Do triangles play tricks? Attribution of mental states to animated shapes in normal and abnormal development

Abstract

Computer-presented animations were used to elicit attributions of actions, interactions and mental states. Two triangles moved around the screen according to one of three conditions, Descriptions of the animations were rated according to accuracy and type of description. Adults predominantly used action descriptions for Random animations (e.g. bouncing), interaction descriptions for Goal-directed (G-D) sequences (fighting), and mentalising descriptions for Theory of Mind (ToM) sequences (tricking). High-functioning children with autism used mentalising descriptions less often than normally developing 8-year-olds, but as often as did children with general intellectual impairment. However, the autism group frequently referred to mental states that were inappropriate to the animation. Even those children with autism who passed standard false belief tasks showed inappropriate descriptions of ToM animations, revealing continuing impairments in mentalising on-line. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.