“This presentation contains copyrighted
material under the educational fair use
exemption to the U.S. copyright law”
BARON-COHEN ET AL. (2001)
“READING THE MIND IN THE EYES” TEST
REVISED VERSION: A STUDY WITH NORMAL
ADULTS, AND ADULTS WITH ASPERGER’S
SYNDROME OR HIGH-FUNCTIONING AUTISM
VIDEO 1
BARON-COHEN ET AL. (2001)
AICE PSYCH AS LEVEL- COGNITIVE PSYCH
I. Background
 A. This study is a “redo” of a 1997 for various reasons (discussed later)
 B. Research into detecting autism with children
 1. 1985- Sally-Anne Test- kids w/autism have a delayed Theory of Mind (ToM)
 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjkTQtggLH4
 C. Baron-Cohen talks about the history of Autism & how genes and
other factors may affect the disorder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crmDSDeCEp4
Cue 1: On the PPT edition of this lecture, enlarge the Sally-Anne
picture on this slide and answer the two questions.
Cue 2: Using the Baron-Cohen video link above,
summarize the main points of discussion in 5 bullet
points
I. Background
 D. Research into detecting autism with adults
 1. Aim in research focuses on developing “social sensitivity” tests that are
sensitive enough to detect “subtle cognitive dysfunction”
 2. Such tests are lacking for adults who have ‘normal’ IQ yet may have a
deficiency in social understanding
 3. Existing tests are typically for adults who suffered brain damage, not for
neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and Asperger’s syndrome (AS)
 4. Tests have to be sensitive enough to detect these shortcomings as adults may
have learned how to compensate for them (thus tests not picking up on it)
II. Original “Eyes Test” (1997)
 A. Theory of Mind (ToM)

1. Involves 2 stages of understanding someone else’s mindset




a-stage 1- ability to attribute the relative mental state of another person
(compassion)
b- stage 2- ability to infer the content of that mental state (compassion for
her mother’s loss)
2. *NOTE- Eyes Test ONLY involves stage 1
3. Also referred to as ‘social intelligence’ by Baron-Cohen
II. Original “Eyes Test”
 B. Original test summary



1. Ps included normal, Asperger’s (AS) & high-functioning autism (HFA),
and Tourett’s adults
2. Ps presented with a series of 25 photos of the eye-region of a face
3. Ps had to choose which of two words best describes what the person
was thinking or feeling


a. Purpose was to see how well they could understand a mental state
4. Baron-Cohen described this as an “advanced theory of mind test”
II. Original “Eyes Test” (1997)
 C. Results of original “Eyes Test”

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
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
1. Succeeded in discriminating adults with AS & HFA from controls
2. Controls scored higher than AS/HFA adults
3. Results showed success in developing a test of social sensitivity to reveal
subtle mind-reading difficulties in adults with AS &HFA
4. Results demonstrated that normal adults could judge mental states from
even minimal cues (expressions from around the eyes)
5. Having established that testing for social sensitivity among controls and
adults with autism was feasible, this then enabled
Baron-Cohen to consider how to make the test better
(overall purpose of this 2001 study)
III. Problems with Original “Eyes Test”
 Problem 1
 Problem: Forced choice of only 2 word responses- made for 50/50
performance on each trial, leading to too narrow of a range for
significance
 Solution: Forced choice of 4 words in new Revised Eyes Test (R-ET)
 Problem 2


Problem: Parents of children with AS scored at about the same level as
it may have been a result of too narrow range of items (25 initially)
Solution: R-ET had 36 items (photos) to be scored
III. Problems with Original “Eyes Test”
 Problem 3
 Problem: Narrow range of scores and only 2 word options resulted in
ceiling effects with too many scores in the top range (possibly skewing
the results)
 Solution: Again, increased number of items to 36 and having 4 word
choices per item instead
 Problem 4


Problem: Original test had both basic (easy) and complex (harder) mental
states (such as anger vs. sarcastic) and posed the potential again for ceiling
effects as too many Ps would get the emotion right
Solution: Only complex mental states were used
III. Problems with Original “Eyes Test”
 Problem 5
 Problem: Some photos were too easily guessed correctly because of the
gaze direction of the eyes, such as “ignoring”
 Solution: These items were excluded from the R-ET
 Problem 6
 Problem: Original test had more female faces than male faces
 Solution: Equal number of male & female faces for better control of
variables
III. Problems with Original “Eyes Test”
 Problem 7
 Problem: The original semantic word and foil (the other word) were
semantic opposites (like sympathetic & unsympathetic) which could
make the test too easy and lead to ceiling effects again.
 Solution: The 3 foils were similar in meaning (not semantic opposites),
making each item more difficult and “maximising the possibility of
revealing subtle individual differences”
 Problem 8
 Problem: Some word choices may have not been
understood by the Ps
 Solution: A glossary of terms was included in
which Ps could refer to
“This presentation contains copyrighted
material under the educational fair use
exemption to the U.S. copyright law”
BARON-COHEN ET AL. (2001)
“READING THE MIND IN THE EYES” TEST
REVISED VERSION: A STUDY WITH NORMAL
ADULTS, AND ADULTS WITH ASPERGER’S
SYNDROME OR HIGH-FUNCTIONING AUTISM
VIDEO 2
BARON-COHEN ET AL. (2001)
AICE PSYCH AS LEVEL- COGNITIVE PSYCH
IV. Aims of the Study
 1. To test a group of adults with AS or HFA on the revised version
of the Eyes Test to see if the results would be replicated

Basically wanted to see if the R-ET fixed the problems or if it would
produce the same results
 2. To test if there is an negative correlation in a sample of normal
adults between the R-ET and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)

AQ measures the degree to which any person (adult) with a normal IQ
possesses autistic traits (0-50, higher score = more autistic traits)
 3. To test if there is a gender difference on the R-ET

Basically to see if female superiority is replicated
V. Participants
 A. Group 1 (AS/HFA)
 15 male adults with AS/HFA
 Self-selecting from U.K. National Autistic Society magazine ad
 Normal IQ range (x=115) and mix of socioeconomics and education
 B. Group 2 (general population controls)
 122 adults (as controls) from adult community & education classes from
Exeter or from public library at Cambridge (no mention of Hogwarts)
 55 males & 67 females
 Broad mix of occupations and education
V. Participants
 Group 3 (students from Cambridge)
 103 undergraduate students (71 in science and 32 in other majors)
 53 males and 50 females
 Assumed to have higher IQ than other Ps (though not specified)
 Group 4 (IQ-matched controls)
 14 randomly selected adults who were IQ-matched with Group 1
 IQ x=116
 No mention of gender (assuming male though)
 No mention of how selected/recruited
VI. Hypotheses
 H1- The AS/HFA group would score significantly lower on the R-ET
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than the other groups, but would be unimpaired on gender
control judgments
H2- The AS/HFA group would score significantly higher on the AQ
test than the other groups
H3- Females in the control groups (groups 2 & 3) would score
higher than males on the R-ET
H4- Males in the student group (group 3) would
score higher than females on the AQ test
H5- Scores on the AQ and the R-ET would be
negatively correlated
VII. Procedure
 A. Design of the Study

1. Natural experiment


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IV= (1) AS/HFA or Control and (2) Gender
DV= (1) R-ET score, (2) AQ score, and (3) gender identification for AS/HFA group
2. Apparatuses (Psychometric tests)

a. Revised Eyes Test (given to all groups)

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b. AQ (given to AS/HFA, students, and IQ-matched groups)

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Was pencil and paper test with black & white photos
Revised Eyes Test via Harvard http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/mite/
AQ test link- http://aq.server8.org/
3. Data collection= via pencil/paper questionnaires
4. Data type= quantitative only
Cue 3: Take the computer-based R-ET via Harvard
at the link above & report the score
Cue 4: Take the AQ via the link above & report the score
VII. Procedure
 B. Developing the Revised Eyes Test

1. Researcher Piloting
a. Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright originated target words and foils for
each photo that were then piloted on a group of 8 judges (4M&4F)
 b. For the target words and foils to get the ‘go ahead,’ at least 5 judges
had to agree on the target word for each photo and no more than 2
judges could pick any single foil word
 c. If this happened, the target words and/or foils were re-piloted until
the criteria was met for each

VII. Procedure

2. Using the R-ET with control groups (groups 2&3)
a. The control groups were the first groups tested with the original 40
photos and did not differ much in their results
 b. The data from these two groups were than combine N= 225
 c. Researchers then looked at data for each item and eliminated 4
items overall, leaving 36 of them
 1. The data ultimately presented for the control groups (2&3) were
only based on these 36 items
 d. From the results of this large data set, the AS/HFA and IQmatched groups would then take the now 36 item R-ET

CUE 5: Explain the criteria used that led to the elimination
of the 4 items from the 40 question test.
“This presentation contains copyrighted
material under the educational fair use
exemption to the U.S. copyright law”
BARON-COHEN ET AL. (2001)
“READING THE MIND IN THE EYES” TEST
REVISED VERSION: A STUDY WITH NORMAL
ADULTS, AND ADULTS WITH ASPERGER’S
SYNDROME OR HIGH-FUNCTIONING AUTISM
VIDEO 3
BARON-COHEN ET AL. (2001)
AICE PSYCH AS LEVEL- COGNITIVE PSYCH
VII. Procedure
 C. Implementing the tests
 1. Each test was individually administered in a quiet room at either
Cambridge or Exeter
 2. The AS/HFA group had to judge the gender of each photo as a control
task (not done for others as piloting had ceiling effects)
 3. Ps in groups 1, 3, & 4 completed the AQ test
 4. Ps were asked to read through the glossary of
terms and to ask questions as needed to ensure that each understood
the term (to eliminate extraneous variables)
and could use the glossary as needed during
the test
VIII. Results

(Scores overall ranged from 17-35, with a mode of 24)

1. The AS/HFA group performed significantly worse than the
other groups (H1 supported)


2. On the AQ test, the AS/HFA group scored significantly higher
than the control groups (g3 & g4) (H2 supported)

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AS/HFA score X= 21.9 to X=26.2 (g2), 28.0 (g3), and 30.9 (g4)
AS/HFA score X=34.4 to X= 18.3 (g3) and X= 18.9 (g4)
3. Females scored higher on the R-ET (not sig.)
(H3 supported) Cue 6- Document this result from both groups
4. Males scored higher on the AQ test (non sig.)
(H4 supported) Cue 7- Document this result from both groups
5. There was a significant negative correlation
(-0.53) b/w scores on AQ and R-ET
(H5 supported)
IX. Discussion & Conclusions
 1. Current study replicated finding of previous test that AS/HFA
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adults are significantly impaired in identifying social interaction
cues.
2. Current study reconfirmed that AS/HFA adults score
significantly higher on the AQ test than the general population.
3. The modifications made enabled the R-ET to be more sensitive in
the measurement of adult social intelligence
4. The results of the study demonstrated that the R-ET is useful in
identifying impairments related to AS/HFA
5. Gender differences on the R-ET most likely
would have been significant if the sample
was larger
X. Strengths & Weaknesses
 A. Strengths
 1. Quantitative data from rather large sample
 2. The R-ET is easy to administer and replicable
 3. Pilot evaluations of target words & foils with researchers
 4. Pilot testing of original 40 questions with controls
 5. Experimental validity- measures autistic traits
 6. No main ethical concerns
 B. Weaknesses
 1. Mainly ecological validity
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
Testing done in a room is different than the everyday
context that you would encounter in social settings
Looking at B&W photos of still eyes is very different
than one would encounter in social settings
The Fun Continues…
Cue 8: From the ARTICLE ITSELF, explain how the Revised Eyes Test may be
relevant for other clinical groups beyond the autistic spectrum. [4]
Cue 9: Baron-Cohen et al. (eyes test) investigated identifying social cues in adults
with autism and adults without autism. Explain two ways in which the
findings of this study are useful. [4]
Cue 10: Discuss two ways how the Baron-Cohen et al. (eyes test) study applies to the
cognitive approach. [4]
TASK: From the ARTICLE ITSELF by Baron-Cohen et al., provide T/F questions as
noted below. If the answer is false, provide the correct answer alongside.
-Introduction/Background: 4 questions (2T/2F)
-Problems with Original Test: 10 questions (5T/5F)
-Method: 6 questions (3T/3F)
-Results: 5 questions (2T/3F)
-Discussion: 5 questions (3T/2F)