Campbell Ruth, Lawrence Kate, Mandy William, Mitra Cheytna, Jeyakuma Lalitha, Skuse David
Department of Human Communication Science, University College London, London UK WC1 N1PF, UK.
Dev Psychopathol. 2006 Winter;18(1):99-118. doi: 10.1017/S0954579406060068.
Aspects of face processing, on the one hand, and theory of mind (ToM) tasks, on the other hand, show specific impairment in autism. We aimed to discover whether a correlation between tasks tapping these abilities was evident in typically developing children at two developmental stages. One hundred fifty-four normal children (6-8 years and 16-18 years) and 13 high-IQ autistic children (11-17 years) were tested on a range of face-processing and IQ tasks, and a ToM test based on the attribution of intentional movement to abstract shapes in a cartoon. By midchildhood, the ability accurately and spontaneously to infer the locus of attention of a face with direct or averted gaze was specifically associated with the ability to describe geometrical animations using mental state terms. Other face-processing and animation descriptions failed to show the association. Autistic adolescents were impaired at both gaze processing and ToM descriptions, using these tests. Mentalizing and gaze perception accuracy are associated in typically developing children and adolescents. The findings are congruent with the possibility that common neural circuitry underlies, at least in part, processing implicated in these tasks. They are also congruent with the possibility that autism may lie at one end of a developmental continuum with respect to these skills, and to the factor(s) underpinning them.
一方面，面部加工方面，另一方面，心理理论（ToM）任务，在自闭症中表现出特定的损伤。我们旨在探究在两个发育阶段的正常发育儿童中，挖掘这些能力的任务之间是否存在明显的相关性。154名正常儿童（6 - 8岁和16 - 18岁）和13名高智商自闭症儿童（11 - 17岁）接受了一系列面部加工和智商任务测试，以及一项基于在卡通中对抽象形状的有意运动进行归因的心理理论测试。到童年中期，准确且自发地推断直接注视或回避注视的面部注意力焦点的能力，与使用心理状态术语描述几何动画的能力特别相关。其他面部加工和动画描述未能显示出这种关联。使用这些测试，自闭症青少年在注视加工和心理理论描述方面均受损。在正常发育的儿童和青少年中，心理化和注视感知准确性是相关的。这些发现与至少部分参与这些任务的加工存在共同神经回路的可能性相一致。它们也与自闭症可能在这些技能及其基础因素方面处于发育连续体一端的可能性相一致。
