Sally-Anne Task

• Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder where there are problems with social interaction and communication skills.
• ASD is characterised by a specific cognitive impairment known as mindblindness, which is the inability to read emotional states and perspectives of others.
• Mindblindness leads to problems with social cognition.
• Autism research shows that theory of mind is responsible for social cognition.
• Simon Baron-Cohen used a similar false belief task to test the development of theory of mind in children diagnosed with ASD. 20 high-functioning children diagnosed with ASD were compared to 14 children with Down's syndrome.
• Results show that 85% of the Down's syndrome group correctly identified where Sally-Anne would look, on the other hand only 20% of the ASD group were able to answer this.
• This difference demonstrates that children with ASD have an underdeveloped theory of mind compared to children with Down's syndrome. Baron-Cohen argued that this is the reason why they have difficulties with social interaction and social cognition. Therefore, theory of mind plays a crucial role in social cognition.