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Verbal Memory and Performance IQ Predict Theory of Mind and Emotion Recognition Ability in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and in Psychiatric Control Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1999

Jan K. Buitelaar ,
Marleen van der Wees ,
Hanna Swaab-Barneveld  and
Rutger Jan van der Gaag
Jan K. Buitelaar
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Marleen van der Wees
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Hanna Swaab-Barneveld
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rutger Jan van der Gaag
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Abstract

This study was designed to examine the developmental and cognitive correlates of theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition ability in children with autism (N=20), with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) (N=20), and in psychiatric control children (N=20). The diagnostic groups were person-to-person matched on age and verbal IQ. The age of the children was between 8 and 18 years; their Full Scale IQ was at least 65. The test battery included tasks for the matching and the context recognition of emotional expressions, and a set of first- and second-order ToM tasks. The relationships between composite domain scores and the subjects' age, Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, verbal memory, visual memory, and gender were examined in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Further, the subjects who reliably and consistently passed the tasks of a domain and those who could not were compared on developmental and cognitive characteristics. Overall, the results of the various analyses converged and indicated that verbal memory, Performance IQ, age and gender were the best predictors of social cognitive ability.

Keywords

Autistic disorderemotion recognitionintelligencememorypervasive developmental disordertheory of mind
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines , Volume 40 , Issue 6 , September 1999 , pp. 869 - 881
Copyright
© 1999 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry

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