Most of you would predict that she would get to the cupboard (so you have to do something quickly, before she opens it.). She then said that “I’ve had a really hectic day - I’m exhausted! I think I deserve some chocolate tonight.” What would you do? When she suddenly arrived home, you just had time to put the box under the coffee table before she came in to the living room. You know how important the chocolate is to her, but you were so hungry that you took the whole box out of the cupboard and ate about half of it. You were very hungry, and remembered that your partner keeps her (or his) precious chocolate in the cupboard, which she only eats after unusually hard day’s work as a special treat. You happened to come home earlier than usual. These findings suggest that the capacity for theory of mind develops much earlier than was previously thought, and the absence of spontaneous theory of mind may relate to impairment in social interaction and communication found in ASD. By contrast, high-functioning adults with ASD, who can easily pass the false belief task when explicitly asked to, do not show spontaneous false belief attribution.
These studies reveal that young infants pass the spontaneous false belief test well before they can pass the same task when explicitly asked to answer. In the current article, I summarize recent updates in theory of mind research utilizing the spontaneous false belief test, which assesses participants’ spontaneous tendency to attribute belief status to others. The impairment of theory of mind may relate to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterised by profound difficulties in social interaction and communication. Theory of mind, the cognitive capacity to infer others’ mental states, is crucial for the development of social communication.
0 kommentar(er)
