Difference between revisions of "Theory of Mind"

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Revision as of 13:49, 15 July 2010

Theory of Mind and ASD

related brain structuresGenetics
Theory of Mindright medial prefrontal cortex
right anterior cingulate cortex
right middle frontal gyrus
right dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex
  • History

The idea that children with ASD lack a 'Theory of Mind' was first postulated by Baron-Cohen et. al.2 in 1985, on the basis that autistic children, regardless of IQ, do not engage in pretend play. It is this theory of mind, or the ability to understand that others have feelings and beliefs that may be different from your own, that is crucial for the emergence of pretend play in developing children. Baron-Cohen et. al. tested this hypothesis using a false-belief test. They found that while some ASD children were able to pass the test, the vast majority of the ASD group did not. These group results were significant when compared with control groups. They hypothesized that having this theory of mind was crucial in social behavior and communication, and that correspondingly the social deficits seen in ASD children are a result of their lack of a 'Theory of Mind'.2

  • Theory

The Theory of Mind is the ability for a person to connect emotional states to themselves and others. It is intimately connected with the development of a person's ability to analyze and interpret the intentions of others.These abilities are impaired in people with ASD and are central to social perception. 1

Some recent studies involving children with autism have shown that these children have rest functional abnormalities centered in the STS and the superior temporal gyrus using PET and SPECT. Additionally, significant negative correlation has been shown between regional rest cerebral blood flow and the scores of ASD children on the ADI-R. Furthermore, in theory of mind studies where subjects watched a virtual actor either look towards a checkerboard that appeared in her visual field vs. the empty space, typically developing subjects showed more activity in the STS when the actor looked at the empty space which signifies that the subjects had formulated an expectation about what the actor should do in that context, while subjects with ASD showed no difference in activity levels between the two trials. 1

Theory of Mind and Joint Attention

There is evidence that Joint Attention may be a precursor of Theory of mind.5

Criticisms

Scores on Theory of Mind(TOM) tasks tend to vary greatly across cultures. Studies on Japanese children, for example, show that this population has poor performance on this task. It has been theorized that the differences in performance between cultures are attributed to difference in attribution styles between American/European and Asian cultures. People raised in Asian cultures tend to attribute behaviors to external and contextual causes while American/European cultures tend to attribute behaviors to internal causes.4

Many people also object to the Theory of Mind because they believe that it is a result of biases against those who are autistic. They argue that this theory is based on the assumption that those with autism are deficient, and that there is some unitary cause for autism. Critics believe that embedded in this theory is the assumption that everyone thinks the same, and has the same exact abilities. As Perkins4 explained, neurotypical people may just not consider that people live in different worlds and have different perspectives on life. In particular, "incorrect" responses to theory of mind tasks, may happen because the autistic children do not know the abilities of the individuals in the story. He comments,

"From my experience adults and older kids knew a lot of things that I didn't. In fact, they could do a lot of things that were "magical" to me -- they could drive cars, they knew where the cereal was without looking for it, they could open latches which I couldn't open, they could light the gas burners, etc.

So how can a sensible child possibly imagine what on earth the adult or older kid might or might not know? For all he knows, adults have X-ray vision. You might as well try to imagine what a dolphin thinks in the ocean or how a bee perceives the garden."

Thus low scores may be a result of an a capacity to recognize the individuality of others rather than a deficit.

Tests for Theory of Mind

Brain MRI T1 movie.gifNeuroimaging

The amygdala, the striatum, the superior temporal suclcus and the orbitofrontal cortex have been theorized to play a major part in the development of social abilities. It has been proposed that the amygdala, striatum, and orbitofrontal cortex link sensory representations of stimuli to their motivational value while the superior temporal sulcus is involved in detailed perceptual processing.1

The superior temporal sulcus(STS) is activated more strongly when the person perceives a meaningful hand movement than non-meaningful ones, which suggest that the STS also analyzes how socially meaningful the movement is. Furthermore, activity in the STS is enhanced when subjects watch goal-directed behavior. These neuroimaging result are consistent with the hypothesis that Joint Attention is facilitated by networks involving the STS.1

The right medial prefrontal cortex, the right anterior cingulate cortex and the right middle frontal gyrus, and the right dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex all show robust activity in TOM tasks across cultures. 3


Anaphase IF.gifGenetics

Animal Models





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Citations

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