‘‘Making it explicit’’ makes a difference: Evidence for a dissociation of spontaneous and intentional level 1 perspectivetaking in high-functioning autism

Schwarzkopf, S.; Schilbach, L.; Timmermans, B.; Vogeley, K.

Journal Article

FZJ-2014-03594

‘‘Making it explicit’’ makes a difference: Evidence for a dissociation of spontaneous and intentional level 1 perspectivetaking in high-functioning autism

Schwarzkopf, S. (Corresponding Author) ; Schilbach, L. ; Vogeley, K.FZJ* ; Timmermans, B.

2014
Elsevier Science Amsterdam [u.a.]

Cognition 131, 345 - 354 (2014) [10.1016/j.cognition.2014.02.003]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/7823 doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.02.003

Abstract: The ability of perspective taking is a fundamental aspect of social cognition. The ability todecide, what another person can or cannot see is referred to as ‘‘level 1 perspective taking.’’This is thought to be a process that we can make use of intentionally, but which also takesplace spontaneously. Autism is characterized by impairments of social interaction, whichare thought to be related to deficits in implicit rather than explicit perspective taking. Inorder to assess both levels of processing with regard to perspective taking, we employedan established task in patients and controls. Our results demonstrate that both groupsengage in spontaneous level 1 perspective taking. In contrast to controls, however, patientsreacted more slowly if they had to verify the other’s as compared to their own perspective,which shows that participants with high-functioning autism have selective difficulties inexplicit, but not implicit, level 1 perspective taking. These findings demonstrate that whilespontaneous level 1 perspective taking appears to be intact in autism, this ability isimpaired in patients when used explicitly.

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