Understanding of mental states in later childhood: an investigation of theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder and typical development with a novel task

Abstract

The developmental trajectories of Theory of Mind (ToM) in later childhood and into adolescence have not been thoroughly investigated, partly due to a lack of sensitive paradigms that can chart development in typical populations or in individuals with a core deficit in ToM, such as those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study assessed understanding of emotions, beliefs, and intentions using both an established ToM task () and the more recently developed Comic Strip Task (CST; ). Participants comprised 12 typically-developing (TD) children (mean age: 12·0 years, range: 9·9–14·8 years) and 12 high-functioning children with ASD (mean age: 11·0 years, range: 9·1–13·6 years). Results indicated that the ASD group were not impaired on any of the ToM tasks relative to TD children. It was concluded that although children with high-functioning ASD appear to develop basic ToM skills, they do not generalize these to naturalistic situations. The comic-strip paradigm is suggested as a promising way to approach the measurement of ToM across childhood in typical children and those with ASD.

Keywords:

• theory of mind
• autism spectrum disorder
• late childhood
• emotion understanding
• belief understanding
• intention understanding

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all of the participants and their families for their generous support of this research.