Researchers in Denmark and the UK have discovered that in a nonverbal test, adults with Asperger syndrome (a disorder that belongs to the autistic spectrum) are not capable of spontaneously anticipate the actions of others, unlike the rest of the people from just two years old. Their findings, published in the journal Science, the results differ dramatically from similar evidence offered by verbal, that they are capable of overcoming those with this syndrome, and suggest that these people can develop strategies to overcome his neurological limitations.
There are many adults who have been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome whose intelligence is above average but experienced difficulties in their everyday social interactions. In part, These difficulties are due to its apparent inability to predict what another person might do or say based solely on what they already know about the knowledge or belief that another individual.
This ability to anticipate being studied, for example, the "false belief test" Sally-Ann (Sally-Anne False Belief Task, FBT): Sally left a marble in a basket and leaves the room, Ann change the marble to a box, Sally returns and look for the marble where it left off. If asked where Sally will look for the marble to a child regardless aware that Sally's actions based on what it considers the way, the child says that Sally will look for the marble to the basket. 
Many children with Asperger respond incorrectly, but the victims whose verbal ability is particularly high usually exceed the test. This casts doubt on the theory that the problems of "reciprocal social interaction" experienced people with autistic spectrum disorders are caused by a neurological failure disables them to attribute mental states to themselves and others. In this study, a team of scientists at the University Hospital of Aarhus (Denmark) and the University of London (United Kingdom) used a modified version of the Sally-Ann FBT to find evidence that individuals with Asperger especially gifted learn to reason the situation presented to deduce the correct answer, despite its difficult to attribute mental states spontaneously.
Researchers subjected to FBT Sally-Ann nonverbal nineteen and seventeen adults with Asperger adults 'neurotypical'. Instead of requesting a verbal response, the researchers examined the eye movements of individuals during the test. "It is more likely that an autistic child gives a correct verbal response to an advance look right", explains the article.
The scientists found that adults with Asperger syndrome often look with equal attention toward the basket and the box, instead of looking systematically at the box the wrong way chosen by the cartoon character. This indicates that people with Asperger do not attribute mental states to others spontaneously, but, if asked, they are able to make calculations and deductions. However, although a slow and deliberate pondering over the thoughts of others may indeed lead to the correct answer is not the same as the ability to automatically assign spontaneous inner thoughts to others.
"It gives a striking contrast to neurotypical children two years old, to perform the same task look to the right place spontaneously, "noted in the study. "It is unlikely to be due to differences in motivation, as typically developing adults showed the same bias that children with normal development, while the group with Asperger learned to look to the right place proactively familiarization trials in they need not reason about the beliefs of anyone. "
The researchers conclude that the development of the ability to" mentalizing "(ie, understand the desires and beliefs of others) at an early stage is indispensable to develop the ability to anticipate the actions of others later in life.
"We believe that compensatory learning can help bridge the neurophysiological constraints, but not solve the root cause of these limitations," they conclude in the study. "The existence of such compensatory learning explain the apparent paradox that exists between the positive test results FBT explicit and systematic difficulties in everyday social interactions experienced by people with Asperger syndrome."
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