Relationship between different types of complement syntax and false belief in Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Qiang Guo¹  Qianqian Pan²  Qiaoyun Liu³  Tingzhao Wang⁴  Shuqin Cao¹  Yunqiang Lin¹  Bisheng Hu⁵ 

[1] College of Child Development and Education, Zhejiang Normal University;National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University;Faculty of Education, East China Normal University;Department of Special Education, School of Education, Shaanxi Normal University;Zhejiang Bema Postdoctoral Workstation

关键词: complement syntax;    Autism Spectrum Disorder;    mandarin;    false belief;    Theory of Mind;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1045227

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Previous studies have shown that complement syntax is closely associated with false belief (FB) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the relationship between different types of complement syntax and FB remains unclear. This study examined the relationship between different types of complement syntax and FB in both ASD and typically developing (TD) children. Thirty Mandarin-speaking ASD and TD children, each matched for language ability, were included. Children completed different types of complement syntax tasks, verbal and nonverbal FB. For the ASD children, results demonstrated that sentential complement syntax independently predicted verbal and nonverbal FB, while phrasal complement syntax only predicted nonverbal FB. For the TD children group, sentential complement syntax only predicted verbal FB. This indicates that as the language demands of the FB task decrease, ASD children can use both types of complement syntax for its prediction. Moreover, the characteristics of ASD children differ from TD children in terms of the relationship between different types of complement syntax and FB. The results of this study support de Villiers' point of view from the Mandarin perspective and provide evidence for the social-cognitive component of the theory of mind.

【 授权许可】

CC BY