Abstract
Over the last 30 years, research has explored theory of mind (ToM), the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and to others. Work on ToM in typical and atypical populations has shed light on the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying social understanding and interaction. The ToM hypothesis has long been regarded as one comprehensive explanation of the severe cognitive and behavioral impairments encountered by individuals with autism. However, high-functioning individuals can often pass both first-order and second-order false belief tasks using cognitive compensation strategies. To provide more sensitive measures of mental state attribution abilities, researchers have introduced more difficult, “advanced” theory of mind tasks. In this article, we argue that in attempting to bypass compensation strategies, these new advanced ToM tasks, such as the Faux Pas and the Strange Stories tasks, impose cognitive demands beyond those specific to the domain of ToM. We then provide an integrative account of social deficits in autism that takes into account several distinct components of mental state understanding, including both general cognitive capacities and processes specific to ToM. We argue that a number of related cognitive abilities, including episodic cognitive control and inferencing from prior knowledge, are necessary to understand how both people with autism and typical development navigate challenging, real-life social situations.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication
To provide more sensitive measures of theory of mind (ToM) abilities, researchers have introduced more difficult, “advanced” ToM tasks, which are meant to prevent the use of compensation strategies, and demonstrate that adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) lack or have a diminished ToM (Rajendran and Mitchell, 2007)
To explore the role of such capacities in ASD social functioning, we highlight the general cognitive demands made by conventional ToM tasks, as well as accounts of ASD individuals’ general cognitive capacities in a range of domains, including inferences from general event schemas and prior knowledge, episodic memory, and executive functions. By considering both the successes and limitations of general cognitive compensation strategies in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD), we propose an integrative account of social difficulties in autism
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication. Achim’s model includes four sources of information in memory – that is, those that are derived from prior knowledge: (i) knowledge about a specific person, (ii) general knowledge about relatively unspecific people, (iii) knowledge about a specific context, (iv) knowledge about relatively unspecific contexts (i.e., prototypical or scripts) Within this framework, difficulties with advanced ToM tasks or mental state ascription in real-life situations in individuals with ASD may reflect either the lack of immediate or stored sources of information or the inability to efficiently and automatically integrate information about mental states (i.e., knowledge about a specific person) with knowledge about the social situation (i.e., knowledge about a person’s behavior, the behavior’s broader context, or the behavior’s effect on others). It is likely that in circumstances of increased attentional and executive demands, ASD individuals may be impaired in the simultaneous maintenance and use of mental state information in working memory, rather than in inferring an agent’s mental states per se
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
