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The current issue of NYRB has a review by John Allen Paulos, of a book by Masha Gessen entitled Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century. (Gessen's book is about the Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman and his solution of the Poincare Conjecture.) Speculating that Perelman may have Asperger's syndrome, Paulos notes "... seeing that a ball has been moved from one cup to another while someone has left the room, many people with Asperger's expect that on the person's return he will know that the ball is now in the other cup."
This description reminded me a passage about child development. In her book The Philosophical Baby, Alison Gopnik notes: "... suppose you show a child a candy box that turns out to be full of pencils. The children are very surprised when they see the pencils. But if you ask them what someone else will think is in the box three-year-olds confidently report that he will think there are pencils in there!"
Has there been any scientific research on this seeming similarity between the minds of adults with Asperger's and those of children who are not old enough to have a working theory of the mind?
This description reminded me a passage about child development. In her book The Philosophical Baby, Alison Gopnik notes: "... suppose you show a child a candy box that turns out to be full of pencils. The children are very surprised when they see the pencils. But if you ask them what someone else will think is in the box three-year-olds confidently report that he will think there are pencils in there!"
Has there been any scientific research on this seeming similarity between the minds of adults with Asperger's and those of children who are not old enough to have a working theory of the mind?