individual explanations of ASD

theory of mind

having an understanding that people have thoughts, emotions, desires beliefs and intentions (their mental state) that may different from our own

precursors of ToM

• engage in pretend play

• imitate others

• follow a person’s gaze

scafie and bruner

typically growing children will show these skills by 14 months - this is delayed with children who go on to be diagnosed with ASD

example of appearance vs reality

• understanding that things aren’t always as they seem (toy that looks like apple)

• child with ASD would struggle to know that it isn’t a real apple

• neurotypical child could know the difference

baren-cohen, sally anne test

• doll named sally puts marble in basket, anne moves marble into another box while sally away

• children asked ‘where should should sally look for marble?’

• correct answer is ‘in the basket’

sally anne test results

neurotypical children	85%
children with down syndrome	86%
children with asd	20%

baren cohen conclusion

difficulties experienced by children with asd cannot be explained in terms of intellectual problems

theory of mind: struggles to explain all aspects of asd

• can explain social impairments (lack of reciprocity)

• ToM deficit causes a difficult in considering the other person in a relationship + their perspective

• however, struggles to explain other characteristics such as repetitive hand gestures - b/c not relevant to lack of perspective

• weakness, ToM incomplete explanation

theory of mind: supporting evidence

• baron cohen used sally anne to investigate false beliefs

• sally-doll put marble into basket then leaves, anne doll removes marble

• children asked ‘where will sally look for marble?’ correct answer ‘basket’

• neurotypical: 85%, down syndrome: 86%, asd: 20%

• strength, shows a deficit of ToM is linked to ASD

theory of mind: biological basis

• brain imaging studies trying to locate neurological circuits responsible for ToM

• superior temporal sulcus identified as are responsible

• cheng found that STS functioned differently in people with ASD

• strength, more holistic understanding of ASD, increasing validity of explanation

central coherence

human beings ability to derive overall meaning from a mass of details - getting ‘the gist’ of things

wcc for people with asd

• people with asd are said to have weak central coherence focusing in on the finer details

• this is a cognitive processing preference

global vs local processing

• asd: prefer local (focusing on individual features of an item/stimulus)

• neurotypical: prefer global (viewing an item/ stimulus holistically)

• wcc = enhanced local processing, impaired global processing

how does global vs local processing explain ASD?

• people with asd: excel at tasks that require a focus on smaller details e.g. spotting error in pattern sequence

• struggle with tasks that need understanding of general context

shah and firth

• 20 ASD, 13 learning difficulties, 17 neurotypical, 16 neurotypical children

• P’s given pattern on card, must construct pattern from smaller individual cards

• asd outperformed other groups on task, supporting WCC theory

wcc: positive explanation of ASD

• explains asd have a processing preference

• not explained as a deficit, can be seen as benefit for tasks where attention to detail needed

• if made aware, asd can overcome this preference in processing by making conscious effort

• therefore, more positive outlook on asd compared to other explanations

wcc: can explain more features of asd than others

• tom struggle to explain characteristics beyond social communication, wcc can

• wcc can explain why some people with ASD have superior abilities (due to attention to detail from local processing)

• therefore, provides a more complete explanation

wcc: unclear of mechanisms behind wcc

• differences in cognitive processing is clear from research

• research is inconsistent in why this preference for local processing occurs

• research is yet to provide firm conclusions on brain areas responsible for global and local

• therefore, can provide insight into how ASD differ in terms of cognitive processing but not why