‘Mind-reading’ is a term that is relevant to ToM. It refers to one’s ability to understand how others might interpret events and their feelings (Howlin et al, 1999). Before we understand how individuals with ASD are hindered in mind-reading and how to provide support, we need to know the significance of mind-reading and the developmental stages of ToM.
First and foremost, mind-reading helps us make sense of social behaviors and the human world as it facilitates forming explanation of human behaviors and predicting their next move. Furthermore, it is an essential component for understanding communication, particularly on communication intention. When decoding speech, it is not possible to only take words literally. Rather, we need to go beyond what we hear and to hypothesize the mental state of the speakers. Mind-reading also allows speaker to monitor the informational needs of his/her listener. In other words, it helps the speaker judge what the listener knows and does not know so that additional information or rephrasing can be provided in order to make the listener understands the communicative intention. By the same token, mind-reading also plays a significant role in deception, empathy, self-reflection, and persuasion/changing a person’s mind (Howlin et al, 1999). Developmentally speaking, typical developing children are aware of the differences between things in the world and thoughts on the mind by the age of 2 (Astington & Jenkins, 1999). Howlin and colleagues (1999) further suggested that 3-to-4-year-old children, who are developing typically, understand that emotion can be caused by situations e.g., pleasant situations make you happy and unpleasant situations make you sad, and desires e.g., we are happy when our desires are fulfilled and vice versa. Happé and Frith (2014) proposed that by the age of 4 to 5, the notion of false belief begins to develop. and higher order of mind-reading skills, which are necessary for understanding complex mental states begin to merge, and mind-reading skills become more elaborated around the age of 6 (Vetter et al, 2013).
In the next article, I will examine ‘mindblindess’ in ASD and relate the framework proposed by Howlin and colleagues (1999) when discussing how to teach children with ASD to mind-read. References
| Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1999). A longitudinal study of the relation between language and theory-of-mind development. Developmental Psychology, 35(5), 1311–1320. |
| Broekhof, E., Ketelaar, L., Stockmann, L., van Zijp, A., Bos, M. G., & Rieffe, C. (2015). The Understanding of Intentions, Desires and Beliefs in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(7), 2035–2045. |
| Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2014). Annual research review: Towards a Developmental Neuroscience of Atypical Social Cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(6), 553–557. |
| Howlin, P., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hadwin, J. (1999). Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. |
| Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978) Does the Chimpanzee Have a ‘Theory of Mind’? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 4, 515-526. |
| Vetter, N. C., Leipold, K., Kliegel, M., Phillips, L. H., & Altgassen, M. (2013). Ongoing Development of Social Cognition in Adolescence. Child Neuropsychology, 19(6), 615–629. |
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[:zh]部分研究人員表示，自閉症人士身上存在的社交溝通及互動缺損可以用心智理論 (Theory of Mind)受損來解釋（Broekhof等，2015年）。根據Premack和Woodruff的觀點（1978年），心智解讀是理解心理狀態的能力，例如對自己及對他人的願望、信念及意圖，以及他人在特定情境中的想法和預測行為的能力。它還涉及在探索社交世界的過程中理解他人的情感、認知及想法。「讀心」是一個與心智解讀相關的概念，它指一個人理解他人如何解讀事件及感受的能力（Howlin等，1999年）。在我們瞭解自閉症人士的讀心能力如何被阻礙及我們如何能提供支援之前，我們需要先知道讀心的重要性及心智解讀的發展階段。
首先，讀心能促進我們對人類行為的認識並預測他們的下一步的行動，有助於我們理解社交行為和人類世界。此外，它也是理解溝通，特別在理解溝通意圖這方面重要的元素。在解讀語言時，僅僅按照字面意思理解是不足夠的。我們需要更深層次地理解所聽到的語言，揣測說話者的心理狀態。讀心還能夠讓說話者掌握聆聽者對信息的需求。換言之，它幫助說話者瞭解聆聽者接收到甚麼信息，有那些信息還未收到，從而判斷是否需要提供更多的資料或是重述之前的內容來幫助聆聽者理解溝通意圖。同樣地，讀心在欺騙、同理心、自我反思及說服/改變他人想法中亦起著重要的作用（Howlin等，1999年）。 從發展的角度來看，一般發展的兒童在兩歲時能夠意識到現實世界和思想上的差異（Astington & Jenkins, 1999年）。Howlin及其同事進一步表示，正常發展的兒童在三至四歲時便能夠理解情境和期望會產生情緒，例如當我們的願望得到滿足或事情合乎期望時會感到開心，反之亦然。Happé及Frith （2014年）提出，正常發展的兒童在四至五歲時開始發展錯誤信念 (false belief) 的概念，用來理解更加複雜的心理狀態的高級別讀心技巧會在六歲左右開始出現，而他們的讀心技巧亦逐漸地變得更加嫻熟和全面。
在下一篇文章中，我會講解自閉症中的「心盲」特徵，並在探討如何透過Howlin及其同事（1999年）提出的框架來教授讀心技巧給予自閉症兒童。參考資料
| Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1999). A longitudinal study of the relation between language and theory-of-mind development. Developmental Psychology, 35(5), 1311–1320. |
| Broekhof, E., Ketelaar, L., Stockmann, L., van Zijp, A., Bos, M. G., & Rieffe, C. (2015). The Understanding of Intentions, Desires and Beliefs in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(7), 2035–2045. |
| Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2014). Annual research review: Towards a Developmental Neuroscience of Atypical Social Cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(6), 553–557. |
| Howlin, P., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hadwin, J. (1999). Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. |
| Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978) Does the Chimpanzee Have a ‘Theory of Mind’? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 4, 515-526. |
| Vetter, N. C., Leipold, K., Kliegel, M., Phillips, L. H., & Altgassen, M. (2013). Ongoing Development of Social Cognition in Adolescence. Child Neuropsychology, 19(6), 615–629. |
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