A New Computerised Advanced Theory of Mind Measure for Children with Asperger Syndrome: The ATOMIC (original) (raw)
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Evaluation of the theory of mind in autism spectrum disorders with the Strange Stories test
Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 2013
Objective To evaluate the theory of mind in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and control individuals by applying the Strange Stories test that was translated and adapted to the Portuguese language. Method Twenty-eight children with ASD and 56 controls who were all male and aged between 6 and 12 years participated in the study. Results There were significant differences between the median scores of the groups for each of the 12 stories of the test and for the sum total of all the median scores. The median scores for all stories were significantly greater in the control group than those in the experimental group (children with ASD). In addition, the protocol had excellent internal consistency. Conclusion The theory of mind skills assessed with the Strange Stories test indicated alterations in children with ASD compared with children in the control group.
Two groups of individuals, one with high-functioning autism and the other with Asperger syndrome were tested using Happe's Strange Stories Test of a more advanced theory of mind . This assesses the ability to interpret a non-literal statement. Relative to normal controls who were IQ and age-matched, individuals with autism or Asperger syndrome performed less well on the task, whilst performing normally on a non-mentalistic control task. Individuals with autism or Asperger syndrome could provide mental state answers, but had difficulty in providing contextually-appropriate mental state answers. Rather, their answers tended to concentrate on the utterance in isolation. This replicates Happe's result. Although the majority of both clinical groups provided context-inappropriate interpretations, the autism group had the greater difficulty. These results are discussed in relation to both weak central coherence and theory of mind.
“Theory of Mind” in Asperger's Syndrome Dermot M. Bowler
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1992
Abstract— Two studies are reported in which the ability of people with Asperger's syndrome to understand problems of the type “Peter thinks that Jane thinks that …” was tested. The results showed that in contrast to younger or more handicapped autistic individuals, Asperger subjects were able to solve problems of the type just outlined, i.e. that they possessed a second-order theory of mind. When asked to explain their solutions however, they typically did not use mental state terms but did not differ in this respect either from non-handicapped or socially impaired, chronic schizophrenic controls. The implications of the results for current cognitive theories of autistic impairment are discussed.
Unique Theory of Mind Differentiation in Children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Autism Research and Treatment, 2012
This study was designed to determine if ToM abilities of children with autism and Asperger syndrome differentiate into Intrapersonal ToM and Social ToM. A battery of Social and Intrapersonal ToM tasks was administered to 39 children with autism and 34 children with Asperger syndrome. For both groups of children, ToM differentiated and Intrapersonal ToM was stronger than Social ToM. This asymmetry was greater for children with autism, whose Social ToM was especially weak. These results support a differentiated, as opposed to integrated, ToM. Moreover, the findings provide a more thorough understanding of the cognitive abilities associated with autism and Asperger syndrome.
Measuring Theory of Mind in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2017
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.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2017
Real-life social processing abilities of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can be hard to capture in lab-based experimental tasks. A novel measure of social cognition, the "Strange Stories Film task' (SSFt), was designed to overcome limitations of available measures in the field. Brief films were made based on the scenarios from the Strange Stories task (Happé) and designed to capture the subtle social-cognitive difficulties observed in ASD adults. Twenty neurotypical adults were recruited to pilot the new measure. A final test set was produced and administered to a group of 20 adults with ASD and 20 matched controls, alongside established social cognition tasks and questionnaire measures of empathy, alexithymia and ASD traits. The SSFt was more effective than existing measures at differentiating the ASD group from the control group. In the ASD group, the SSFt was associated with the Strange Stories task. The SSFt is a potentially useful tool to identify social co...