Henry M Wellman (2002)
Thought-bubbles help children with autism acquire an alternative to a theory of mind
Miscellaneous publication.
Notes that children with autism have specific difficulties understanding complex mental states like thought, belief, and false belief and their effects on behavior. Such children benefit from focused teaching, where beliefs are likened to photographs-in-the-head. Here 2 studies, 1 with 7 8-18 yr old participants and 1 with 10 5-17 yr olds, tested a picture-in-the-head strategy for dealing with thoughts and behavior 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. It is concluded that 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 behavior) and to enhanced performance on several transfer tasks. Thought-bubbles provide a theoretically interesting as well as an especially easy and effective teaching technique. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
Database Name: PsycINFO.
Electronic ISSN: 1461-7005.
Email Address: [mailto:hmw@umich.edu].
Contact Individual: Wellman, Henry M, U Michigan, Ctr for Human Growth & Development, 300 N. Ingalls Building, 10th Level, Ann Arbor, MI, US, [mailto:hmw@umich.edu].
Journal Volume: 6.
Journal Issue: 4.
Journal Pages: 343-363.
Publication Type: Journal; Peer Reviewed Journal.
Format Availability: Electronic; Print.
Format Covered: Print.
Methodology: Empirical Study.
Population: Human; Male; Female.
Age: Childhood (birth-12 yrs); Preschool Age (2-5 yrs); School Age (6-12 yrs); Adolescence (13-17 yrs); Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs).
Peer Reviewed: Yes.
Identifiers: prosthetic device; thought bubbles; theory of mind; mental state representation; autism.
Classification: 3250 Developmental Disorders & Autism; 3300 Health & Mental Health Treatment & Prevention.
Number of References: 29 reference(s) present, 29 reference(s) displayed.
Update: 20030210.
Accession Number: 2003-01025-002.
Cited by: 7 (on Jun 01, 2007).
Exploring the Mind Speaker Series - Dr. Tirin Moore, Stanford
CMB Acting Director Andy Yonelinas Featured in Sacramento Bee