Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Theory of Mind in Greek-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Substantial research indicates that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulties with Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, but rarely have studies used a comprehensive battery to measure both the cognitive and affective aspects of ToM. The present study tested this ability in 24 Greek-speaking children with ASD (ages 7–14), and their performance was compared to 24 age-, gender- and language-matched typically developing controls. Results showed that ASD children’s performance was selectively impaired in both ToM aspects, supporting the distinction between ToM components. This is the first study of ToM abilities among Greek-speaking children with ASD, and the findings confirm that children with ASD are experiencing difficulties with socio-emotional understanding across languages and cultures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adolphs, R., Baron-Cohen, S., & Tranel, D. (2002). Impaired recognition of social emotions following amygdala damage. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(8), 1264–1274.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Altschuler, M., Sideridis, G., Kala, S., Warshawsky, M., Gilbert, R., Carroll, D., et al. (2018). Measuring individual differences in cognitive, affective, and spontaneous theory of mind among school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(11), 3945–3957. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3663-1.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amodio, M. D., & Frith, C. (2006). Meeting of minds: The medial frontal cortex and social cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7, 268–277.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ashwin, C., Chapman, E., Colle, L., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2006). Impaired recognition of negative basic emotions in autism: A test of the amygdala theory. Social Neuroscience., 1, 349–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910601040772.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Astington, J. W., Pelletier, J., & Homer, B. (2002). Theory of mind and epistemological development: The relation between children's second-order false-belief understanding and their ability to reason about evidence. New Ideas in Psychology, 20(2), 131–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldimtsi, E., Peristeri, E., Tsimpli, I. M., & Nicolopoulou, A. (2016). Bilingual children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from oral narratives and non-verbal executive function tasks. In J. Scott & D. Waughtal (eds.), Proceedings of the 40th annual boston university conference on language development (pp. 18–31). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

  • Baribeau, D. A., Doyle-Thomas, K. A. R., Dupuis, A., Iaboni, A., Crosbie, J., McGinn, H., et al. (2015). Examining and comparing social perception abilities across childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54(6), 479–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2015.03.016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1989). The autistic child's theory of mind: A case of specific developmental delay. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 285–297.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1990). Autism: a specific cognitive disorder of “mind-blindness”. International Review of Psychiatry, 2, 79–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Boston: MIT Press/Bradford Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Jolliffe, T., Mortimore, C., & Robertson, M. (1997). Another advanced test of theory of mind: Evidence from very high functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 813–822. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01599.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"? Cognition, 21(1), 37–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The “reading the mind in the eyes” test revised version: A study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 241–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00715.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bartsch, K., & Wellman, H.M. (1989). From desires to beliefs: First acquisition of a theory of mind. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research Child Development, Seattle, WA.

  • Bauminger, N. (2004). The expression and understanding of jealousy in children with autism. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 157–177.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Begeer, S., Bernstein, D. M., Aßfalg, A., Azdad, H., Glasbergen, T., Wierda, M., et al. (2016). Equal egocentric bias in school-aged children with and without autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 144, 15–26.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Begeer, S., Rieffe, C., Meerum Terwogt, M., Stegge, H., & Koot, H. M. (2007). Do children with autism acknowledge the influence of mood on behaviour? Autism, 11, 503–521.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bolla, K. I., Lindgren, K. N., Bonaccorsy, C., & Bleecker, M. L. (1990). Predictors of verbal fluency (FAS) in the healthy elderly. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(5), 623–628.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bölte, S., Fleck, S., & Dziobek, I. (2014). Double movie for the assessment of social cognition-multiple choice (DMASC-MC). Stockholm: Hogrefe Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booules-Katri, T. M., Pedreño, C., Navarro, J. B., Pamias, M., & Obiols, J. E. (2019). Theory of mind (ToM) performance in high functioning autism (HFA) and schizotypal-schizoid personality disorders (SSPD) patients. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 3376–3386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04058-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, J. (2012). Putting theory of mind in its place: Psychological explanations of the socio-emotional-communicative impairments in autistic spectrum disorder. Autism, 16(3), 226–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361311430403.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, D. M. (1992). “Theory of Mind” in Asperger's syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 877–893. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1992.tb01962.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burger-Caplan, R., Saulnier, C., Jones, W., & Klin, A. (2016). Predicting social and communicative ability in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study of the Social Attribution Task, multiple choice. Autism, 20(8), 952–962.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Camodeca, A. (2019). Theory of mind performance in broad autism phenotype groups: Between-group differences and predictor variables. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(10), 4079–4096. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04126-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cantio, C., Jepsen, J. R., Madsen, G. F., Bilenberg, N., & White, S. J. (2016). Exploring ‘the autisms’ at a cognitive level. Autism Research, 9, 1328–1339. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1630.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Capps, L., Sigman, M., & Yirmiya, N. (1995). Self-competence and emotional understanding in high-functioning children with autism. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 137–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capps, L., Yirmiya, N., & Sigman, M. (1992). Understanding of simple and complex emotions in non-retarded children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 1169–1182.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlsson, E., Miniscalco, C., Gillberg, C., & Johnels, A. J. (2018). Assessing false-belief understanding in children with autism using a computer application: A pilot study. Journal of Psycholinguist Research, 47, 1085–1099. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-018-9579-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, M. J., Fritz, A. S., & Hala, S. M. (1989). Small scale deceit: Deception as a marker of 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds’ early theories of mind. Child Development, 60, 1263–1277.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Charman, T., Ruffman, T., & Clements, W. (2002). Is there a gender difference in false belief development? Social Development, 11, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevallier, C. (2013). Theory of mind. In F. Volkmar, R. Paul, & K. Pelphrey (Eds.), Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders (pp. 3111–3115). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiang, H., & Wineman, I. (2014). Factors associated with quality of life in individuals with autism spectrum disorders: A review of literature. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(8), 974–986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comay, J. (2008). Individual differences in narrative perspective-taking and theory of mind. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

  • Conlon, O., Volden, J., Smith, I. M., Duku, E., Zwaigenbaum, L., Waddell, C., et al. (2019). Gender differences in pragmatic communication in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(5), 1937–1948. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-03873-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, R. J., & Bird, G. (2018). Conceptualizing degrees of theory of mind. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 7, 1408–1410.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Mulder, H. N. M., Wijnen, F., & Coopmans, P. H. A. (2019). Interrelationships between Theory of Mind and language development: A longitudinal study of Dutch-speaking kindergartners. Cognitive Development, 51, 67–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. (1978). Brainstorms: Philosophical essay on mind and psychology. Montgomery, AL: Harvester Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. (2014). Relations between false belief understanding and executive function in early childhood: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 85, 1777–1794. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12237.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doan, T., Friedman, O., & Denison, S. (2018). Beyond belief: The probability-based notion of surprise in children. Emotion, 18(8), 1163–1173.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durrleman, S., & Franck, J. (2015). Exploring links between language and cognition in autism spectrum disorders: Complement sentences, false belief, and executive functioning. Journal of Communication Disorders, 54, 15–31.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durrleman, S., Hinzen, W., & Franck, J. (2018). False belief and relative clauses in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Communication Disorders, 74, 35–44.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dyck, M. J., Ferguson, K., & Shochet, I. M. (2001). Do autism spectrum disorders differ from each other and from non-spectrum disorders on emotion recognition tests? European Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 10, 105–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s007870170033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dziobek, I., Fleck, S., Kalbe, E., Rogers, K., Hassenstab, J. J., Brand, M., et al. (2006). Introducing MASC: A movie for the assessment of social cognition. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(5), 623–636.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Fleck, S., Bahnemann, M., Heekeren, H. R., Wolf, O. T., et al. (2008). Dissociation of cognitive and emotional empathy in adults with Asperger syndrome using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, 38, 464–473.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eigsti, I. M., de Marchena, A. B., Schuh, J. M., & Kelley, E. (2011). Language acquisition in autism spectrum disorders: A developmental review. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 681–691.

    Google Scholar 

  • Euler, F., Steinlin, C., & Stadler, C. (2017). Distinct profiles of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescents: Associations with cognitive and affective empathy. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 11(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-016-0141-4.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, N., Happe, F., & Dunn, J. (2005). The relationship between vocabulary, grammar, and false belief task performance in children with autistic spectrum disorders and children with moderate learning difficulties. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(4), 409–419.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, F. (1999). Cognitive development: Children's knowledge about the mind. Annual Review of Psychology, 50 (1), 21–45.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher-Watson, S., & Happé, F. (2019). Autism: A new introduction to psychological theory and current debate. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. (1994). Autism and theory of mind in everyday life. Social Development, 3, 108–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.1994.tb00031.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. (2012). Why we need cognitive explanations of autism. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 2073–2092.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., & Frith, C. (2003). Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 358(1431), 459–473.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., Happe, F., & Siddons, F. (1994). Autism and theory of mind in everyday life. Social Development, 3, 108–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., Morton, J., & Leslie, M. A. (1991). The cognitive basis of a biological disorder: Autism. Trends in Neurosciences, 14(10), 433–438.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Georgas, D. D., Paraskevopoulos, N. I., Bezevegis, G. I., & Giannitsas, D. N. (1997). Ελληνικό WISC-III: Wechsler κλίμακες νοημοσύνης για παιδιά [Greek WISC-III: Wechsler intelligence scale for children]. Athens: Ellinika Grammata.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgiades, S., Szatmari, P., Boyle, M., Hanna, S., Duku, E., Zwaigenbaum, L., et al. (2013). Investigating phenotypic heterogeneity in children with autism spectrum disorder: A factor mixture modeling approach. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 206–215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02588.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gökçen, S., Bora, E., Erermis, S., Kesikci, H., & Aydin, C. (2009). Theory of mind and verbal working memory deficits in parents of autistic children. Psychiatry Research, 166, 46–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2007.11.016.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gopnik, A., & Astington, J. (1988). Children's understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction. Child Development, 59(1), 26–37.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hadwin, J., Baron-Cohen, S., Howlin, P., & Hill, K. (1996). Can we teach children with autism to understand emotions, belief, or pretense? Development and Psychopathology, 8, 345–365.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hala, S., Chandler, M., & Fritz, A. S. (1991). Fledgling theories of mind: Deception as a marker of three-year-olds’ understanding of false belief. Child Development, 62, 83–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. (1993). Communicative competence and Theory of Mind in autism: A test of relevance theory. Cognition, 48, 101–119.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. (1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters' thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 129–154.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F. (1995). The role of age and verbal ability in the theory of mind task performance of subjects with autism. Child Development, 66, 843–855.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F. (1999). Autism: cognitive deficit or cognitive style? Trends in Cognitive Science, 3(6), 216–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F., Bird, G., & Cook, J. (2017). The structure of social cognition: In(ter)dependence of sociocognitive processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 243–267. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044046.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F., & Conway, R. J. (2016). Recent progress in understanding skills and impairments in social cognition. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 28(6), 736–742. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000417.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F., & Frith, U. (1994). Theory of mind in autism. In E. Shopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning and cognition in autism. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happe, F., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2006). Time to give up on a single explanation for autism. Nature Neuroscience, 9(10), 1218–1220.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heyes, C. M., & Frith, C. D. (2014). The cultural evolution of mind reading. Science, 344(6190), 1243091.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, R. P., & Lee, A. (1989). Emotion-related and abstract concepts in autistic people: Evidence from the British Picture Vocabulary Scale. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19(4), 601–623.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogrefe, G., Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1986). Ignorance versus false belief: A developmental lag in attribution of epistemic states. Child Development, 57(3), 567–582. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howlin, P. (1997). Autism preparing for adulthood. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howlin, P., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hadwin, J. (1999). Teaching children with autism to mind-read: A practical guide. Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C., & Leekam, S. (2004). What are the links of between theory of mind and social relations? Review, reflections and new directions for studies typical and atypical development. Social Development, 13, 590–619.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C., & Russell, J. (1993). Autistic children's difficulty with mental disengagement from an object: Its implications for theories of autism. Developmental Psychology, 29(3), 498–510. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.29.3.498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hui, H. C., & Triandis, C. H. (1985). Measurement in cross-cultural psychology: A review and comparison of strategies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16(2), 131–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, L. T., Prelock, A. P., Morris, H., Benner, J., LaVigne, T., & Hoza, B. (2016). Explicit vs. applied theory of mind competence: A comparison of typically developing males, males with ASD, and males with ADHD. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 21, 94–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilgaz, H. (2011). Children’s representation of narrative perspectives in storytelling and pretense in relation to theory of mind. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Lehigh University, USA.

  • Isaksson, J., Van’t Westeinde, A., Cauvet, E., Kuja-Halkola, R., Lundin, K., Neufeld, J., et al. (2019). Social cognition in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders: A co-twin control study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 2838–2848.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, A. P., Happe, F. G. E., Gilbert, F., Burnett, S., & Viding, E. (2010). Feeling, caring, knowing: Different types of empathy deficit in boys with psychopathic tendencies and autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 1188–1197.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C. R. G., Simonoff, E., Baird, G., Pickles, A., Marsden, A. J. S., Tregay, J., et al. (2018). The association between theory of mind, executive function, and the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 11, 95–109. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1873.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C. R., Swettenham, J., Charman, T., Marsden, A. J., Tregay, J., Baird, G., et al. (2011). No evidence for a fundamental visual motion processing deficit in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Autism Research, 4, 347–357. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.209.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, M. R., Lauren, M., McGrath, M. L., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2005). Executive dysfunction and its relation to language ability in verbal school-age children with autism. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27(3), 361–378. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2703_4.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kaland, N., Callesen, K., Møller-Nielsen, A., Mortensen, E. L., & Smith, L. (2008). Performance of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism on advanced theory of mind tasks. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(6), 1112–1123.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaland, N., Møller-Nielsen, A., Callesen, K., Mortensen, E. L., Gottlieb, D., & Smith, L. (2002). A new 'advanced' test of theory of mind: Evidence from children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 517–528.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kasari, C., Freeman, S. F., & Hughes, M. A. (2001). Emotion recognition by children with Down syndrome. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 106, 59–72.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kauschke, C., van der Beek, B., & Kamp-Becker, I. (2016). Narratives of girls and boys with autism spectrum disorders: Gender differences in narrative competence and internal state language. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46, 840–852.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Le Couteur, A., Lord, C., & Rutter, M. (2003). The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindner, J. L., & Rosen, L. A. (2006). Decoding of emotion through facial expression, prosody and verbal content in children and adolescents with Asperger's syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(6), 769–777.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston, A. L., Carr, B., & Shah, P. (2019). Recent advances and new directions in measuring theory of mind in autistic adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 1738–1744.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston, A. L., & Happe, F. (2017). Conceptualising compensation in neurodevelopmental disorders: Reflections from autism spectrum disorder. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 729–742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.06.005.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, P. L., Bird, G., Bridge, M., & Viding, E. (2013). Dissecting empathy: High levels of psychopathic and autistic traits are characterized by difficulties in different social information processing domains. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 760. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00760.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C. (1993). The complexity of social behaviour in autism. In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg, & D. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds (pp. 292–316). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Brugha, T. S., Charman, T., Cusack, J., Dumas, G., Frazier, T., et al. (2020). Autism spectrum disorders. Nature Reviews Disease Primers. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-019-0138-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, W., Sai, L., Tay, C., Du, Y., Jiang, J., & Ding, X. P. (2019). Children with autism spectrum disorder’s lying is correlated with their working memory but not theory of mind. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 3364–3375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04018-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mazza, M., Pino, M. C., Mariano, M., Tempesta, D., Ferrara, M., De Berardis, D., et al. (2014). Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 791. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00791.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A. C. (2006). Developmental Relationships between language and theory of mind. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15, 142–154.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A. S. (2009). Children’s understanding of second-order mental states. Psychological Bulletin, 135(5), 749–773.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milligan, K., Astington, J. W., & Dack, L. A. (2007). Language and theory of mind: Meta-analysis of the relation between language ability and false-belief understanding. Child Development, 78, 622–646.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49–100.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Onishi, K. H., & Baillargeon, R. (2005). Do 15-month-old infants understand false beliefs? Science, 308, 255–258.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Osterhaus, C., Koerber, S., & Sodian, B. (2016). Scaling of advanced theory-of-mind tasks. Child development, 87(6), 1971–1991.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Pennington, B. F., & Rogers, S. J. (1991). Executive function deficits in high-functioning autistic individuals: Relationship to theory of mind. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1081–1105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1991.tb00351.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pedreno, C., Pousa, E., Navarro, J. B., Pàmias, M., & Obiol, J. E. (2017). Exploring the components of advanced theory of mind in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, 2401–2409.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, B. F., Rogers, S. J., Bennetto, L., Griffith, E. M., Reed, D. T., & Shyu, V. (1997). Validity tests of the executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism. In J. Russell (Ed.), Autism as an executive disorder (pp. 143–178). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peristeri, E., Andreou, M., & Tsimpli, I. M. (2017). Syntactic and story structure complexity in the narratives of high- and low-language ability children with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02027.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, Z. (1987). Three-year-olds' difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5(2), 125–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perner, J., & Wimmer, H. (1985). John thinks that mary thinks that …”: attribution of second-order beliefs by 5 to 10 year old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 39, 437–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. C., & Wellman, H. M. (2019). Longitudinal Theory of Mind (ToM) development from preschool to adolescence with and without ToM delay. Child Development, 90, 1917–1934. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13064.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. C., Wellman, H. M., & Liu, D. (2005). Steps in theory-of-mind development for children with deafness or autism. Child Development, 76(2), 502–517. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00859.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. C., Wellman, H. M., & Slaughter, V. (2012). The mind behind the message: Advancing theory-of-mind scales for typically developing children, and those with deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome. Child Development, 83(2), 469–485.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pino, M. C., Mazza, M., Mariano, M., Peretti, S., Dimitriou, D., Masedu, F., et al. (2017). Simple mindreading abilities predict complex theory of mind: Developmental delay in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, 2743–2756.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ponnet, K., Buysse, A., Roeyers, H., & De Clercq, A. (2008). Mind reading in young adults with ASD: Does structure matter? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 905–918.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ponnet, K. S., Roeyers, H., Buysse, A., De Clercq, A., & Van der Heyden, E. (2004). Advanced mind-reading in adults with Asperger syndrome. Autism, 8, 249–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361304045214.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, S. P., Klinger, G. L., & Klinger, R. M. (2017). Patterns of age-related cognitive differences in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, 3204–3219.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 515–526. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00076512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quesque, F., & Rossetti, Y. (2020). What do theory-of-mind tasks actually measure? Theory and practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(2), 384–396. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619896607.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Renfrew, C. (1997). Word finding vocabulary test (The Renfrew Language Scales). Oxford: Winslow Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieffe, C., Terwogt, M., & Kotronopoulou, C. (2007). Awareness of single and multiple emotions in high-functioning children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 455–465.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, K., Dziobek, I., Hassenstab, J., Wolf, O., & Convit, A. (2007). Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 709–715. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. (1997). How executive disorders can bring about an adequate theory of mind. In J. Russell (Ed.), Autism as an executive disorder (pp. 256–304). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salter, G., Seigal, A., Claxton, M., Lawrence, K., & Skuse, D. (2008). Can autistic children read the mind of an animated triangle? Autism, 12(4), 349–371.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaafsma, S. M., Pfaff, D. W., Spunt, R. P., & Adolphs, R. (2015). Deconstructing and reconstructing theory of mind. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 65–72.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaeffer, J. (2020). The influence of cognitive abilities on article choice and scrambling performance in Dutch-speaking children with autism. Language Acquisition. https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2020.1724293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheeren, A. M., deRosnay, M., Koot, H. M., & Begeer, S. (2013). Rethinking theory of mind in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(6), 628–635.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, W., Lock, K., & Fernandez, O. (2005). Interrelationships among theory of mind, executive control, language development, and working memory in young children: A longitudinal analysis. In W. Schneider, R. Schumann-Hengsteler, & B. Sodian (Eds.), Young children's cognitive development: Interrelationships among executive functioning, working memory, verbal ability, and theory of mind (pp. 259–284). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopler, E., & Mesibov, G. B. (Eds.). (1995). Current issues in autism. Learning and cognition in autism. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1286-2.

  • Senju, A. (2012). Spontaneous theory of mind and its absence in autism spectrum disorders. Neuroscientist, 18(2), 108–113.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., Southgate, V., White, S., & Frith, U. (2009). Mindblind eyes: An absence of spontaneous Theory of Mind in Asperger syndrome. Science, 325(5942), 883–885.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, P., Livingston, L. A., Callan, M. J., & Player, L. (2019). Trait autism is a better predictor of empathy than alexithymia. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 3956–3964. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04080-3.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tomer, R., Berger, B. D., Goldsher, D., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2005). Impaired "affective theory of mind" is associated with right ventromedial prefrontal damage. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 18(1), 55–67.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smogorzewska, J., Szumski, G., & Grygiel, P. (2019). Theory of mind development in school environment: A case of children with mild intellectual disability learning in inclusive and special education classrooms. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 32(5), 1241–1254.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spek, A. A., Scholte, E. M., & Van Berckelaer-Onnes, I. A. (2010). Theory of mind in adults with HFA and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(3), 280–289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0860-y.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stavrakaki, S., & Tsimpli, I.M. (2000). Diagnostic Verbal IQ Test for Greek preschool and school age children: standardization, statistical analysis, psychometric properties. In M. Glykas & G. Kalomiris (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th Symposium of the Panhellenic Association of Logopedists (pp. 95–106). Athens: Ellinika Grammata.

  • Steele, S., Joseph, R. M., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2003). Developmental change in theory of mind abilities in children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 461–467.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg, B. A., Bieliauskas, L. A., Smith, G. E., & Ivnik, R. J. (2005). Mayo’s Older Americans normative STUDIES: Age- and IQ-adjusted norms for the trail making test, the stroop test, and MAE Controlled Oral Word Association Test. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 19, 329–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854040590945210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, V. E., Baron-Cohen, S., & Knight, R. T. (1998). Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 10, 640–656.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sucksmith, E., Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S., Chakrabarti, B., & Hoekstra, R. A. (2013). Empathy and emotion recognition in people with autism, first-degree relatives, and controls. Neuropsychologia, 51(1), 98–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.11.013.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, K., Zaitchik, D., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (1994). Preschoolers can attribute second order beliefs. Developmental Psychology, 30, 395–402.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H., & Sullivan, K. (2000). A componential view of theory of mind: Evidence from Williams syndrome. Cognition, 76(1), 59–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00069-X.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Terzi, A., Marinis, T., Kotsopoulou, A., & Francis, K. (2014). Grammatical abilities of Greek-speaking children with autism. Language Acquisition, 21(1), 4–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vagnetti, R., Pino, M. C., Masedu, F., Peretti, S., Le Donne, I., Rossi, R., et al. (2020). Exploring the social cognition network in young adults with autism spectrum disorder using graph analysis. Brain and Behavior, 10, e01524. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1524.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van Wijngaarden-Cremers, P. J. M., van Eeten, E., Groen, W. B., Van Deurzen, P. A., Oosterling, I. J., & Van der Gaag, R. J. (2014). Gender and age differences in the core triad of impairments in autism SPECTRUM disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 627–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1913-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vogindroukas, I., Protopapas, A., & Sideridis, G. (2009). Experiment on the expressive vocabulary (Greek version of Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test). Chania: Glafki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, S. (2005). Gender differences in the relationship between young children's peer-related social competence and individual differences in theory of mind. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 166(3), 297–312.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warrier, V., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2018). Genetic contribution to ‘theory of mind’ in adolescence. Scientific Reports, 8, 3465. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21737-8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (1992). Wechsler intelligence scale for children. New York: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, H. M. (2014). Making minds: How theory of mind develops. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72, 655–684.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White, S., Hill, E., Happe, F., & Frith, U. (2009). Revisiting the strange stories: Revealing mentalizing impairments in autism. Child Development, 80(4), 1097–1117.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception. Cognition, 13(1), 103–128.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Y., Tian, Y., Fang, J., Lu, H., Wei, K., & Yi, L. (2017). Trust and deception in children with autism spectrum disorders: A social learning perspective. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, 615–625. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2983-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yirmiya, N., Erel, O., Shaked, M., & Solomonica-Levi, D. (1998). Meta-analyses comparing theory of mind abilities of individuals with autism, individuals with mental retardation, and normally developing individuals. Psychological Bulletin, 124(3), 283–307.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yirmiya, N., Sigman, M., Kasari, C., & Mundy, P. (1992). Empathy and cognition in high functioning children with autism. Child Development, 63, 150–160.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children and their parents for their participation in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1st Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Eleni Baldimtsi

  2. Psychology Department, Lehigh University, 17 Memorial, Drive East, Bethlehem, PA, 18015 3068, USA

    Ageliki Nicolopoulou

  3. Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, English Faculty Building, Room TR-11, 9 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DP, UK

    Ianthi Maria Tsimpli

Authors
  1. Eleni Baldimtsi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ageliki Nicolopoulou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ianthi Maria Tsimpli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Eleni Baldimtsi. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Eleni Baldimtsi and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eleni Baldimtsi.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Baldimtsi, E., Nicolopoulou, A. & Tsimpli, I.M. Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Theory of Mind in Greek-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 1142–1156 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04595-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04595-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation