Recognition of Faux Pas by Normally Developing Children and Children with Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism
Abstract
Most theory of mind (ToM) tests are designed for subjects with a mental age of 4-6 years. There are very few ToM tests for subjects who are older or more able than this. We report a new test of ToM, designed for children 7-11 years old. The task involves recognizing faux pas. Study 1 tested 7-9, and 11-year-old normal children. Results showed that the ability to detect faux pas developed with age and that there was a differential developmental profile between the two sexes (female superiority). Study 2 tested children with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA), selected for being able to pass traditional 4- to 6-year level (first- and second-order) false belief tests. Results showed that whereas normal 9- to 11-year-old children were skilled at detecting faux pas, children with AS or HFA were impaired on this task. Study 3 reports a refinement in the test, employing control stimuli. This replicated the results from Study 2. Some patients with AS or HFA were able to recognize faux pas but still produced them. Future research should assess faux pas production.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Gender differences in Eyes-C scores have been reported in early adolescence.
“Gender differences in Eyes-C scores (Baron-Cohen et al., 1999) have been reported in early adolescence.”
From Reading Books and Reading Minds: Differential Effects of Wonder and The Crossover on Empathy and Theory of Mind (2017) · cites this paper as Baron-Cohen et al., 1999
The Faux Pas Test for Children (FP-C) requires recognizing faux pas: social errors caused by false belief.
“This theory of mind test requires recognizing faux pas: social errors caused by false belief (Baron-Cohen et al., 1999).”
From Reading Books and Reading Minds: Differential Effects of Wonder and The Crossover on Empathy and Theory of Mind (2017) · cites this paper as Baron-Cohen et al., 1999
Baron-Cohen et al. (1999) reported that girls outscore boys on faux pas detection between the ages of 7 and 11.
“Although Baron-Cohen et al. (1999) reported that girls outscore boys on faux pas detection between the ages of 7 and 11, we saw no such gender difference at the beginning of our study.”
From Reading Books and Reading Minds: Differential Effects of Wonder and The Crossover on Empathy and Theory of Mind (2017) · cites this paper as Baron-Cohen et al. (1999)
The majority of ToM tasks require nonemotional mental states to be inferred from contextual information or dynamic behavioral cues.
“In contrast, the majority of ToM tasks require nonemotional mental states to be inferred from contextual information or dynamic behavioral cues (Baron-Cohen, O’Riordan, Stone, Jones, & Plaisted, 1999; Dziobek et al., 2006).”
From ‘Theory of Mind’ is not Theory of Emotion: a cautionary note on the reading the Mind in the Eyes test (2016) · cites this paper as Baron-Cohen, O’Riordan, Stone, Jones, & Plaisted, 1999
Cites
Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 · Cited by 8,599 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The first-order task was the traditional "Sally-Anne" task (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985).”
MethodSelf-citationExecutive functions and developmental psychopathology.
Pennington, B. F., & Ozonoff, S. (1996) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01380.x · Cited by 3,150 · cited 4× · see citing works
“The executive dysfunction theory of autism (Ozonoff, 1995; Ozonoff, Pennington, & Rogers, 1991; Pennington & Ozonoff, 1996) has more difficulty in providing a plausible explanation for the present results.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialBaron‐Cohen, S., Jolliffe, T., Mortimore, C., & Robertson, M. (1997) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01599.x · Cited by 1,970 · see citing works
Self-citation“Theory of Mind” in Asperger's Syndrome Dermot M. Bowler
Bowler, D. M. (1992) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1992.tb01962.x · Cited by 534 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000022607.19833.00 · Cited by 4,093 · see citing works
Self-citationThe functional architecture of human empathy
Decety, J., & Jackson, P. L. (2004) · Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews · doi:10.1177/1534582304267187 · Cited by 3,407 · see citing works
Frontal Lobe Contributions to Theory of Mind
Stone, V. E., Baron-Cohen, S., & Knight, R. T. (1998) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892998562942 · Cited by 1,524 · see citing works
Self-citationIntroducing MASC: A Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition
Dziobek, I., Fleck, S., Kalbe, E., Rogers, K., Hassenstab, J., Brand, M., Kessler, J., Woike, J. K., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0107-0 · Cited by 926 · see citing works
Autism: The Empathizing–Systemizing (E‐S) Theory
Baron‐Cohen, S. (2009) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04467.x · Cited by 830 · see citing works
Self-citationWhy are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in males?
Baron-Cohen, S., Lombardo, M. V., Auyeung, B., Ashwin, E., Chakrabarti, B., & Knickmeyer, R. (2011) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001081 · Cited by 754 · see citing works
Self-citationTheory of mind—evolution, ontogeny, brain mechanisms and psychopathology
Brüne, M., & Brüne-Cohrs, U. (2006) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.08.001 · Cited by 540 · see citing works
Impaired “Affective Theory of Mind” Is Associated with Right Ventromedial Prefrontal Damage
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tomer, R., Berger, B. D., Goldsher, D., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2005) · Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology · doi:10.1097/01.wnn.0000152228.90129.99 · Cited by 445 · see citing works
Emanuel Miller lecture: Confusions and controversies about Asperger syndrome
Frith, U. (2004) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00262.x · Cited by 439 · see citing works
Enhancing Empathy and Theory of Mind
Goldstein, T. R., & Winner, E. (2012) · Journal of Cognition and Development · doi:10.1080/15248372.2011.573514 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
Oakley, B. F. M., Brewer, R., Bird, G., & Catmur, C. (2016) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000182 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
The emergence of the social brain network: evidence from typical and atypical development
JOHNSON, M. H., GRIFFIN, R., CSIBRA, G., HALIT, H., FARRONI, T., DE HAAN, M., TUCKER, L. A., BARON–COHEN, S., & RICHARDS, J. (2005) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579405050297 · Cited by 369 · see citing works
Self-citationBrain Serotonin and Dopamine Transporter Bindings in Adults With High-Functioning Autism
Nakamura, K., Sekine, Y., Ouchi, Y., Tsujii, M., Yoshikawa, E., Futatsubashi, M., Tsuchiya, K. J., Sugihara, G., Iwata, Y., Suzuki, K., et al. (2010) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.137 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Crompton, C. J., Hallett, S., Ropar, D., Flynn, E., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320908976 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
Acquired theory of mind impairments in individuals with bilateral amygdala lesions
Stone, V. E., Baron-Cohen, S., Calder, A., Keane, J., & Young, A. (2003) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00151-3 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
Self-citationMeta-Analysis of Theory of Mind and Peer Popularity in the Preschool and Early School Years
Slaughter, V., Imuta, K., Peterson, C. C., & Henry, J. D. (2015) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12372 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
A meta-analysis of mentalizing impairments in adults with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder
Chung, Y. S., Barch, D., & Strube, M. (2014) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbt048 · Cited by 310 · see citing works
Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., Hill, J. J., & Rutherford, M. D. (2007) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0252-5 · Cited by 308 · see citing works
What Do Theory-of-Mind Tasks Actually Measure? Theory and Practice
Quesque, F., & Rossetti, Y. (2020) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691619896607 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Zucker, N. L., Losh, M., Bulik, C. M., LaBar, K. S., Piven, J., & Pelphrey, K. A. (2007) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.6.976 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Testing theory of mind in large language models and humans
Strachan, J. W. A., Albergo, D., Borghini, G., Pansardi, O., Scaliti, E., Gupta, S., Saxena, K., Rufo, A., Panzeri, S., Manzi, G., et al. (2024) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-024-01882-z · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Theory of mind and neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood
KORKMAZ, B. (2011) · Pediatric Research · doi:10.1203/pdr.0b013e318212c177 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2003) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1025879411971 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Self-citationMentalizing about emotion and its relationship to empathy
Hooker, C. I., Verosky, S. C., Germine, L. T., Knight, R. T., & D’Esposito, M. (2008) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsn019 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Baron-Cohen, S., Bowen, D. C., Holt, R. J., Allison, C., Auyeung, B., Lombardo, M. V., Smith, P., & Lai, M.-C. (2015) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136521 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Self-citationTopical Review: Fetal Testosterone and Sex Differences in Typical Social Development and in Autism
Knickmeyer, R. C., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2006) · Journal of Child Neurology · doi:10.1177/08830738060210101601 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Self-citationLang, R., Regester, A., Lauderdale, S., Ashbaugh, K., & Haring, A. (2010) · Developmental Neurorehabilitation · doi:10.3109/17518420903236288 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Empathizing, systemizing, and the extreme male brain theory of autism
Baron-Cohen, S. (2010) · Progress in Brain Research · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-53630-3.00011-7 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Self-citationSpontaneous Theory of Mind and Its Absence in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Senju, A. (2012) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/1073858410397208 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., Hill, J. J., & Golan, Y. (2006) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470910600980986 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Self-citationA neurobiological mapping of theory of mind
Abu-Akel, A. (2003) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0165-0173(03)00190-5 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Children's and adults’ neural bases of verbal and nonverbal ‘theory of mind’
Kobayashi, C., Glover, G. H., & Temple, E. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.11.017 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Age‐related differences in cognition across the adult lifespan in autism spectrum disorder
Lever, A. G., & Geurts, H. M. (2016) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1545 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Neural correlates of self-face recognition: an effect-location meta-analysis
Platek, S. M., Wathne, K., Tierney, N. G., & Thomson, J. W. (2008) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2008.07.010 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Lehnhardt, F.-G., Falter, C. M., Gawronski, A., Pfeiffer, K., Tepest, R., Franklin, J., & Vogeley, K. (2016) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2558-7 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Atypical development of spontaneous social cognition in autism spectrum disorders
Senju, A. (2013) · Brain and Development · doi:10.1016/j.braindev.2012.08.002 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Neural self-representation in autistic women and association with ‘compensatory camouflaging’
Lai, M.-C., Lombardo, M. V., Chakrabarti, B., Ruigrok, A. N., Bullmore, E. T., Suckling, J., Auyeung, B., Happé, F., Szatmari, P., Baron-Cohen, S., et al. (2019) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361318807159 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Self-citationWhat's domain-specific about theory of mind?
Stone, V. E., & Gerrans, P. (2006) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470910601029221 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Self-citationDecreased serum levels of transforming growth factor-β1 in patients with autism
Okada, K., Hashimoto, K., Iwata, Y., Nakamura, K., Tsujii, M., Tsuchiya, K. J., Sekine, Y., Suda, S., Suzuki, K., Sugihara, G.-I., et al. (2007) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.08.020 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Cognitive behaviour therapy for children and adults with Asperger’s syndrome
Attwood, T. (2004) · Behaviour Change · doi:10.1375/bech.21.3.147.55995 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
The eyes test as a measure of individual differences: how much of the variance reflects verbal IQ?
Peterson, E., & Miller, S. F. (2012) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00220 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
A Taxonomy of Social Errors in Human-Robot Interaction
Tian, L., & Oviatt, S. (2021) · ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction · doi:10.1145/3439720 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Mary, A., Slama, H., Mousty, P., Massat, I., Capiau, T., Drabs, V., & Peigneux, P. (2016) · Child Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/09297049.2015.1012491 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Hooker, C. I., Bruce, L., Lincoln, S. H., Fisher, M., & Vinogradov, S. (2011) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.07.027 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Are Empathic Abilities Impaired in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
Nietlisbach, G., Maercker, A., Rösler, W., & Haker, H. (2010) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.106.3.832-844 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Pantelis, P. C., Byrge, L., Tyszka, J. M., Adolphs, R., & Kennedy, D. P. (2015) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsv021 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Social Cognition and Interpersonal Impairments in Trauma Survivors with PTSD
Nietlisbach, G., & Maercker, A. (2009) · Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma · doi:10.1080/10926770902881489 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Apperly, I. A., Warren, F., Andrews, B. J., Grant, J., & Todd, S. (2011) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01635.x · Cited by 97 · see citing works
O'Nions, E., Sebastian, C. L., McCrory, E., Chantiluke, K., Happé, F., & Viding, E. (2014) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/desc.12167 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
The Childhood Autism Spectrum Test (CAST): sex differences
Williams, J. G., Allison, C., Scott, F. J., Bolton, P. F., Baron-Cohen, S., Matthews, F. E., & Brayne, C. (2008) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0558-6 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Self-citationMore than words: social cognition across variants of primary progressive aphasia
Fittipaldi, S., Ibanez, A., Baez, S., Manes, F., Sedeno, L., & Garcia, A. M. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.02.020 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Recognition of ‘Fortune of Others’ Emotions in Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2008) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-007-0515-9 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Sex differences in the neural correlates of affective experience
Moriguchi, Y., Touroutoglou, A., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2014) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nst030 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Dysfunction of Empathy and Related Processes in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review
Salgado, R. M., Pedrosa, R., & Bastos-Leite, A. J. (2020) · Harvard Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/hrp.0000000000000260 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Horder, J., Andersson, M., Mendez, M. A., Singh, N., Tangen, Ä., Lundberg, J., Gee, A., Halldin, C., Veronese, M., Bölte, S., et al. (2018) · Science Translational Medicine · doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aam8434 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Theory of mind and psychosocial characteristics in older men
Radecki, M. A., Cox, S. R., & MacPherson, S. E. (2019) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/pag0000324 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Reus, L. M., Vijverberg, E. G., Tijms, B. M., Kate, M. T., Gossink, F., Krudop, W. A., Campo, M. D., Teunissen, C. E., Barkhof, F., van der Flier, W. M., et al. (2018) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.07.014 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Spenser, K. A., Betts, L. R., & Das Gupta, M. (2015) · Psychology, Crime & Law · doi:10.1080/1068316x.2015.1028542 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Understanding empathy and its disorders through a focus on the neural mechanism.
Preston, S. D., Ermler, M., Lei, Y., & Bickel, L. (2020) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.001 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Early clinical characteristics of children with autism
Plauche Johnson, C. (2004) · Autistic Spectrum Disorders in Children · doi:10.1201/9780203026229.ch5 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Mentalizing strategies for navigating the social world in adolescence
Guazzelli Williamson, V., & Mills, K. L. (2023) · Infant and Child Development · doi:10.1002/icd.2374 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Dağdelen, F. (2020) · Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.5455/apd.135050 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Guarisco, M. S., Brooks, C., & Freeman, L. M. (2017) · Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature · doi:10.15763/issn.2376-5275.2017.3.1.24-54 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Gender differences in Eyes-C scores (Baron-Cohen et al., 1999) have been reported in early adolescence.”
BackgroundInfluentialCortisol awakening response and testosterone jointly affect adolescents' theory of mind
Wang, H., Zhang, S., Wu, S., Qin, S., & Liu, C. (2022) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105258 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Baron-Cohen, S., O'Riordan, M., Stone, V., Jones, R., & Plaisted, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 1999-10
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 407-418
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- OpenAlex
- W1486096542
- Cited by
- 1,211
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 39 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 68 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 67 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 44 · 2013: 61 · 2012: 63
- FWCI
- 19.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- theory of mind, Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, false belief understanding, social cognition development, age differences, sex differences
- MeSH terms
- Autistic Disorder, Awareness, Child, Child, Preschool, Diagnosis, Differential, Female, Humans, Intelligence, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Reference Values, Social Behavior, Socialization, Asperger Syndrome
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
