Rebecca Saxe’s work addresses the human brain’s capacity for abstract thought and the origins of ‘theory of mind,’ the ability to understand the beliefs, hopes and plans of other people.
Rebecca Saxe
Professor
Massachussetts Institute of Technology
From this contributor
U.S. agency backtracks on broad interpretation of ‘clinical trial’
Autism researchers need no longer worry that their basic research will become entangled in the red tape associated with clinical trials.
U.S. agency backtracks on broad interpretation of ‘clinical trial’
By
Hannah Furfaro
6 February 2018 | 6 min read
1985 paper on the theory of mind
In 1985, Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan Leslie and Uta Frith reported for the first time that children with autism systematically fail the false belief task.
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3 February 2026 | 5 min read
Pangenomic approaches to the genetics of autism, and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 2 February.
Pangenomic approaches to the genetics of autism, and more
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By
Jill Adams
3 February 2026 | 2 min read
Betting blind on AI and the scientific mind
If the struggle to articulate an idea is part of how you come to understand it, then tools that bypass that struggle might degrade your capacity for the kind of thinking that matters most for actual discovery.
Betting blind on AI and the scientific mind
If the struggle to articulate an idea is part of how you come to understand it, then tools that bypass that struggle might degrade your capacity for the kind of thinking that matters most for actual discovery.
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Tim Requarth
2 February 2026 | 11 min read