A comparison of typically developing and atypically developing ToM.

Abstract

This thesis examines Theory of Mind (ToM) in relation to the areas of language and cognitive development. The thesis explores both popular and alternate theories of ToM and how they account for the important relationships between language and theory of mind. It examines the theories in the context of published ToM findings as well as the findings from three studies conducted by the author. The first study took the form of a pilot study which re-analysed data, collected for the author's honours project, from a small group of children with (n = 10) and without autism (n = 10). In each diagnostic group (autism and no autism) children were divided into two groups, those passing a ToM task and those failing a ToM task. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the underlying language and cognitive skills required to succeed on ToM tasks are the same for children with and without autism. The key finding of the study was that for both the children with and without autism, those who passed the ToM task performed better on all the developmental measures, although only the difference in language ability was statistically significant. The second study expanded on the pilot study, examining the relationship in typically developing 4 and 6-year-old children, between ToM, language, cognitive development, and subtractive reasoning. The study's aim was to examine the developmental structure underlying ToM using factor analysis. The results indicated that for 4-year-old children the most important skill for ToM success was language, but that for 6-year-old children ToM success was more strongly related to subtractive reasoning ability. The findings of the study also raised the question of whether presentation method for ToM tasks impacted on task difficulty. A final study therefore examined the effect of presentation mode 2-dimensional versus 3-dimensional, on the success of typically developing 4-year-old children on the ToM task battery. The findings indicated that tasks presented in cartoon format were more difficult than tasks presented with dolls and props. Reliability and validity of common ToM tasks and new ToM test batteries are discussed. Alternative conceptions of ToM in relation to social interaction are considered.