This study investigates the role of recursive language and working memory (WM) in second-order false belief skills in Danish-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 62; 8 females) and typical development (n = 41; 15 females), ages 6–16. Second-order false belief skills correlated with receptive grammar, vocabulary, and age; sentential complement production predicted second-order false beliefs, controlling for age, receptive grammar and WM. Regressions showed that second-order false belief was associated with age across groups, but with sentential complements in the ASD group only. Second-order false belief skills improved in children who received training in either recursive phrases (d = 0.21) or WM (d = 0.74), compared to an active control group. Results suggest that false belief skills are entwined with both linguistic and executive functions.

本研究调查了递归语言和工作记忆 (WM) 在患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD； n  = 62；8 名女性)的丹麦语儿童二阶错误信念技能中的作用以及典型发展 (n = 41；15 名女性 ) ），6-16 岁。二阶错误信念技能与接受性语法、词汇和年龄相关；在控制年龄、接受性语法和 WM 的情况下，句子补语的产生预测了二阶错误信念。回归表明，二阶错误信念与不同群体的年龄相关，但仅与自闭症谱系障碍组的句子补充相关。 与主动对照组相比，接受递归短语 ( d = 0.21)或 WM ( d = 0.74)训练的儿童的二阶错误信念技能有所改善。结果表明，错误信念技能与语言和执行功能密切相关。