Objective This study aims to explore the understanding of projective spatial terms(front,back,left and right)in Mandarin-speaking children with autism and further examine the relationship between Theory of Mind(ToM)abilities and spatial perspective taking.Method The experiment involved two groups of participants:typically developing children and children with autism.Participants were instructed to place objects in the positions of front,back,left or right of a reference object based on given directives.The study assessed their understanding of projective spatial terms by analyzing accuracy and related factors such as mental rotation angles,Theory of Mind abilities,and the animacy of reference objects.Results The results revealed that children with autism demonstrated significantly lower comprehension of projective spatial terms compared to typically developing children.For tasks involving left-right judgments,the accuracy of children with autism was significantly correlated with the angle required for mental rotation.However,no significant correlations were found between their comprehension ability and factors,such as Theory of Mind abilities,the relative position of the objects,the animacy of the reference objects,or the structural relationship between spatial terms and nouns in the instructions.Conclusion The study indicates that Mandarin-speaking children with autism face notable challenges in understanding projective spatial terms,especially in tasks requiring complex mental rotation.These difficulties may be attributed to deficits in spective taking rather than direct links to Theory of Mind abilities or other factors examined.
关键词
孤独症/方位词/空间观点采择/心智理论能力
Key words
Autism/Spatial terms/Spatial perspective taking/Theory of Mind
维普
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