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Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Gepubliceerd in:

01-01-2013 | Original Paper

The Triple I Hypothesis: Taking Another(’s) Perspective on Executive Dysfunction in Autism

Auteur: Sarah J. White

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 1/2013

Abstract

The executive dysfunction theory attempts to explain not only the repetitive behaviours but also the socio-communicative difficulties in autism. While it is clear that some individuals with autism perform poorly on certain executive function tasks, it remains unclear what underlies these impairments. The most consistent and striking difficulties are seen on tasks that are open-ended in structure, lack explicit instructions and involve arbitrary rules. I propose that impairment on such tasks is not due to executive dysfunction; instead, poor performance results from difficulties forming an implicit understanding of the experimenter’s expectations for the task, resulting in egocentric and idiosyncratic behaviour. These difficulties in taking another’s perspective may be explained parsimoniously by the mentalising difficulties robustly demonstrated to exist in autism.

vorige artikel Social Responsiveness and Competence in Prader-Willi Syndrome: Direct Comparison to Autism Spectrum Disorder

volgende artikel Treatments for Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Evidence, Advocacy, and the Internet

While the Triple I hypothesis proposes that executive ability is relatively unimpaired in autism, this does not preclude the possibility that some cases of autism may involve executive dysfunction for reasons unrelated to the core autistic symptoms.

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Titel: The Triple I Hypothesis: Taking Another(’s) Perspective on Executive Dysfunction in Autism
Auteur: Sarah J. White
Publicatiedatum: 01-01-2013
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders / Uitgave 1/2013
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1550-8

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