The DOI matches its Crossref record; 63 of the 65 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Understanding Minds and Metaphors: Insights from the Study of Figurative Language in Autism
Abstract
This article reviews recent work on autistic individuals' understanding of figurative language. One currently influential theory of autism proposes that the key impairments in imagination, socialization, and communication spring from a fundamental deficit in "theory of mind"--the ability to attribute mental states to self and to others. Autism, then, presents a fascinating test case for theories such as Sperber and Wilson's (1986) relevance theory, which claims a crucial role for the understanding of intentions in everyday communication. In this article, I present evidence that understanding of simile, metaphor, and irony by children with autism is closely related to their level of theory of mind ability. The case of autism demonstrates the crucial role of the understanding of intentions in normal human communication, both "literal" and figurative.
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“Following a reviewer’s suggestion that the ability to understand more complex language (cf. Happé 1995) – perhaps as indexed by the vocabulary (or similarities) component of the WASI-II – may underpin ToM task performance, we ran two separate logistic regressions using vocabulary and similarities instead of VCI at step 1. In both cases, the results (available from the authors)–in terms of patterns”
From Measuring Theory of Mind in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2017) · cites this paper as Happé 1995
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Metadata
- Authors
- Happé, F. G. E.
- Venue
- Metaphor and Symbolic Activity
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1995-12
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 275-295
- ISSN
- 0885-7253 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2073057017
- Cited by
- 302
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Metaphor and Symbolic Activity (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, theory of mind, figurative language, metaphor, simile, irony, relevance theory, intention understanding, children with autism, social cognition
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