatory looking. Experimental studies on
children with autism have consistently shown that they have difficulties both in producing
and deceiving their understanding when someone is trying to deceive them. Mentalising
difficulties are evident in children with ASD regarding comprehension and understanding
problems.
Include studies using advanced theory of mind tasks and eye-tracking methods in your
answer.
German Psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler was the first to discuss the concept of Autism in 1911, in
which he described its symptoms as severe cases of schizophrenia, which is yet another
concept he created. Autistic thinking was considered to have 'fantasised illusions', according
to Bleuler. (Bleuler 1950). Autisms is defined as a ‘Neurological disorder that affects
multiple development with behaviours that persist over time’. (Premack & Woodruff, 1978)
Autism is characterized by a lack of a sense of self, as well as an inability to comprehend
other people's mental states, i.e., Theory of mind.
Simon Baron-Cohen developed the Theory of Mind. His theory of attention asserts that it is
the first aspect of a fully developed mind. The process of interests begins at an early age
when infants grasp the gesture of pointing or focus their attention on the same interest,
representing the very beginnings of theoretical thinking. (Baron-Cohen, 1985). False-belief
tests are traditionally used to assess a child's ability to understand that others have beliefs
about the world that differ from their own. These tests indicate that children with ASD have
difficulty with ToM tasks. Cultural differences are another factor to consider when
identifying ToM tasks. A toddler's mental development is influenced by culture to the extent
that certain milestones are engrained in their minds in a particular order.
As an example, in the U.S., a greater emphasis is placed on learning to acknowledge others'
different opinions and beliefs than one's own, but in more collectivist cultures such as China,
this skill isn't as emphasized so it may not be developed as soon after. (Shahaeian, 2011).
Senju et al. (2010) used eye gaze to focus on the anticipations and actions of young children
to study spontaneous anticipations and actions. The study noted that there was a link between
children with ASD who do not pass the false belief task as compared to 4-year-olds with TD.
Considering that children with autism do not automatically attribute mental states to people's
actions, it was hypothesized that they would be able to complete the non-verbal version of the
false belief task as well as to see anticipatory eye gaze in the eye-gaze task.
An assessment was conducted that included a non-verbal false belief test. The stimuli were an
actor watching an object being hidden inside a box. In the left-hand box, the puppet places a
ball. The actor is interrupted by a phone call and turns away. In the FB part of the task, the
puppets pop up and take the ball before disappearing. The actor then turns back to the boxes.
A non-verbal portion of the test involved how long and where the children looked. The verbal
record was the children being asked which window the actor will open to look for the ball.
Children with TD predict the actor's action by using eye-tracking by making longer fixations
towards the correct window based on the false belief they infer. Particularly, when they
anticipated that the actor would open a window and reach for the box, the eye-tracking
resulted in longer fixations. It was found that ASD children did not show spontaneous
anticipation looking in comparison to TD children. Compared to children with TD, ASD
children did not show evidence of spontaneous anticipatory looking. Experimental studies on
children with autism have consistently shown that they have difficulties both in producing
and deceiving their understanding when someone is trying to deceive them. Mentalising
difficulties are evident in children with ASD regarding comprehension and understanding
problems.
