ToM and ASD

• What is autism?

  A disorder where people have issues with communication and relationship building
• How does ToM explain autism?

  Austim may be a lack of theory of mind
• What does Frith say autism is?


  Mind blindness
• What are the brain differences in aspergers patients compared to neurotypical individual?

  Decreased activity in the left medial prefrontal cortex
• What part of the brain is responsible for facial processing?

  Fusiform gyrus
• What are some issues with false belief tasks?

  Some ASD participants pass (20%), so ToM can’t fully explain autism
• What supports ToM as an explanation for ASD?

  Children with autism don’t usually pretend play, which could mean they can’t reflect on others thoughts
• What are some issues with using ToM to explain autism?

  • A lack of ToM should mean ASD children shouldn’t be able to do cognitive tasks like maths but many do not struggle
  • Even when ASD children pass FBTs they still perform poorly in tasks involving social stimuli