Spontaneous Theory of Mind in Adults with ADHD and ASD

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to recognize and attribute mental states to oneself and to others, and to understand that others have different mental states from one’s own. ToM refers to the notion that many autistic individuals do not understand that other people have their own mental states. In addition, it appears that they have difficulty understanding other people`s beliefs, attitudes, and emotions. Concerning ToM in ADHD, several studies showed in comparison with normal children, the ability of ToM is impaired in children with ADHD, however, there exists few studies concerning ToM in adults with ADHD. In the present study, we evaluated spontaneous ToM in adults with ADHD and ASD without intellectual deficiency using an eye tracking task similar to the previous study of Senju et al (2009). Subjects were 20 adults with ADHD, 17 adults with ASD, and 18 neurotypical adults according to the criteria of DSM-V. An eye-tracker was used to measure the duration of fixations to the face of the actress in the display, to the correct side, and to the incorrect side. We made a prediction that eye movements in neurotypical adults anticipate the behaviors of the actress on the basis of her false belief, however, those in persons with ADHD and/or ASD do not anticipate her behaviors. Contrary to our expectation, the results showed that ToM was not impaired in adults with ADHD, although it was impaired in adults with ASD.