baron&cohen

• What was the aim?


  To test if high functioning adults with autism would struggle with a new more difficult test for theory of mind
• What was the sample?


  16 ppl with autism- volunteer sample

  10 ppl with tourettes- random sample- from london

  50 clinically "normal" ppl- random sample- from cambridge
• What was the method?


  Quasi-experiment

  IV- autism, touretters, control (naturally occuring)

  DV- performance on eye task

  tested in a lab, clinic or at home
• What was the procedure?


  ppnts took part in 4 tests

  
  

  1. Eye task

  - 25 black and white images of eyes

  - each one had a different emotion

  - ppnts showed image for 3 seconds and then had to pick between 2 mental states- asked "What do you think the person is feeling or thinking?"

  
  

  2. Strange stories task

  - autistic and tourettes group tested with Happes strange stories task

  - estbalished concurrent validity

  
  

  3. Gender recognition task

  - ppnts showed same eyes but had to recognise gender

  
  

  4. Basic emotion recognition task

  - ppnts had to identify emotion based on 6 different faces
• What were the results?


  1. Eye task

  - autism group performed significantly worse than the 2 control groups (mean for ASD group= 16.3, tourettes= 20.4, control= 20.5)

  
  

  2. Strange stories task

  - The autism group struggled, tourettes group did not get any wrong

  - established validity for eye task + concurrent validity

  
  

  3. Gender+ Basic emotion recognition tasks

  - all ppnts performed normally
• What were the conclusions?


  Results showed that adults with autism possess an impaired theory of mind

  Deficit of theory of mind is independent to intelligence

  Women had more advanced theory of mind compared to men

  The eye task is a valid measure of theory of mind in high functioning adults with autism