Language and theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder: The relationship between complement syntax and false belief task performance

Lind, Sophie E.; Bowler, Dermot M.

Abstract

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use their knowledge of complement syntax as a means of “hacking out” solutions to false belief tasks, despite lacking a representational theory of mind (ToM). Participants completed a “memory for complements” task, a measure of receptive vocabulary, and traditional location change and unexpected contents false belief tasks. Consistent with predictions, the correlation between complement syntax score and location change task performance was significantly stronger within the ASD group than within the comparison group. However, contrary to predictions, complement syntax score was not significantly correlated with unexpected contents task performance within either group. Possible explanations for this pattern of results are considered.

Citation

Lind, S. E., & Bowler, D. M. (2009). Language and theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder: The relationship between complement syntax and false belief task performance. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(6), 929-937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0702-y

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2009
• Deposit Date: Sep 8, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 15, 2010
• Journal: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Print ISSN: 0162-3257
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-3432
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 929-937
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0702-y
• Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, Complement syntax, False belief, Language, Theory of mind.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1517007
• Publisher URL: http://www.springerlink.com/content/d54n2k4541052776/