Baron Cohen et al 2001

• Theory of Mind (ToM)


  Ability to attribute thoughts, feelings and beliefs to others
• Eyes Test


  A more advanced test for Theory of Mind
• People with High Functioning Autism (HFA) or Asperger's Syndrome (AS) do not seem to have the ability to attribute thoughts, feelings and beliefs to others
• Sally-Anne test


  A test of false-belief, developed by Baron-Cohen et al. in 1985
• Issues with the 1997 version of the Eyes Test

  • Choice of only 2 words (50/50 guess)
  • Parents of AS/HFA scored at same level (so not differentiated enough)
  • Ceiling effect - lots of 'normal' participants reached maximum
  • Some items too easy
  • Some items could be guessed based on the direction of the eyes
  • More female than male faces
  • 2 words were semantically opposite (so too easy to guess)
  • Some words were not understood
• Changes made to address the issues with the 1997 Eyes Test


  1. Added more options and more questions to address 1-3

  2. Only used complex mental states to address 4

  3. Removed questions that could be guessed based on the direction of the eyes to address 5

  4. Used equal numbers of male and female faces to address 6

  5. Chose foils with the same emotional valence to address 7

  6. Provided participants with a glossary to address 8
• Participants in the AS/HFA group scored poorly on the Eyes Test, which may have caused them stress and distress
• Individual differences between the AS/HFA group and other groups

  Suggests the AS/HFA group appear to lack a theory of mind
• Providing a glossary may have made it easier for participants to understand complex words


  This may have improved scores on the Eyes Test
• This study does not add to the debate on whether Autism Spectrum Disorders can be attributed to nature or nurture
• The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test Revised Version: A Study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-functioning Autism
• Theory of mind


  The ability to attribute mental states to oneself or another person
• Mentalising


  Another term for theory of mind
• Mind reading


  Another term for theory of mind
• Social intelligence


  Another term for theory of mind
• Empathy


  Overlaps with theory of mind
• Task analysis of the Eyes Test

  1. Subject needs mental state lexicon and know semantics

  2. Map terms to fragments of facial expressions of mental states around the eyes

  3. Match eyes in each picture to examples stored in memory to judge mental state
• The Eyes Test only involves the first stage of attribution of theory of mind: attribution of the relevant mental state
• The Eyes Test does not include the second stage of theory of mind: inferring the content of that mental state
• Attribution of the type of mental state is nevertheless part of theory of mind, even if it is not all of it
• The original version of the Eyes Test had psychometric problems
• Problems with the original version of the Eyes Test

  • Narrow range of scores that are significantly above chance (only 9 points)
  • Parents of children with Asperger's scored similarly to those with Asperger's or high-functioning autism, highlighting the test's inability to distinguish between the "broader phenotype" and the condition itself
  • Potential ceiling effects with normal performance close to the ceiling of the test
• Modifications made to the revised version of the Eyes Test

  1. Increased number of items from 25 to 36

  2. Increased number of response options from 2 to 4 per trial
• The revised version provides a bigger window of 24 points (from 13-36) in which to reveal individual differences in ability
• The revised version only includes complex mental states, excluding basic emotions, to make the task more challenging
• The revised version excludes items that could be solved by checking gaze direction alone
• The revised version has an equal number of male and female faces to control for potential bias
• The revised version avoids using semantic opposites as response options, increasing the level of difficulty
• The original version of the test had more female faces than male faces, and it was unclear if this may have biased the test in some way
• In the revised version of the test, the number of male and female faces was carefully controlled to be equal
• In the original version of the test, the target word and its foil were always semantic opposites, making the test too easy
• In the revised version of the test, the foil words have the same emotional valence as the target word, making the test more challenging
• The revised version of the test includes a glossary of all the mental state terms, which subjects were encouraged to consult if they were unsure of a word
• The study reports data from the revised version of the Eyes Test
• Aims of the study

  • Test a group of adults with AS or HFA on the revised version of the test
  • Test if in a sample of normal adults, an inverse correlation would be found between performance on the Eyes Test (Revised) and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)
  • Test if the sex difference (female superiority) found on the first version of the test replicated
• Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)


  A self-report questionnaire that measures the degree to which any individual (adult) of normal IQ possesses traits related to the autistic "spectrum"
• Subject groups


  • Adults with AS or HFA
  • Normal adults
  • Normal adult students
  • IQ-matched controls
• Subjects in the AS/HFA group were also asked to judge the gender of each person in each photo, as a control task, given anticipated impairments on mental state recognition
• Normal adults were found to be at ceiling on the gender recognition task during piloting, so they were not required to do this task
• Subjects were asked to read through a glossary of mental state terms and indicate any word meanings they were unsure of, and they were encouraged to refer to this glossary during the test