ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the cognitive processes that underlie the well-documented difficulties in false-belief reasoning experienced by individuals with autism. It provides a brief introduction to counterfactual thinking in typically developing individuals and to some of the differences in counterfactual thinking in children and adults with autism. The chapter discusses the idea that counterfactual thinking is an important ingredient in false-belief reasoning in typically developing children. It proposes that a crucial feature of counterfactual thoughts is that they enable people to view an event in different ways – the way the event actually happened, and some of the various ways in which it could have happened differently. The chapter argues that the differences observed in the way in which individuals with autism engage in counterfactual thinking provide an important clue to understanding their difficulties in false-belief reasoning. Counterfactual imagination may be an essential ingredient in the development of false-belief reasoning.
