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Baron Cohen et al (1997)Reading MindsThe eye task
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Baron Cohen et al (1997)Reading MindsThe eye task
Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling
CONCERNED or UNCONCERNED
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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?
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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’
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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Baron Cohen et al (1997)
Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling
serious or playful
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Baron Cohen et al (1997)
Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling
reflective or unreflective
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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?
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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?
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Baron Cohen et al (1997)Reading minds from eyes!
Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling
sympathetic or unsympathetic
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