Autism, ToM and Executive Function

Question 1

Russell (1996)

Answer 1

Executive funciton could enable ToM by inhibiting egocentric responses

Question 2

Perner and Lang (1999)

Answer 2

ToM could enable executive function by improving meta-cognitive abilities

Question 3

Dalton et al (2005)

Answer 3

Autistic children are less likely to focus their gaze and focus on central facial areas than normally developing children which implies an executive function for social attention

Question 4

Moore (2015)

Answer 4

Autistic children can correctly fixate on social information if directed meaning that task demand may be what is stopping autistic children from doing well

Question 5

Carlson, Zelazo and Faja (2013)

Answer 5

Executive function requires inhibition, cognitive set shifting and holding information in working memory

Question 6

Devine et al (2016)

Answer 6

Tested normally developing children on social competancies - longitudinal study which found ToM and EF to have moderate concurrent associations in middle childhood
However there were no cross-lagged (causal) associations between ToM and EF
Suggests that ToM and EF are different processes that complement each other but don’t require each other for their development
Sample size may not have been big enough to detect small cross lagged effects

Question 7

Gokcen, Fredericksen and Petrides (2016)

Answer 7

Individuals with sub-clinical autism show similar patterns of social and central execuitive defecits to autistic people when alexythemia scores were controlled for
Suggests that ToM and EF are related