Theory of mind is the ability to understand that other people have their own minds with their personal state of knowledge, their personal beliefs, wishes and intentions, and that these may differ from one's own mind. Autistic people typically show an impaired ability to recognize other people's minds. Therefore they experience difficulties with explaining and predicting other people’s behaviour. This leads to problems in social communication and interaction. Children on the autistic spectrum usually develop the theory of mind more slowly than other children. They have difficulties with it throughout their lives. However, autistic people's performance on theory of mind tasks varies.