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Annotation: autism, executive functions and theory of mind: a neuropsychological perspective.

It is widely accepted nowadays that some kind of neurological abnormality must beresponsible for the symptoms of autism. However, we are still a very long way fromunderstanding how brain damage or dysfunction can cause such a distinctive patternof symptoms, with impairments in language and social interaction and limitationsof the behavioural repertoire. Although some evidence of neurological impairmentcan be demonstrated in the majority of autistic children if a detailed investigatIonis undertaken (Steffenburg, 1991) there is considerable variation in etiological factors,which may involve genetic constitution, biochemical disorders and many differenttypes of neurological disease.Because the majority of autistic children are mentally retarded, it is not surprisingto find widespread neuropathology associated with autism. However, although CTand MRI scanning have revealed brain abnormalities in several series of autisticchildren, there is little agreement from one case to another in the extent and typesof impairment found (see reviews by Coleman & Gillberg, 1985; Reichler & Lee,1987). The unresolved question is why brain dysfunction leads to general mentalretardation in some children, and to autistic disorder in others.This brief paper will not attempt to review the neurobiological or psychologicalliterature on autism, but will rather focus on selected recent ~tudies to show how aneuropsychological approach to autistic symptoms can provide new ways of analysingcognitive deficits in this syndrome, which may guide the search for neurologicalcorrelates of the disorder using more direct techniques.A Neurological Model of Autism: Damasio and MaurerDamasio and Maurer (1978) drew attention to an area of cortex in the mesial aspectof the frontal and temporal lobes, the mesolimbic cortex, that is both phylogenetically