Research article summary (published 29 Nov 2002):

Thought-bubbles help children with autism acquire an alternative to a theory of mind.

Full Abstract

Children with autism have specific difficulties understanding complex mental states like thought, belief, and false belief and their effects on behaviour. Such children benefit from focused teaching, where beliefs are likened to photographs-in-the-head. Here two studies, one with seven participants and one with 10, tested a picturein-the-head strategy for dealing with thoughts and behaviour by teaching children with autism about cartoon thought-bubbles as a device for representing such mental states. This prosthetic device led children with autism to pass not only false belief tests, but also related theory of mind tests. These results confirm earlier findings of the efficacy of picture-in-the-head teaching about mental states, but go further in showing that thought-bubble training more easily extends to children's understanding of thoughts (not just behaviour) and to enhanced performance on several transfer tasks. Thought-bubbles provide a theoretically interesting as well as an especially easy and effective teaching technique.

Author information

Author/s: Wellman, Henry M (HM); Baron-Cohen, Simon (S); Caswell, Robert (R); Gomez, Juan Carlos (JC); Swettenham, John (J); Toye, Eleanor (E); Lagattuta, Kristin (K);

Affiliation: The University of Michigan, Center for Human Growth & Development, 300 N. Ingalls Building, 10th Level, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0406, USA. hmw(-atsign-)umich.edu

Grants: HD-22149 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Autism : the international journal of research and practice (Autism), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Dec; vol 6 (issue 4) : pp 343-63

Dates: Created 2003/01/23; Completed 2003/04/08; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 12540127, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 2/18/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Adolescent Autistic Disorder - psychology Cartoons as Topic Child Cognition

Female Humans Learning Male Models, Psychological

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

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