ToM in Autism & Language Development Flashcards

Flashcards on Theory of Mind (ToM) in autism spectrum condition (ASC), ToM, Language & Social development

What type of task is used for ToM assessment?

False belief tasks

What is the main question in the False Belief Action-Prediction task?

Where does Sally think the marble is?

Name a paradigm to assess ToM.

Anticipatory looking paradigm

Name a Diagnostic trait of ASC.

Socialisation, Communication, or Behaviour (special interests/intense focus)

What did Senju et al.'s (2010) study on Anticipatory Looking in autism suggest?

Children with ASC have an impairment in false belief attribution, independent of their verbal ability.

According to Baron-Cohen et al. (1985, 1986), what difficulties were isolated to the autism group?

Difficulties with ToM tasks

What can be concluded if the ability to form meta-representations is independent of ToM?

Failure on ToM tasks cannot be due to the more global ability to form mental representations

What is an example of a Second Order False Belief Task?

Where does Mary think that John thinks the chocolate is?

What did Happè (1994, 1995) conclude about children with autism and False Belief tasks?

Children with autism may use alternative strategies to pass FB tasks, based on verbal intelligence.

Give an example of a two-word utterance during language acquisition.

mummy throw; baby eat; I hungry!

What did Goldin-Meadow et al.'s (1978, 1984) study on deaf children find?

Up to about 2 years of age, linguistic development proceeds in line with a biological timetable

What does the example of raising hands in response to 'Look up!' by blind child suggest?

Blind and sighted children share a representation for 'look' that means 'perceive'

What did the case study of Isabelle teach us about learning outcomes?

Early in life, exposure time is irrelevant to learning outcomes and the 6-year-old could catch up.

What did the case study of Genie teach us about language learning?

Maturational state is important, but so is environmental input

What is the Critical/Sensitive Period in language development?

Six years is late but not too late. Thirteen years is too late.

What have studies shown about false belief understanding (FBU) and social competence?

Those with better false belief understanding at 5 years of age also have greater social competence as they grow up into their teens

How does FBU play a role in children in play contexts?

FBU is typically better in children who engage in assigning roles and making joint plans in play contexts.

How do parenting styles impact FBU?

Children growing up with parents who frequently use emotion words and talk about emotions to their children, which shows better FBU.

What is the sibling effect in ToM?

FBU is typically better in children with siblings.

What relationship does attachment style have with FBU?

Children with secure attachment styles have better emotion understanding and better FBU.

How does mind-mindedness affect FBU?

Children with parents who treat them as a person with a mind, rather than a person with just needs, will talk to them as such, which in turn contributes to better performance on false belief tasks

What is the role of FBU in a child's peer interactions?

Better FBU early in childhood is associated with greater popularity during secondary school teenagers and later peer relationships.

In deaf children, how does lack of langue affect FBU?

Deaf children who have little opportunity to develop language are likely to suffer in their FBU.

What is the take-home message of ToM and Language?

ToM and Language are inseparable. They develop concurrently and influence one another’s depth and breath of knowledge and understanding of the social world.