Non-language based Theory of Mind tests in individuals with autism Fulvia Castelli Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Department of Psychology University College London Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Psychology, University of London. October 2001 ProQuest Number: U643788 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U643788 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract The main focus of this thesis was to investigate the nature of stimuli that provoke the pervasive tendency of people to explain behaviour in terms of mental states (Theory of Mind). A series of experimental tasks was designed to test the “Theory of Mind deficit” hypothesis with high-functioning individuals with autism by using non-verbal stimuli in both behavioural and neuroimaging (PET) studies. The first three experiments explored the most familiar visual inputs that trigger the attribution of mental states, namely, emotional faces. Children with autism were as able as controls to recognise basic emotions. The fourth and fifth experiments explored the simplest forms of visual information for judging agents’ intentions, namely, their motion pattern. Children with autism were as able as controls to attribute an intended goal to an agent in the presence of its unsuccessful outcome. However, they responded similarly to younger control children in the presence of a sudden change in the agent’s motion direction. This result is compatible with a developmental delay in autism in the representation of goal-directed motion. The last two PET studies were based on the perception of silent computer animations. These animations depicted two interacting characters whose movement patterns evoked descriptions either in mentalistic terms or in behavioural terms. The first PET study identified brain activity in healthy volunteers while watching the animations. The second PET study investigated brain activity in a group of adults with autism during the same task. Verbal descriptions of the animations showed a mentalising deficit in the autism group. Neuroimaging findings revealed that the autism group showed reduced activation and reduced functional connectivity in several areas of the previously identified mentalising network. These findings are evaluated in the context of the metarepresentational model and the Theory of Mind deficit hypothesis of autism, and suggestions for further research are discussed. Acknowledgements My immense gratitude goes to Uta Frith and James Blair, my supervisors, who made my Ph.D. not only possible, but also a truly wonderful experience. My sincerest thanks go also to Chris Frith and Francesca Happé who were constantly there whenever I needed help and suggestions. I believe that I was extremely lucky I had the opportunity to leam from each of them and to work with them. I also wish to thank my colleagues of the Developmental Group and John Morton for their invaluable comments during the preparation of the thesis. In particular, Eamon McCrory, without whom my Ph.D. years would not have been so enjoyable. Special thanks go to Marilu Gomo Tempini, Lisa Cipolotti and Angelo Maravita for their unfailing support, advice and friendship. I am also very much indebted to Brian Butterworth for offering me a job, thesis unfinished, and not complaining about it. I am grateful to Loma Wing for her generous help in recruiting participants, and to all the people, children and adults, who took part of my studies. Finally, I acknowledge the financial support from the European TMR Marie Curie training grant. Above all, I wish to thank Giacomo. This thesis is because of him, and for him. FCG 15* October, 2001 Table of Contents A bstract...................................................................................................................................................................2 A ckno wledgements.................................................................................................................................................3 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................................4 List of Tables...........................................................................................................................................................7 List of Figures.........................................................................................................................................................8 Chapter 1 Non-language Theory of Mind tests in individuals vyith autism ....................................................................9 1.1 Theory of Mind...............................................................................................................................................9 1.1.1 The notion of attribution of intentionality ...........................................................................................10 1.1.2 The metarepresentational model ..........................................................................................................12 1.1.3 ToM, Sarah and Maxi ........................................................................................................................... 14 1.1.4 Normal development of Theory of Mind ............................................................................................17 7.2 Autism: definition, diagnosis and biological................................................................................... basis 27 1.2.1 Explaining autism at a behavioural, biological and cognitive level ..................................................22 1.2.2 Theory of Mind deficit hypothesis ......................................................................................................25 1.2.3 Individuals with autism who pass false-belief tests ........................................................................... 29 1.3 Testing individuals with autism with non-language based ToM.......................................... paradigms 30 1.3.1 Understanding emotions from facial expression ................................................................................ 32 1.3.2 Understanding intention from an agent’s goal-directed motion ........................................................32 1.3.3 Understanding mental states from an agent’s complex patterns of motion ..................................... 34 1.3.4 Preview of the findings ........................................................................................................................36 Chapter 2 Understanding emotions from facial expressions............................................... 38 2.7 Recognising basic emotions........................................................................................................................ 39 2.1.1 Psychoevolutionary research on facial expression recognition .........................................................39 2.1.2 A paradigm for emotion recognition ...................................................................................................43 2.1.3 Perceptual basis of facial emotion recognition .................................................................................. 45 2.2 Autism and emotions................................................................................................................................ 46 2.2.1 A general affective deficit hypothesis.................................................................................................47 2.2.2 A specific affective deficit hypothesis.................................................................................................55 2.2.3 The Theory of Mind deficit hypothesis .............................................................................................. 57 2.3 Three experiments on emotion recognition in children ........................................................with autism 59 2.3.1 Experiment 1: Discriminating facial expressions of emotions with different intensity levels 62 2.3.2 Experiment 2: Naming facial expression of emotions with natural intensity ..................................73 2.3.3 Experiment 3: Naming facial expressions of emotions with different intensity levels ...................79 2.3.4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 84 Chapter 3 Understanding intention from goal-directed motion .................................................................................... 93 3.1 Theoretical background..............................................................................................................................94 3.1.1 Leslie’s tripartite theory of agency..................................................................................................... 95 3.1.2 Triggering inputs to the representation of agency ..............................................................................97