Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-246sw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-09T18:21:41.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Joint-attention deficits in autism: Towards a cognitive analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
*
Correspondence should be sent to: Simon Baron-Cohen, Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, DeCrespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mundy and Sigman (1989) present a challenge to the metarepresentational theory of autism. Their argument holds if it is assumed that the capacity for metarepresentation only emerges at 12–24 months old in normal development, as manifested in pretend play. However, I present reasons for postulating that the capacity for metarepresentation may be present from as early as 7–9 months of age, manifested in joint-attention behaviors. If this account has any validity, then the metarepresentational theory of autism is unaffected by Mundy and Sigman's challenge. In addition, I highlight some problems in Mundy and Sigman's alternative model of autism. These criticisms aside, their article is without doubt important and opens up critical questions both for models of the origins of autism and of a theory of mind in normal development.

Type
Open Peer Commentaries
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 185 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Baron-Cohen, S. (1987). Autism and symbolic play. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 139–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S. (1988). Social and pragmatic deficits in autism: Cognitive or affective? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 18, 379–402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S. (1989a). Perceptual role-taking and protodeclarative pointing in autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 7, 113–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S. (1989b). The autistic child's theory of mind: A case of specific developmental delay. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 285–297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S. (in press-a). Are autistic children ‘behaviourists’? An examination of their mental–physical and appearance-reality distinctions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S. (in press-b). Precursors to a theory of mind: Understanding attention in others. In Whiten, A. (Ed.), Mindreading. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a ‘theory of mind’? Cognition, 21, 37–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1986). Mechanical, behavioural and intentional understanding of picture stories in autistic children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4, 113–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curcio, F. (1978). Sensorimotor functioning and communication in mute autistic children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 8, 281–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobson, R. P. (1984). Early childhood autism and the question of egocentrism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 14, 85–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobson, R. P. (1986). The autistic child's appraisal of expressions of emotion. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 27, 321–342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landry, S., & Loveland, K. (1989). Communication behaviours in autism and developmental language delay. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 621–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lempers, T., Flavell, E., & Flavell, J. H. (1977). The development in very young children of tacit knowledge concerning visual perception. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 95, 3–53.Google ScholarPubMed
Leslie, A. M. (1987). Pretence and representation: The origins of “theory of mind.” Psychological Review, 94, 412–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1988). Autistic children's understanding of seeing, knowing, and believing. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 6, 315–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (in press). Prospects for a cognitive neuropsychology of autism: Hobson's choice. Psychological Review.Google Scholar
Loveland, K., & Landry, S. (1986). Joint attention and language in autism and developmental language delay. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 16, 335–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mundy, P., & Sigman, M. (1989). The theoretical implications of joint-attention deficits in autism. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 173–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., & Kasari, C. (submitted). A longitudinal study of joint-attention and language development in autistic children.Google Scholar
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., Ungerer, J., & Sherman, T. (1986). Defining the social deficits in autism: The contribution of nonverbal communication measures. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 27, 657–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., Ungerer, J., & Sherman, T. (1987). Play and nonverbal communication correlates of language development in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 17, 349–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perner, J., Frith, U., Leslie, A. M., & Leekam, S. (1989). Exploration of the autistic child's theory of mind: Knowledge, belief, and communication. Child Development, 60, 689–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, J., Sharpe, S., & Mauthner, N. (1989, 07). Strategic deception in a competitive game. Paper presented at the BPS Developmental Section Conference,University of Surrey,UK.Google Scholar
Sigman, M., Mundy, P., Ungerer, J., & Sherman, T. (1986). Social interactions of autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children and their caregivers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 27, 647–656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, D. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Swetnam, J. (1989). Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of York U.K.Google Scholar
Trevarthen, C., & Hubley, P. (1978). Secondary inter-subjectivity: Confidence, confiders, and acts of meaning in the first year. In Lock, A. (Ed.), Before speech: The beginning of interpersonal communication. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Ungerer, J., & Sigman, M. (1981). Symbolic play and language comprehension in autistic children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 9, 149–165.Google Scholar
Wing, L., Gould, J., Yeates, J. R., & Brierly, L. (1977). Symbolic play in severely mentally retarded and autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18, 167–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed