individual explanations of autism Flashcards
what did baron Cohen say is impaired with ASD? what does it present as?
whats mindblindeness?
Theory of mind.
Presents as a reduced or delayed ability to recognise and understand the internal mental states of other people.
Mindblindness – inability to understand minds of others. Aims to explain a core deficit of ASD.
how does theory of mind develop?
whats a key skill?
develops from skills which usually appear in early childhood – follow another line of sight, engage in pretend play, imitation.
Key skill is joint attention – adult draws child’s attention to an object using gestures and line of sight. Child needs to understand adults’ intention. Early way to show people have own goals, wants, needs.
what did Scaife and Bruner find?
caused by what?
neurotypical children show joint attention by around 14 months. Often impaired/delayed in ASD. This delay in joint attention caused a TOM deficit which can explain later problems with social communication in later years.
what did Cohen say a key deficit was?
example?
Cohen – key deficit for TOM with ASD is inability to distinguish between physical objects and mental objects. Told children a story- holding glass with drink in it and another was thinking of a glass with a drink in it. Who takes the drink? neurotypical – correctly answer by 3 or 4. ASD more difficult.
what supporting research is there for theory of mind ?
Cohen - ‘eyes task’ TOM deficits in 15 adults with ASD and control group 239 adults. ASD is significantly worse at determining emotions. Supports the theory as less able to understand emotions of others which could be a symptom of TOM.
compared neurotypical, downs syndrome and ASD using sally Ann – 20% ASD correctly answered compared with 85% of neurotypical and 86% Down syndrome. Most ASD lack TOM as can’t emphasise with Sally however its not an issue for all.
what methodological issues are there with theory of mind?
Sally Ann relies on ability to understand language as large amount of story. Concerns that ASD child may find difficult reflecting difference between ASD and neurotypical.
why is theory of mind only a partial explanation?
can explain social and communication deficits. Limits explanation for nonsocial features like repetitive behaviour. Cant explain some areas where ASD exceed abilities of neurotypical – autistic savants, exceptional attention and memory. Lacks external validity as not a comprehensive account.
what positive real world applications are there for theory of mind?
developed strategies and techniques to help mind read. Joint attention training – intensive intervention of 30 mins per day for 6 weeks. Point at objects to call child’s attention. High ecological validity.
what is central coherence?
strong?
weak?
term given to a human being’s ability to gain overall meaning from a mass of different details.
Strong coherence – endless number of trees ‘forest’
weak coherence – whole lot of trees.
whats local and global processing?
Frith local processing (analyse fine details and examine elements that make up a task) and global processing (how details fit together, the bigger picture)
what did Frith argue those with ASD had?
impaired global processing but enhanced local processing. Central Coherence is weak in ASD – less likely to pay attention to broader context. Focus on isolated details, ‘unable to see the wood for the trees’ .
Very high levels of detail – pick out details like on a railway map may achieve easily whilst neurotypical find difficult.
what did Happe and Frith say central coherence was?
exists where?
distribution?
central coherence is a cognitive style for one form over another.
central coherences exists on a spectrum or continuum. Cognitive style is normally distributed – most fall in the middle of the spectrum. Extremely low – ASD
what supporting research is there for weak central coherence theory?
Amita shah and uta Frith – 20 ASD,13 learning difficulties, 17 neuro completed a pattern. Those with ASD performed much better – preference for local processing rather than global. Advantage when focusing on detail. Already broken up – ASD did no better. Supports as when task required local processing, ASD did better.
why is weak central coherence an optimistic theory?
Considers ASD in positive and optimist light. Doesn’t claim that a damaging cognitive deficit is the cause of ASD. Recognised that people with ASD also have superior abilities in local processing. Local processing is a bias rather than a deficit – can be overcome given the right training and support. This could reduce the stigma around autism.
why is weak central coherence a partial explanation?
not explain how a preference for local processing in those with ASD is created. Lacks a mechanism to explain how weak central coherence develops. Unclear which parts of the brain is involved, no firm conclusions which lowers the validity.
