TITLE:
Uta Frith’s thoughts on the Theory of Mind and Autistic Deficit: Dialogue between Art and Neuroscience
AUTHORS:
Giuliana Nardacchione
KEYWORDS:
Uta Frith, Autism, Theory of Mind, Art, Neuroscience, Georges de la Tour, Mirror Neurons
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Psychology,
Vol.10 No.3,
June
30,
2021
ABSTRACT: The contemporary scientist and German developmental
psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience of University College
London, Uta Frith has mainly focused her research on autism spectrum disorder
and the related theory-of-mind deficit. To explain the autistic mentalistic
deficit, the psychologist has used a specific tool: art, her initial pursuit
cultivated at the Universität des Saarlandes, in Germany. Thus, this work seeks
to reconstruct the artistic influences on Uta Frith’s scientific efforts,
highlighting how the dialogical intersection of two seemingly distant
disciplines, like art and neuroscience, can generate surprising new networks of
signification and an understanding of the intrapsychic and interpsychic worlds.
Art challenges us to develop moments of neuroscientific knowledge. On the
other. In contrast, neuroscience offers the opportunity to develop further
insights into the role of visual perception in contemplating works of art.