Baron-cohen

• Baron cohen background

  Why do adults with autism spectrum disorder have problems with social interactions.
• Baron cohen aim

  To investigate if high functioning adults with autism or Asperger’s syndrome would be impaired on a theory of mind test called reading the mind in the eyes task,

  they were also interested if females would be better than males
• Baron cohen sample

  Group 1- 4 autistic, 12 Aspergers. 13 males and 3 females- advert self selected.

  Group 2- 50 normal age matched adults 25F 25M- random sample

  Group 3- 10 tourette adult, 8 male 2 female- opportunity sample
• Baron Cohen research method

  Quasi experiment- matched participant design

  IV-the type of person: autistic, normal, tourette, aspergers was naturally occurring

  DV- score out of 25 on the eyes task
• Baron-Cohen apparatus

  Black and white photographs of eye region of faces and asking them to make a forced choice between two mental slate words
• Baron-Cohen procedure

  Eyes task and strange stories task wee represented in a random order and were tested individually in a quiet room in clinic or own home or university lab. Each picture of 25 was shown for 3 seconds and the experiment included words like interested and disinterested, desire for you or desire for someone else
• Baron cohen conclusion


  -Adults with autism and Aspergers do possess an impaired theory of mind

  -Autistic and aspergers who held uni degrees had normal intelligence
• Baron cohen results

  Autistic and AS scored lowest

  Tourette scored highest