孤儿错误信念认知与情绪理解发展及教育对策

研究用2个心理理论范式测量错误信念认知和情绪理解能力,比较33名孤儿和33名非孤儿的表现,并分析了错误信念认知和情绪理解的关系。结果显示:(1)孤儿错误信念认知水平发展趋势与非孤儿一致,但孤儿的错误信念认知能力发展显著低于非孤儿;(2)孤儿的情绪理解发展趋势和水平与非孤儿基本一致;(3)儿童(包括孤儿)错误信念认知和情绪理解在3-5岁期间发生明显变化,大多数儿童在5岁时已基本具备错误信念认知和情绪理解的能力,4岁是儿童错误信念认知和情绪理解能力发展的重要年龄;(4)儿童错误信念认知与情绪理解关系密切。     

高功能自闭症儿童言语能力训练的个案研究

高功能自闭症,相对于低功能自闭症而言,通常智力发展水平正常,认知和语言发展相对较好,但言语理解和表达存在特殊困难,特别是主动语言和社会性言语行为缺乏,并伴有明显的人际关系和交往障碍。本研究对一名高功能自闭症儿童的言语能力训练进行个案分析．总结实践经验,以求为国内同行进行相关研究提供一点建议。     

自闭症儿童对社交面孔的加工特点

为了研究自闭症儿童对社交面孔的加工特点,选取6—11岁的有语言障碍自闭症儿童、聋哑儿童和正常儿童各14名,让其观看20张两人面对面交谈的社交图片,采用眼动追踪技术,采集他们观看社交图片的视觉指标。结果发现:(1)自闭症儿童对图片中社交面孔的觉察时间显著长于聋哑儿童和正常儿童,对社交面孔的注视时间显著少于聋哑儿童和正常儿童;(2)自闭症儿童对图片中眼睛和嘴巴的注视时间均显著少于聋哑儿童和正常儿童;(3)自闭症儿童和聋哑儿童、正常儿童一样,对图片中眼睛的注视时间均显著长于对嘴巴的注视时间。     

自闭症儿童与正常儿童房树人图画对比研究

目的:探讨自闭症儿童房树人图画的特点。方法:采用双盲实验,以现有的房树人测验结果分析为标准对10名正常儿童和自闭症儿童的房树人图画进行分析。结果:年龄相仿的自闭症儿童和正常儿童绘画能力以及心理发展均存在差异。结论:自闭症儿童的房树人图画反映其心理发展落后于正常同龄儿童,表现在人际交往能力、空间观点采择能力、手眼协调能力等方面。     

学障儿童与正常儿童心理理论四种成分的发展比较

采用统一背景的图片故事法,探讨7-12岁学障儿童（27人）和正常儿童（27人）在一级错误信念、二级错误信念、解释性心理理论和失言理解四个心理理论成分的发展趋势。结果表明,学障儿童的心理理论能力发展显著落后于正常儿童,主要表现在一级错误信念、二级错误信念、解释性心理理论方面;学障儿童的心理理论发展表现出随着年龄增长的特点,而正常儿童心理理论发展的年龄差异并不显著;整合全体被试探讨学龄期儿童心理理论诸成分之间的关系,结果表明,这四种心理理论成分的发展呈现复杂化的趋势。设计背景统一、内容简明的研究任务有助于全面考察心理理论能力的发展。     

自闭症心理理论研究范式的新进展──"思想泡"技术的运用

使用标准错误信念任务的研究结果表明,自闭症儿童存在心理理论缺陷.但是当采取不同的任务呈现方式时,发现自闭症儿童在错误信念任务成绩上表现出分离现象,说明研究范式对研究结果的影响.本文回顾了一种新的心理理论研究范式-"思想泡"技术及其在自闭症心理理论研究和矫治干预上取得的一些成果,探讨了该技术作为一种心理化手段在自闭症干预研究中的未来发展趋势.     

自闭症儿童幼儿园干预的心理学策略

儿童心理理论认为,心理理论受损是自闭症的重要原因之一。对儿童自闭症进行心理学干预是当前的一个重要课题。根据自闭症患儿的临床症状表现,幼儿园教育可以在非言语交际行为、共同注意能力、社会性情感沟通、语言和言语能力等方面对患儿进行心理学干预。     

自闭症儿童的非言语沟通能力缺陷

非言语沟通能力是影响自闭症儿童心理正常发展的重要因素之一。本文通过共同注意能力缺陷、情绪表达与调节能力的缺陷以及要求、社会互动能力的缺陷三方面对国外自闭症儿童非言语沟通能力缺陷的发展研究进行综述。     

自闭症儿童父母歧视知觉和群际关系的特点--自尊的调节作用

采用问卷法对501名自闭症儿童父母进行调查研究,考察自闭症儿童父母歧视知觉和群际关系的特点,并重点考察歧视知觉对群际关系的影响及自尊的调节作用。结果表明:(1)自闭症儿童父母歧视知觉和群际关系在部分人口学变量上存在差异;(2)歧视知觉对自闭症儿童父母的群际关系具有显著负向预测作用;(3)自尊在歧视知觉和群际关系间具有调节作用,歧视知觉对高自尊水平自闭症儿童父母群际关系的预测力显著,而对低自尊水平自闭症儿童父母群际关系的预测力并不显著。     

验证自闭症儿童视觉弱中央统合的实验研究

弱中央统合理论是近年来用于解释自闭症个体认知特点的重要理论之一。本研究采用积木测验和镶嵌图形测验对10名自闭症儿童和10名智力发展障碍儿童实施测验,以验证自闭症儿童在视觉加工任务上是否存在弱中央统合倾向。研究结果表明:自闭症儿童和智力发展障碍儿童在这两个测验任务上的表现并未存在显著差异;实验材料的难度可能使得两类儿童在测验任务上出现了"地板效应";在镶嵌图形测验中,自闭症儿童从阴影型图片中识别出目标图形的能力高于智力发展障碍儿童。     

The Role of Age and Verbal Ability in the Theory of Mind Task Performance of Subjects with Autism

A number of studies have reported that most children with autism fail theory of mind tasks. It is unclear why certain children with autism pass such tests and what might be different about these subjects. In the present study, the role of age and verbal ability in theory of mind task performance was explored. Data were pooled from 70 autistic, 34 mentally handicapped, and 70 normal young subjects, previously tested for a number of different studies. The analysis suggested that children with autism required far higher verbal mental age to pass false belief tasks than did other subjects. While normally developing children had a 50% probability of passing both tasks at the verbal mental age of 4 years, autistic subjects took more than twice as long to reach this probability of success (at the advanced verbal mental age of 9-2). Possible causal relations between verbal ability and the ability to represent mental states are discussed.     

Theory of mind and self-control: more than a common problem of inhibition

This study tested the theory that advances on theory-of-mind tasks and on executive function tasks show a strong correlation because the typically used theory-of-mind tasks pose the same executive demands. In Experiment 1 with fifty-six 3- to 6-year-old children, performance on the dimensional change card-sorting task as an executive function task was correlated with performance on the usual false-belief prediction task, r = .65, and the false-belief explanation task, r = .65, as measures of theory-of-mind development. Because the explanation version of the false-belief test is supposed to be free of the alleged executive demands inherent in the prediction version, the equally strong correlation with the executive function task suggests that this correlation cannot be due to common executive demands. In Experiment 2, the basic finding of Experiment 1 was replicated on another sample of 73 children, ages 3 to 5.5 years. The need for new theories to explain the developmental link between theory of mind and executive function development is discussed, and some existing candidates are evaluated.     

Seriation, Conservation, and Theory of Mind Abilities in Individuals with Autism, Individuals with Mental Retardation, and Normally Developing Children

Seriation, conservation, and theory of mind abilities were examined in individuals with autism ( N = 16), mental retardation ( N = 16), and in normally developing children ( N = 16). Seriation tasks included seriation of tubes, blocks, and flat squares. Conservation tasks included conservation of area, number, substance, quantity, and weight. Theory of mind tasks involved predicting false belief and understanding value and fact beliefs. Participants with autism performed better than participants with mental retardation on seriation, while no differences emerged between these groups on conservation and false belief. Individuals with autism performed less well than individuals with mental retardation on the value and fact belief tasks; however, when verbal ability was held as a covariant, the difference was no longer significant. Normally developing children performed better than the other two groups on all tasks. These results suggest that autism does not involve a specific impairment in theory of mind and that theory of mind deficits are not unique to autism.     

The impact of verbal capacity on theory of mind in deaf and hard of hearing children

Even when they have good language skills, many children with hearing loss lag several years behind hearing children in the ability to grasp beliefs of others. The researchers sought to determine whether this lag results from difficulty with the verbal demands of tasks or from conceptual delays. The researchers related children's performance on a nonverbal theory of mind task to their scores on verbal aptitude tests. Twelve French children (average age about 10 years) with severe to profound hearing loss and 12 French hearing children (average about 7 years) were evaluated. The children with hearing loss showed persistent difficulty with theory of mind tasks, even a nonverbal task, presenting results similar to those of hearing 6-year-olds. Also, the children with hearing loss showed a correlation between language level (lexical and morphosyntactic) and understanding of false beliefs. No such correlation was found in the hearing children.     

Theory of mind and social interest in zero-acquaintance play situations

Many studies have examined associations between children's theory of mind and social behavior with familiar peers, but to date none have examined how theory of mind might relate to behavior toward unfamiliar peers in a play setting. Forty-four 4-year-olds (21 girls, 23 boys) participated in standard theory-of-mind tasks and in a play session with 3 or 4 other children who were unfamiliar. Children were also tested on general vocabulary ability. No relations were found between theory of mind and social engagement. However, positive associations were found between theory of mind and time spent observing, but not interacting with, other children. Possible explanations of the links between theory of mind, temperament, and social interest are considered.     

The Relation between Individual Differences in Fantasy and Theory of Mind

The relation between early fantasy/pretense and children's knowledge about mental life was examined in a study of 152 3- and 4-year-old boys and girls. Children were interviewed about their fantasy lives (e.g., imaginary companions, impersonation of imagined characters) and were given tasks assessing their level of pretend play and verbal intelligence. In a second session 1 week later, children were given a series of theory of mind tasks, including measures of appearance-reality, false belief, representational change, and perspective taking. The theory of mind tasks were significantly intercorrelated with the effects of verbal intelligence and age statistically controlled. Individual differences in fantasy/pretense were assessed by (1) identifying children who created imaginary characters, and (2) extracting factor scores from a combination of interview and behavioral measures. Each of these fantasy assessments was significantly related to the theory of mind performance of the 4-year-old children, independent of verbal intelligence.     

3名不同类型儿童心理推测能力的比较研究

本研究以自编的两个测验故事为测量工具,考察了同是9岁的3名不同类型儿童(高功能孤独症儿童、轻度智力障碍儿童和正常儿童)心理推测能力的水平及异同。结果表明:这三名儿童都能对自我和他人行为进行预期,但他们都没能通过错误信念测试。其中,轻度智力障碍儿童朱某很难理解自我和他人愿望,他和高功能孤独症儿童王某又在理解他人消极性情绪上存在缺陷。相比较而言,正常儿童的心理推测能力最好,其次是高功能孤独症儿童,再次是轻度智力障碍儿童。     

孤独症儿童心理推测能力的影响因素的研究

本研究除了关注年龄和智力因素的影响外 ,还首次探讨了自闭症病症的程度与心理推测能力的关系。综合本研究和以往研究的结果得出 :生理年龄大并同时伴随较高智力能有助于自闭症儿童理解他人的心理。此外 ,本研究发现 ,自闭症病症程度与心理推测能力之间有显著的负相关。采用大样本去论证这个关系的存在应是今后研究的一个方向。     

Theory of mind,executive function and social competence in boys with ADHD

Abstract

Twenty-two boys with a diagnosis of ADHD were com-KEYWORDS pared with 22 typically developing boys on an advanced theory of mind task and on two tasks measuring aspects of executive function. Parents completed rating forms measuring general social competence, as well as mentalizing and non-mentalizing social behaviours. There were no differences between the groups on the advanced theory of mind measure.The children with ADHD scored more poorly than controls on an inhibition task but not on a planning task once age and IQ had been covaried. Ratings of social competence were correlated with theory of mind and executive function ability for the typically developing controls but not for the children with ADHD. The results are discussed in terms of inhibitory and social information processing accounts of ADHD.     

Scaling of theory-of-mind tasks

Two studies address the sequence of understandings evident in preschoolers' developing theory of mind. The first, preliminary study provides a meta-analysis of research comparing different types of mental state understandings (e.g., desires vs. beliefs, ignorance vs. false belief). The second, primary study tests a theory-of-mind scale for preschoolers. In this study 75 children (aged 2 years, 11 months to 6 years, 6 months) were tested on 7 tasks tapping different aspects of understanding persons' mental states. Responses formed a consistent developmental progression, where for most children if they passed a later item they passed all earlier items as well, as confirmed by Guttman and Rasch measurement model analyses.