The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Revised Version: a study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-
Functioning Adults
Baron Cohen, Wheelwright et al. (2001)
Bellringer
• Take out Baron-Cohen study
Which word best describes how each person is thinking or feeling?
There are 9 pictures.
Ready?
Let’s go.
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Friendly Guilty
Horrified Dominant
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Ashamed Serious
Bewildered Alarmed
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Sarcastic Irritated
Surprised Friendly
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Relieved Shy
Excited Despondent
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Hostile Aghast
Insisting Cautious
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Irritated Thoughtful
Encouraging Smypathetic
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Arrogant Jealous
Panicked Hateful
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Confident Dispirited
Aghast Joking
a
Which word best describes how this person is thinking or feeling?
Playful Bored
Comforting Irritated
The end
• Correct responses on next slide…
• 1. friendly• 2. serious
• 3. surprised• 4. despondent
• 5. hostile• 6. thoughtful• 7. panicked
• 8. joking• 9. playful
The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Revised Version: a study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-
Functioning Adults
Baron Cohen, Wheelwright et al. (2001)
What is autism (ASD)?
• Autism Spectrum Disorder• Signs/symptoms such as:
• obsessions• repetitive behaviours• lack of social skills – ‘out of sync’, atypical
or offensive language• difficulties with non-verbal communication
Baron-Cohen et al.
• Simon Baron-Cohen is the leading expert in autism research
• (1985) Sally-Anne test: autistic children have delayed development of a theory of mind (ToM)
• (1997) “Eyes Task” for adults
Social Cognition
• ToM = other people have thoughts and feelings
• doesn’t develop normally in autistic children• no ‘mind reading’
• Important finding:• Intelligence (IQ) social understanding
The Sally-Anne test
• Sally-Anne test on Youtube
• A first-order false belief task
• ‘normal’ children CA of 4, 90%+ pass• autistic children MA of 5, 80% fail
Autistic adults
• Behavioural strategies– make eye contact
– learn appropriate social responses, e.g. arm around crying child, tone of voice
• In 1985, Ψ had no test for autism in adults. Conclusion adults ‘improved’?
• B-C developed the…
Eyes Task (1997) Banyard 353, Gross 70
• Reading the Mind in the Eyes 1997
• But did it really work?
B-C et al (2001) – Why?
• [Adapted from abstract] “The 1997 Eyes Task succeeded in discriminating adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) from controls but suffered from psychometric problems”
• The 2001 task solves these problems
What is Asperger’s syndrome?
• an ASD• impairment in reciprocal social interaction• restricted & obsessively repetitive
patterns of behaviour• differs from other ASDs; a relative
preservation of linguistic and cognitive development
2001 Eyes Test
• Reading the Mind in the Eyes 2001
Participants
• 15 AS/HFA, all ♂
• 225 ‘normals’ from Exeter town & Cambridge uni
• 14 ‘normals’ IQ-matched to AS/HFA’s
Matched Pairs Sample• Matches pairs of participants on key attributes• Participant variables are partly controlled because of
matching• High in control
Predictions
• 1. AS/HFA < normals (Eyes Test)• 2. AS/HFA > normals (AQ)• 3. ♀ > ♂ (Eyes Test)• 4. ♀ < ♂ (AQ)• 5. AS/HFA: AQ Eyes Test
Results
• 1. AS/HFA < normals (Eyes Test)• Supported
• 2. AS/HFA > normals (AQ)• Supported
Results
• 3. ♀ > ♂ (Eyes Test)• Supported-ish p=0.07
• 4. ♀ < ♂ (AQ)• Supported
Results
• 5. AQ Eyes Test • Supported
Discussion
• Modifications worked!– 2001 Eyes Task is more sensitive– It detects individual differences better
Discussion
• AQ (social) & eyes task correlated• IQ (=non-social) & eyes task NOT
correlated• • autistic people are not unintelligent• there are different kinds of intelligence• social difficulties are not correlated to IQ
Evaluation -
• Ecological validity– Static pictures, eyes only– Lab real life
• Could be more subtle?– Measure a P’s reaction times
Evaluation +
• Experimental validity– Measures an autistic trait, not a normal one– Question criteria– High control over extraneous variables
• Reliable, replicable– Pencil and paper test
Evaluating the sample
• Was the sample biased in any way?• Were controls used to remove ‘extra
variables’?• Was the sample large enough to mask the
effect of individual differences?• To which population can we generalise
the findings?
New understanding
• Obsessions and repetitive behaviour previously regarded as ‘purposeless’ may in fact be…
• highly purposive,• intelligent (hyper-systemizing),
and• signs of a different way of thinking.
Writing Practice• Students practice writing a response to exam-style
questions, then peer review.
• Outline what is meant by the term ‘cognitive psychology’.
• Using the following studies answer the questions below:– Mann et al. (lying)– Loftus and Pickrell (false memories)– Baron-Cohen et al (eyes test)– Describe how data were collected in each of these studies.– What problems might psychologists have when they
investigate cognitive psychology?