UNDERSTANDING MINDS AND METAPHORS - INSIGHTS FROM THE STUDY OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN AUTISM

This article reviews recent work on autistic individuals' understandin g of figurative language. One currently influential theory of autism p roposes that the key impairments in imagination, socialization, and co mmunication spring from a fundamental deficit in ''theory of mind''-th e ability to attribute mental states to self and to others. Autism, th en, 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 o f mind ability. The case of autism demonstrates the crucial role of th e understanding of intentions in normal human communication, both ''li teral'' and figurative.