高功能孤独症儿童的心理推理能力

The theory of mind in children with high-functioning autism

目的:探讨高功能孤独症儿童心理推理能力特点及其两种心理推理能力成分之间的关系。方法:采用横断面研究方法,对92例符合DSM-IV孤独症诊断标准的6~18岁高功能孤独症儿童及59例年龄、性别相匹配的正常发育儿童进行心理推理能力社会认知成分任务(显性错误信念、一级错误信念、情绪隐藏和二级错误信念)和社会情感成分任务(表情识别)测查。结果:高功能孤独症组心理推理能力社会认知成分任务的通过率和社会情感成分任务的平均分均低于正常对照组(均P<0.05);高功能孤独症组一级错误信念、情绪隐藏、二级错误信念任务通过组简单表情识别任务的得分高于未通过组(均P<0.05);复杂表情任务高分组的显性错误信念任务的通过率高于低分组(P<0.05)。结论:6~18岁高功能孤独症儿童心理推理能力的两种成分均存在缺陷,两成分之间既相互作用又相互独立。

Objective:To explore the features of theory of mind and the relationships between the two components of theory of mind in children with high-functioning autism.Methods:This study adopted cross-sectional method.92 children aged 6 to 18 years old,with intelligence quotient(IQ)≥70,meeting criteria of autism of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder,Fourth Edition(DSM-Ⅳ)and 59 typical developmental children matched age and IQ with high-functioning autism group were recruited.Tasks of explicit false belief,first order false belief,emotion hidden and second order false belief reflecting social-cognitive component of theory of mind,and facial expression recognition reflecting social affective component of theory of mind were performed in all subjects.Results:Contrast to typically developing children,the high-functioning autism group showed lower passing rate and average score in the tasks of two components(Ps<0.05).In the high-functioning autism group,the passing group of first false belief,emotion hidden and second false belief task got significantly higher score in simple facial expression recognition than the failed group(Ps<0.05).The group with higher score of the complex expression recognition had higher passing rate of the explicit false belief than the lower group(P<0.05).Conclusion:There are defects in the two components of theory of mind in children with high-functioning autism aged 6 to 18 years old,and the relationship between the two components shows both interaction and independence.