Baron Cohen et al (1997)Reading MindsThe eye task

Baron Cohen et al (1997)Reading MindsThe eye task

Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling

CONCERNED or UNCONCERNED

Baron Cohen et al (1997) Advanced test for theory of mind in adults with Autism

Discussion:

Why ‘minds’ can only ever be a theory!

Are these two people happy or

sad?

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Research Question: WHY do adults with autistic spectrum disorders have problems with social relationships

• The hypothesis:

• That adults with Asperger Syndrome (Autism) can’t interpret states of mind from ‘reading eyes’

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Ist order Theory of Mind task

• Reasoning what another person is thinking (example ‘Sally Ann’ test)

• Normal children develop this ability by the age of 6 BUT the Sally Ann test is not appropriate for adults

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Method: Natural experiment

• 3 groups of participants

• IV = Normal, Autistic, Tourette’s syndrome

• DV = performance on eye task (maximum score = 25)

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Participants

• 16 autistic (Asperger) 13 male 3 female

• 50 normal, 25 male, 25 female

• 10 Tourette’s patients, 8 male, 2 female

• matched on age & normal intelligenceNote: The 2 clinical groups had passed

1st order TOM tests at 6 year old level

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• The ‘eyes task’ procedure:

• 25 photos of eyes

• each 15 x 10cm black and white

• each photo shown for 3 seconds

• forced choice question

• tested individually in quiet room

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling

serious or playful

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling

reflective or unreflective

Baron Cohen et al (1997)• Forced choice ‘eye task’ questions

• examples

• TARGET FOIL

• attraction worried

• friendly hostile

• calm anxious

• The TARGET is the correct answer presented randomised both left and right

Baron Cohen et al (1997)• How was the ‘eye task’ created

• Magazine photos selected

• 4 judges generated the target words

• TARGET FOIL

• calm anxious

• The TARGET is the correct answer the FOIL is the opposite

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• CONTROL in generating targets & foils

• (increases eye task VALIDITY)

• eye photos shown to panel of 8 adults who did not know there was a ‘right or wrong’ answer there was 100% agreement with TARGET

Baron Cohen et al (1997)• CONTROL tasks

• (1) Gender Identification: all participants asked to identify the GENDER of each of the 25 eye photos

• (2) Basic emotion task: all participants asked to identify the emotion in full face photos, happy, sad, angry, afraid, surprise, disgust (Ekman categories)

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Findings:

Eyes Task Autistic Normal TourettesMean 16.3 20.3 20.4Range 10 9 9Identify gender? 24.1 23.3 23.7

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Are females better at reading minds from eyes than males ?

Eyes Task Normal (m) Normal (f) Mean 18.8 21.8Range 6 5Gender Control 24 23.8

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Were these differences significant (above the level of chance) ?

• At a significance level of p =< 0.0001 Normal and Tourette’s better than Autistic

• At a significance level of p =< 0.0001 Normal females better than males

Baron Cohen et al (1997)

• Conclusion:

• Evidence for subtle ‘mindreading’ deficits in intelligent adults on the Autistic spectrum

• The eye task is a ‘pure theory of mind test’ because there is NO context

Baron Cohen et al (1997) Ecological Validity?

• Is the way the experiment measures the DV (Theory of Mind)

• and the experimental setting

• and the sample of participants realistic in a real life setting? Would the same Ps behave in the same way in real life?

• Discuss: why or why not?

Baron Cohen et al (1997)Types of datadiscuss: strengths & limitations • Quantitative = matters of fact objective, scientific &

replicable

• useful for analysis & comparison

• or:

• Qualitative = matters of opinion

• subjective, rich in detail, can be hard to analyse, may be misinterpreted

Baron Cohen et al (1997) The experimental methodology• Was the method appropriate for the aim?

• Are the experimental conditions realistic (mundane realism = real world realism)

• How was the DV operationalised and was this a valid measure of the behaviour being studied?

Baron Cohen et al (1997)The experimental procedure• How were the participants allocated to the conditions and were controls used to remove ‘extra variables’ ?

• Were there any cues that might have generated demand characteristics ?

• RELIABILITY: Could the study be replicated to find the same results? Why or why not?

Baron Cohen et al (1997) The sample • Who were the participants

• Was the sample biased in any way?

• Was the sample large enough to mask the effect of individual differences?

• To which population can we safely generalise the findings?

Baron Cohen et al (1997)Reading minds from eyes!

Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling

sympathetic or unsympathetic