Elsevier

Developmental Review

Volume 27, Issue 2, June 2007, Pages 224-260
Developmental Review

Cognitive theories of autism

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2007.02.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This article considers three theories of autism: The Theory of Mind Deficit, Executive Dysfunction and the Weak Central Coherence accounts. It outlines each along with studies relevant to their emergence, their expansion, their limitations and their possible integration. Furthermore, consideration is given to any implication from the theories in relation to the distinction or otherwise between the various autistic subgroups. Finally, future directions in autism research are identified, especially in terms of methodological advances and whether the three theories can be unified.

Section snippets

Introduction and the history of cognitive theories of autism

Three cognitive theories have dominated psychological research into autism. This article considers these theories by describing the research which gave life to them, studies which resulted in them being changed, and those which resulted in them being specified more clearly. The paper provides a history of each theory and so reveals how and why they have evolved. It also tackles the issues of specificity, uniqueness, and universality: (1) does autism arise from a domain-specific factor or are

The Theory of Mind Hypothesis of autism

In essence, this theory states that individuals with autism fail to “impute mental states to themselves and others” (Premack & Woodruff, 1978, p. 515) and that this deficit manifests as inability to mentalise, or failure to take into account others’ mental states. The most widely used test of Theory of Mind is the unexpected transfer test of false belief, which was devised by Wimmer and Perner (1983). In the task the participant watches a sequence of events, usually enacted by dolls. The story

Theory of Executive Dysfunction in autism

Perhaps the most important difference between the theory of mind hypothesis and EF accounts of autism is that executive functions are intrinsically domain-general, whereas the theory of mind hypothesis posits a domain-specific deficit.

Weak Central Coherence theory

Weak Central Coherence Theory (WCC, Frith, 1989, Frith, 2003, Frith and Happé, 1994, Happé, 1999) is a domain general process, and one of its key strengths is that it explains some of the non-social, as well as the social features of autism, such as the attention to acute detail that ranges from pedantry to obsession. The essence of the theory is that typically developing individuals process information by extracting overall meaning or gist. Frith and Happé suggest autism is characterized by

Multiple-deficit accounts

Multiple-deficit accounts lie at the opposite end of the theoretical continuum to accounts which propose that autism can be explained as a specific deficit, such as impaired theory of mind. In recognition of the value of a multiple deficit approach, Baron-Cohen and Swettenham (1997) argue for the creation of subgroups in autism (cf. Joseph, Tager-Flusberg, & Lord, 2002), proposing that autism is in fact a complex of cognitive disorders: impaired theory of mind, WCC and executive dysfunction.

Future directions

The priorities for futures directions in the psychological study of autism are (1) to detail the actual course of development in autism prospectively. This is already being done (e.g., Berger et al., 2003, Charman, 2003, Charman et al., 2005, Sigman and Ruskin, 1999) largely thanks to early screening measures like the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT, Baird et al., 2000) which increase the chance of an early detection of autism; (2) to compare and contrast children and adults with brain

Summary and future directions

In terms of history, theories of autism have arguably been barometers of psychological trends. They have tended to follow the theoretical zeitgeist of their times: from psychoanalytic theory, to behaviourism and then into cognitive models. As such, any theory of autism should be viewed within the context of its own time, in order to give a historical perspective. Additionally, autism research has been a crossroads and meeting point for researchers, both within and outside psychology, and from

Acknowledgments

This paper was written in part while the first author held an Economic and Social Research Council studentship and then an ESRC Fellowship at The University of Nottingham. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and comments.

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