Autism and the Three Main Theories of Cognition

Extensive studies on neuropsychiatric disorders have had a significant impact on our understanding of the structure and function of the brain and nervous system; To the extent that they have had important philosophical implications in the field of philosophy of mind and cognitive sciences. Autism is a disorder that has had many changes since its inception. Research on this disorder has made it a topic in philosophical psychology. The process of this research on cognitive and behavioral deficits in people with autism has had valuable insights into the development and structure of social cognition. In this regard, the three main theories of cognition, namely the theory of mind, the theory of simulation and the theory of executive control or the theory of metacognition, each with a different approach to autism disorder, introduce different causes. In this article, we will start with the clinical definition of autism, then introduce the three main theories of cognition, and finally show the superiority of simulation theory over the other two theories