1. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Reading Minds The eye task

2. Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling CONCERNED or UNCONCERNED

3. 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?

4. 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’

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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 intelligence Note: The 2 clinical groups had passed 1st order TOM tests at 6 year old level

8. 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

9. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling serious or playful

10. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling reflective or unreflective

11. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Forced choice ‘eye task’ questions examples TARGETFOIL attraction worried friendly hostile calmanxious The TARGET is the correct answer presented randomised both left and right

12. Baron Cohen et al (1997) How was the ‘eye task’ created Magazine photos selected 4 judges generated the target words TARGETFOIL calm anxious The TARGET is the correct answer the FOIL is the opposite

13. 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

14. 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)

15. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Findings:

16. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Are females better at reading minds from eyes than males ?

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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?

20. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Types of data discuss: 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

21. 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?

22. 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?

23. 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?

24. Baron Cohen et al (1997) Reading minds from eyes! Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling sympathetic or unsympathetic