Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social impairments. The first objective of this study was to analyze social cognition deficits of children with ADHD, high-functioning ASD (HFASD), and typical development (TD) in their performance on explicit and applied measures of theory of mind (ToM). The second objective was to investigate the relationships between executive functions and social cognition in HFASD and ADHD. One hundred and twenty-six 7- to 11-year old children, 52 with HFASD, 35 with ADHD, and 39 with TD, performed the NEPSY-II social perception subtests. Parents estimated their children's ToM skills using the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI). Teacher-reported data from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) were also obtained. The HFASD and ADHD groups showed worse performance on the verbal ToM task than the TD group, and only the performance of the HFASD group was significantly lower than the TD group on the contextual ToM task. Parents also estimated that the HFASD group had more difficulties on the applied ToM than the ADHD and TD groups. Furthermore, there is a different executive function-theory of mind link in the HFASD and ADHD groups: behavioral regulation processes such as inhibition and emotional control are more associated with social cognition in children with ADHD, whereas metacognitive processes such as initiation and planning have a strong association with social cognition in children with HFASD. These findings have implications for understanding social perception deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders, highlighting the need for early intervention.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two disorders that stem from a disruption in the development of the brain and share the same genetic etiology, which largely explains the complexity of the impairments that characterize them (Ghirardi et al, 2017)
There is a lack of consistency in the findings related to the profile of theory of mind (ToM) skills in individuals with ASD and ADHD
Another question that remains unresolved is related to the possible functional link between ToM and executive functioning (EF) in ASD and ADHD
Summary
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two disorders that stem from a disruption in the development of the brain and share the same genetic etiology, which largely explains the complexity of the impairments that characterize them (Ghirardi et al, 2017). Two of the possible candidates for research on the cognitive profiles of ASD and ADHD are executive functioning (EF) and social cognition (Theory of Mind and affect recognition). Other possibilities such as weak central coherence or delay aversion are not appropriate for this line of research because each is related to only one of the two disorders, ASD and ADHD, respectively. Social cognition (SC) refers to the mental operations that underlie social interactions and involve interpersonal sensitivity in real social settings. It is a broad, complex, and multifaceted construct that reflects a wide variety of psychological processes, highlighting affect recognition (AR) and theory of mind (ToM). It implies an awareness that others have minds with mental states, information, and motivations that may differ from one’s own, allowing an individual to explain, manipulate, and predict behavior (Korkmaz, 2011)
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