Serra M, Loth F L, van Geert P L C, Hurkens E, Minderaa R B
Academic Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The Netherlands.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2002 Oct;43(7):885-900. doi: 10.1111/1469-7610.00104.
The study investigated the development of theory-of-mind (ToM) knowledge in children with lesser variants' of autism (PDD-NOS) over a period thought to be critical for ToM development (i.e., 3 to 5 years of age).
The sample included 11 children with PDD-NOS; 23 normally developing children were included for cross-sectional comparison and 13 normally developing children for longitudinal comparison. The groups were comparable in verbal and non-verbal mental age. Two storybooks were used for repeated assessment of various aspects of the children's theory of mind: emotion recognition, the distinction between physical and mental entities, prediction of behaviour and emotions on the basis of desires and prediction of behaviour and emotions on the basis of beliefs.
The results showed that the children with PDD-NOS had specific difficulties in understanding and predicting other people's emotions on the basis of situational cues, desires and beliefs. However, their ability to predict actions from beliefs and desires were relatively intact. Compared to the normally developing children, these children achieved lower levels of theory-of-mind knowledge, both at time of initial assessment and approximately 6 months later.
The data suggest that the theory-of-mind development of children with PDD-NOS is both delayed and deviant. The growth pattem of theory-of-mind skills in children with PDD-NOS seemed to be qualitatively different from the growth pattern found in the group of normally developing children.
本研究调查了患有亚斯伯格症（广泛性发育障碍未特定型，PDD-NOS）的儿童在被认为对心理理论发展至关重要的时期（即3至5岁）内心理理论（ToM）知识的发展情况。
样本包括11名患有PDD-NOS的儿童；纳入23名正常发育儿童进行横断面比较，13名正常发育儿童进行纵向比较。各组在语言和非语言心理年龄方面具有可比性。使用两本故事书对儿童心理理论的各个方面进行重复评估：情绪识别、物理实体与心理实体的区分、基于欲望的行为和情绪预测以及基于信念的行为和情绪预测。
结果表明，患有PDD-NOS的儿童在根据情境线索、欲望和信念理解和预测他人情绪方面存在特定困难。然而，他们从信念和欲望预测行为的能力相对完好。与正常发育儿童相比，这些儿童在初次评估时以及大约6个月后，心理理论知识水平都较低。
数据表明，患有PDD-NOS的儿童心理理论发展既延迟又异常。患有PDD-NOS的儿童心理理论技能的发展模式似乎在质量上不同于正常发育儿童组的发展模式。
