Children with autism can track others' beliefs in a competitive game. Peterson, C. C., Slaughter, V., Peterson, J., & Premack, D. Dev Sci, 16(3):443–450, 2013. doi abstract bibtex Theory of mind (ToM) development, assessed via 'litmus' false belief tests, is severely delayed in autism, but the standard testing procedure may underestimate these children's genuine understanding. To explore this, we developed a novel test involving competition to win a reward as the motive for tracking other players' beliefs (the 'Dot-Midge task'). Ninety-six children, including 23 with autism (mean age: 10.36 years), 50 typically developing 4-year-olds (mean age: 4.40) and 23 typically developing 3-year-olds (mean age: 3.59) took a standard 'Sally-Ann' false belief test, the Dot-Midge task (which was closely matched to the Sally-Ann task procedure) and a norm-referenced verbal ability test. Results revealed that, of the children with autism, 74% passed the Dot-Midge task, yet only 13% passed the standard Sally-Ann procedure. A similar pattern of performance was observed in the older, but not the younger, typically developing control groups. This finding demonstrates that many children with autism who fail motivationally barren standard false belief tests can spontaneously use ToM to track their social partners' beliefs in the context of a competitive game.
@Article{Peterson2013,
author = {Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia and Peterson, James and Premack, David},
journal = {Dev Sci},
title = {Children with autism can track others' beliefs in a competitive game.},
year = {2013},
number = {3},
pages = {443--450},
volume = {16},
abstract = {Theory of mind (ToM) development, assessed via 'litmus' false belief
tests, is severely delayed in autism, but the standard testing procedure
may underestimate these children's genuine understanding. To explore
this, we developed a novel test involving competition to win a reward
as the motive for tracking other players' beliefs (the 'Dot-Midge
task'). Ninety-six children, including 23 with autism (mean age:
10.36 years), 50 typically developing 4-year-olds (mean age: 4.40)
and 23 typically developing 3-year-olds (mean age: 3.59) took a standard
'Sally-Ann' false belief test, the Dot-Midge task (which was closely
matched to the Sally-Ann task procedure) and a norm-referenced verbal
ability test. Results revealed that, of the children with autism,
74\% passed the Dot-Midge task, yet only 13\% passed the standard
Sally-Ann procedure. A similar pattern of performance was observed
in the older, but not the younger, typically developing control groups.
This finding demonstrates that many children with autism who fail
motivationally barren standard false belief tests can spontaneously
use ToM to track their social partners' beliefs in the context of
a competitive game.},
doi = {10.1111/desc.12040},
institution = {School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4072. candi@psy.uq.edu.au},
keywords = {Adolescent; Autistic Disorder, psychology; Child; Child, Preschool; Culture; Games, Experimental; Humans; Social Perception; Theory of Mind},
language = {eng},
medline-pst = {ppublish},
pmid = {23587041},
timestamp = {2014.05.09},
}
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To explore this, we developed a novel test involving competition to win a reward as the motive for tracking other players' beliefs (the 'Dot-Midge task'). Ninety-six children, including 23 with autism (mean age: 10.36 years), 50 typically developing 4-year-olds (mean age: 4.40) and 23 typically developing 3-year-olds (mean age: 3.59) took a standard 'Sally-Ann' false belief test, the Dot-Midge task (which was closely matched to the Sally-Ann task procedure) and a norm-referenced verbal ability test. Results revealed that, of the children with autism, 74% passed the Dot-Midge task, yet only 13% passed the standard Sally-Ann procedure. A similar pattern of performance was observed in the older, but not the younger, typically developing control groups. 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To explore\n\tthis, we developed a novel test involving competition to win a reward\n\tas the motive for tracking other players' beliefs (the 'Dot-Midge\n\ttask'). Ninety-six children, including 23 with autism (mean age:\n\t10.36 years), 50 typically developing 4-year-olds (mean age: 4.40)\n\tand 23 typically developing 3-year-olds (mean age: 3.59) took a standard\n\t'Sally-Ann' false belief test, the Dot-Midge task (which was closely\n\tmatched to the Sally-Ann task procedure) and a norm-referenced verbal\n\tability test. Results revealed that, of the children with autism,\n\t74\\% passed the Dot-Midge task, yet only 13\\% passed the standard\n\tSally-Ann procedure. A similar pattern of performance was observed\n\tin the older, but not the younger, typically developing control groups.\n\tThis finding demonstrates that many children with autism who fail\n\tmotivationally barren standard false belief tests can spontaneously\n\tuse ToM to track their social partners' beliefs in the context of\n\ta competitive game.},\n doi = {10.1111/desc.12040},\n institution = {School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4072. candi@psy.uq.edu.au},\n keywords = {Adolescent; Autistic Disorder, psychology; Child; Child, Preschool; Culture; Games, Experimental; Humans; Social Perception; Theory of Mind},\n language = {eng},\n medline-pst = {ppublish},\n pmid = {23587041},\n timestamp = {2014.05.09},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Peterson, C. 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