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Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?

In 1985Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith published an article called Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?

In it, they come up with an experiment called the Sally-Anne test.

The experimenter uses two dolls, "Sally" and "Anne." Sally has a basket; Anne has a box. Experimenters show their subjects (usually children) a simple skit, in which Sally puts a marble in her basket and then leaves the scene. While Sally is away, Anne takes the marble out of Sally's basket and puts it into her box. Sally then returns and the children are asked where they think she will look for her marble. A child is said to "pass" the test if he realizes that Sally will first look inside her basket before realizing that her marble isn't there. This is based upon them developing the notion that she "cannot watch", a situation the test does not clearly substantiate. Most children with autism will cheerfully and confidently answer `Anne's box'-- they do not conclude that Sally cannot know that her marble has been moved. The author's conclude from this that children with autism do not think that the doll has a belief. However, if this were true, the reply would be that the doll would not look for the marble at all.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Does+the+autistic+child+have+a+%22theory+of+mind%22%3F Wikipedia article Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?.

 
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