Theory of mind in naturalistic conversations between autistic and typically developing children and adolescents.

Researchers studied how autistic and non-autistic children talk with each other during conversations. They found autistic children were just as good at showing they understand others' thoughts and feelings, but they sometimes provided too much, too little, or unrelated information during conversations. Children who had trouble reading facial expressions or talking about what others think also struggled more with appropriate conversation flow.

This study examined how autistic and typically developing children (ages 8-16) use theory of mind during natural conversations. Researchers developed new rating scales to measure conversational theory of mind (cToM): Positive behaviors showing consideration of partners' mental states, and Negative behaviors showing violations of conversational norms. Fifty pairs participated in 5-minute conversations. Autistic children showed more frequent cToM Negative behaviors (providing inappropriate amounts of information) but similar rates of cToM Positive behaviors compared to typically developing peers.

Negative behaviors correlated with difficulties recognizing facial emotions and spontaneous mental state talk, suggesting these skills are important for conversational theory of mind.

Findings suggest interventions should focus on conversational appropriateness rather than just theory of mind understanding. Targeting facial emotion recognition and spontaneous mental state discussion may improve conversational skills. Results highlight both strengths and specific areas of difficulty in autistic individuals' conversational abilities.

Single study with relatively small sample size. Novel measurement scales require validation. Study type not specified in metadata. Limited demographic information provided. Cross-sectional design prevents causal inferences about relationships between variables.

Conversation is a key part of everyday social interactions. Previous studies have suggested that conversational skills are related to, the ability to think about other people's mental states, such as beliefs, knowledge, and emotions. Both theory of mind and conversation are common areas of difficulty for autistic people, yet few studies have investigated how people, including autistic people, use theory of mind during conversation. We developed a new way of measuringusing two rating scales: cToM Positive captures behaviors that show consideration of a conversation partner's mental states, such as referring to their thoughts or feelings, whereas cToM Negative captures behaviors that show a lack of theory of mind through violations of neurotypical conversational norms, such as providing too much, too little, or irrelevant information.

We measured cToM in 50 pairs of autistic and typically developing children (ages 8-16 years) during 5-min "getting to know you" conversations. Compared to typically developing children, autistic children displayed more frequent cToM Negative behaviors but very similar rates of cToM Positive behaviors. Across both groups, cToM Negative (but not Positive) ratings were related to difficulties in recognizing emotions from facial expressions and a lower tendency to talk about others' mental states spontaneously (i.e., without being instructed to do so), which suggests that both abilities are important for theory of mind in conversation. Altogether, this study highlights both strengths and difficulties among autistic individuals, and it suggests possible avenues for further research and for improving conversational skills.