Theory of Mind and Rule Use in Individuals With Down's Syndrome: A Test of the Uniqueness and Specificity Claims

The relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and rule use was explored in adults with Downs Syndrome (DS) and in non‐handicapped pre‐schoolers. Twelve low‐functioning individuals with DS (mean mental age = 5.1 years, mean chronological age = 22.7) performed worse than 12 MA‐matchcd non‐handicapped...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child psychology and psychiatry 1996-05, Vol.37 (4), p.479-484
Main Authors: Zelazo, Philip David, Burack, Jacob A., Benedetto, Elizabeth, Frye, Douglas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Child psychology
Child, Preschool
Cognition & reasoning
Color Perception
Concept Formation
Defense Mechanisms
Discrimination Learning
Down Syndrome - psychology
Down's Syndrome
Downs syndrome
Female
Humans
Intellectual deficiency
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Medical sciences
Patients
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reality Testing
Reference Values
rule use
Social Perception
specificity
Theory of Mind
Thinking
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Summary:The relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and rule use was explored in adults with Downs Syndrome (DS) and in non‐handicapped pre‐schoolers. Twelve low‐functioning individuals with DS (mean mental age = 5.1 years, mean chronological age = 22.7) performed worse than 12 MA‐matchcd non‐handicapped children (mean MA =5.1 years) on several standard ToM tasks and on a color‐shape card‐sorting task in which subjects were required to switch between two incompatible sets of rules. On the ToM tasks, people with DS tended to focus on a single slate of affairs (e.g. the present situation). Likewise, on the card sort. these subjects tended to use a single set of rules on all trials. Performance in the two types of [ask was positively correlated when MA was partialed out. The results are inconsistent with the claim that ToM reflects a domain‐specific psychological function and the notion that deficits in ToM are unique to individuals with autism. Copyright © 1996 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
ISSN:0021-9630
1469-7610
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01429.x