“My Brain Helps Me Think about Stuff”: Autistic Children’s Understanding of the Brain and Its Role in Behaviour

Background: Very little is known about autistic children’s knowledge of their own and other people’s brains. The only existing study (Baron-Cohen 1989) suggested that autistic children have a relatively limited view of brain function, ascribing it with behavioural rather than mentalistic functions.

Objectives: Here, we sought to replicate Baron-Cohen’s task and extend it to examine further children’s perception of the brain and its role in shaping behaviour.

Methods: Cognitively able autistic (n=21) and neurotypical (n=39) children, aged between 6 and 11 years and of similar age and general cognitive ability, took part in structured interviews assessing knowledge of the functions of the brain and heart (cf. Baron-Cohen, 1989) and its perceived role in their own behaviour. We also used vignettes of neurodiverse children to prompt discussion (e.g., boys with possible autism, girl with possible autism, boy with possible ADHD) of the role of the brain in other people’s behaviour.

Results: Contrary to Baron-Cohen (1989), we found no significant differences in the number of autistic and neurotypical children ascribing mentalistic functions to the brain. There was wide variability in children’s responses, within both groups, ranging from full agency (e.g., “my brain was in control of making the right choice”) to exerting influence (e.g., “it tells me to do things”). Both groups of children also identified the boys with possible autism and ADHD (but not the girl with possible autism) in the vignettes as not being personally responsible for their behaviour.

Conclusions: School-age children on the autism spectrum show a qualitatively similar conceptualisation of the nature of the brain and its functions to neurotypical children, contrary to previous suggestions. This study is the first stage of a fuller investigation of the way in which children on the autism spectrum understand their own brains and the role they play in shaping their distinctive identities.