COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND THEORY OF MIND IN AUTISM - A TEST OF RELEVANCE THEORY

Sperber and Wilson's (1986) relevance theory makes explicit the role o f the comprehension of intentions in human communication. Autistic peo ple have been hypothesized to suffer from a specific and characteristi c impairment in the ability to attribute such mental states (e.g., bel iefs, intentions); a lack of ''theory of mind''. According to relevanc e theory, then, autistic people should have specific difficulties with the use of language for communication. Relevance theory allows precis e predictions about the levels of communicative competence that should be possible with either no, first-order only, or second-order theory of mind ability. Three experiments are reported which tested predictio ns following from the analysis of figurative language in terms of rele vance and theory of mind, in able autistic and normal young subjects. The results lend support to relevance theory. In addition, the finding s suggest that some autistic subjects are eventually able to attribute mental states. Lastly, the results demonstrate close links between so cial and communicative understanding in autism and normal development.