Baron-Cohen Flashcards
What year Baron-Cohen’s study done in?
2001
What is autism?
A failure to develop particular processes linked to social interaction
How often does autism occur (percentage of the population, and fraction of boys and girls with diagnosed autism in the world)
1% of the population, 1/189 girls and 1/42 boys
What are three things that autism involves
social functioning, communication, coping with change
What does autism mean regarding the person’s interests
Interests are often narrow
What does autism as a generic term refer to
A wide range of disorders
What two criteria did autism require to be diagnosed (in 2014, 5th addition)
- An impairment of social communication and social interaction skills
- Evidence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities
What were AS and HFA combined into eventually and why
AS and HFA were combined eventually into one cateragory called “Autism Spectrum Disorder” (ASD) as the distinction was too fine to differentiate
What was the test called that was designed for children that tested their theory of mind (being able to be aware of another individual’s actions/feelings), as most children who do have autism wouldn’t be successful in this test
The Sally-Anne test
How was the AQ set up, what does AQ stand for, and who had to take it?
10 questions about your preferences as a person, and a scale between Definitely Disagree and Definitely Agree, ‘Autism Quotient’, and Participants already diagnosed with HFA/AS did not have to take the AQ for the purposes of the Baron-Cohen study
What was the central aim of the Baron-Cohen study
To test whether a group of adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) or High-Functioning Autism (HFA) would be impaired on the revised version of the ‘Reading the mind in the eyes’ task
What were two other, smaller aims within the Baron-Cohen study
- Is there an association between performance on this test and measures of autistic traits
- Are there gender differences in those without autism in this task
What is Hypothesis #1 in the Baron-Cohen Study?
Participants with autism will score significantly lower scores on the revised ‘Reading the mind in the eyes’ task than the control group
What is Hypothesis #2 in the Baron-Cohen Study?
Participants with autism will score significantly higher on the Autism Spectrum Quotient Test (AQ) measure
What is Hypothesis #3 in the Baron-Cohen Study?
Females in the ‘normal’ group (groups 2 & 3) will score higher on the ‘Reading the mind in the eyes’ task than males in those groups
What is Hypothesis #4 in the Baron-Cohen Study?
Males in the ‘normal’ group (group 3) would score higher on the AQ measure than females
What is Hypothesis #5, the final hypothesis in the Baron-Cohen Study?
Scores on the AQ and the ‘Reading the mind in the eyes’ task would be negatively correlated
What is one similarity in the results of all of the hypothesis
They were all proved right
What does Baron-Cohen suggest that people with autism lack?
Baron-Cohen suggests that people with autism lack/have an underdeveloped, cognitive process called ‘theory of mind’
What is the definition of ‘Theory of Mind’
A cognitive ability that enables us to realize that others have different feelings, beliefs, knowledge, and desires from us
What is the definition of empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand the world as another, separate from ourselves
Who are most ‘Theory of Mind’ designed for, and what is an example of a Theory of mind test
Most ‘Theory of mind’ tests are designed for children, and an example is the Sally-Anne test
What is a test that Baron-Cohen suggested for adults, and what does it test their ability to do
Baron-Cohen suggested one for adults called ‘Reading the mind in the eyes’ to test their ability to attribute emotional labels to others
What did Baron-Cohen also do 4 years before the 2001 study, and provide details on what it was about
He experimented in 1997 to investigate whether adults with AS or HFA had problems employing the theory of mind
How were the groups in the 1997 study compared
A group of individuals who had AS or HFA were compared with a group who did not
What were participants shown in the 1997 study
Participants were shown photographs of eyes and asked to identify the emotion being shown from 2 options
What did Baron-Cohen suggest about the 1997 study?
Baron-Cohen suggested this test demands similar cognitive processes as having a theory of mind as it requires empathy
What did the results of the 1997 study conclude
The results concluded that HFA or AS adults could identify significantly fewer emotions correctly in the task than ‘normal’ participants (control group)
What were the 3 key issues within the 1997 study
- It was a forced choice question with only 2 responses which were always opposites
- The small number of examples (25) led to many in the ‘normal group’ scoring 24 or 25 causing the ceiling effect
- The 25 sets of eyes illustrated both basic emotions and complex emotions, and the basic ones were too easy
Suggest 5 flaws in the OLD eyes test in 1997
-Did not reveal a huge difference between those diagnosed with autism and those who were not
-Some opposites used (sympathetic/unsympathetic)
-Mostly female faces
-No glossary
-Some were too easy, leading to the ceiling effect
Name the 6 basic, universally recognized emotions
-Anger
-Happiness
-Surprise
-Disgust
-Sadness
-Fear
How many words were in the glossary that Baron-Cohen provided to help participants identify mental states
93
Name 6 of the words that were in the glossary that Baron-Cohen provided to help participants identify mental states
-Ashamed
-Bewildered
-Cautious
-Desire
-Eager
-Flustered
What kind of experiment was Baron-Cohen’s 2001 study
Lab experiment
What two designs did Baron Cohen’s 2001 experiment follow
Matched Participants AND Independent groups design
What were participants asked to identify in the 2001 study
Participants were asked to identify emotions from photographs (not a regularly performed task with ecological validity)
Why was the 2001 study when participants were asked to identify emotions from photographs highly standardized
All participants were exposed to the same photographs
How were the photographs used in the 2001 study chosen
Using a PILOT STUDY
What is a Quasi-Experiment/Natural Experiment
Participants cannot be assigned to any condition, that is pre-determined based on their characteristics (whether they have autism)
GROUP 1- name of Group one
1. What kinds of people were in group one of Baron-Cohen’s experiment
2. How many participants were there in it
3. What was their mean IQ score
4. Mean age
5. What kind of sample was group 1
AS/HFA
1. Group 1 was the AS/HFA group
2. 15 male adult participants
3. 115
4. 29.7
5. Self-selecting (volunteer) samples from ads in Autistic Society Magazine and support groups
GROUP 2 - Name of Group two
1. What kinds of people were in group two of Baron-Cohen’s experiment
2. What kind of sample was there for group two
3. What was the mean age of group 2
Adult Comparison Group
1. ‘Normal’ Adults (not with ASD)
2. Participants were from adult community and education classes in Exeter, or were public library users in Cambridge
3. 46.5
GROUP 3 - Name of Group three
1. What kinds of people were in group three of Baron-Cohen’s experiment
2. What kind of sample was there for group three
3. What was the mean age of group three
Student Comparison Group
1. ‘Normal’ students (not with ASD)
2. From Cambridge University (Cambridge is a HIGHLY selective university, so these students are not representative of the general population
3. 20.8
GROUP 4 -Name of Group 4
1. How many participants were in group four of Baron-Cohen’s experiment
2. What were the participants in group four’s mean age
3. What were the participants in group four’s mean IQ
4. What kind of sample was group 4
IQ Matched Group
1. 14 IQ-matched participants
2. 28
3. 116
4. Randomly selected from the general population
What was the Independent Variable in the 2001 study by Baron-Cohen
The type of participant in each condition
What was the experimental group in Baron-Cohen’s study
The group with ASD Participants (Group 1)
What were the control groups (how many control groups were there) in Baron-Cohen’s 2001 study
Three control groups: Groups 2, 3 and 4
What kind of design did Baron-Cohen’s study follow
Independent groups design
What were the two ways in which the dependent variable in Baron-Cohen’s experiment was measured
One: Score on the Eyes Task
Two: Score on the AQ test (For those in the AS/HFA and the IQ-matched control condition)
Who else’s IQ score was measured within Baron-Cohen’s study
IQ scores of participants in the AS/HFA condition and the IQ-matched comparison group were also measured
How many pairs of eyes were participants shown, and how many were female/male
Participants were shown 36 pairs of eyes, 18 of them being male and 18 of them being female
How many choices of emotions did each pair of eyes come with
4 FOILS - not synonyms
How were the target and foil words (descriptions for eyes) developed
The target/foil words (descriptions for eyes) were developed using groups of 8 judges
At least how many judges had to agree on the appropriate word to match the pair of eyes, and no more than how many could select one of the other foil words
At least 5 judges had to agree on the appropriate word to match the pair of eyes, and no more than 2 judges could select one of the other foil words
What were participants in all 4 groups tested on, and what were participants in group 1 also asked to judge
Participants in all 4 groups were tested on the revised test, and participants in group 1 were also asked to judge the gender of the target in each photo
What did the PILOT TESTS show
Pilot tests showed that ‘normal’ adults often achieved 100% accuracy on gender recognition, so this was not included in the experiment
What participants completed the AQ test
Participants in all groups except for the ‘normal’ adult comparison also completed the AQ test
What did each participant do to ensure that they understood the meanings of each emotion
Each participant read through a glossary of words that were to be used to ensure that they understood the meanings
What would a participant do if they did not know the definition of a word during the experiment
They were referred back to the glossary to check its definition
What was each participant given before the real mind in the eyes test, and what did the mind in the eyes test include
Each participant was given a practice item and then given the 36 sets of eyes with 4 possible target words for each
How long were participants allowed to take to identify the emotion
As long as they liked
What was done beforehand to ensure that participants were aware of what was happening
All participants consented to take part and were aware of the nature of the experiment
Why was it especially important in this experiment for a full disclosure to take place
Due to the nature of autism, it was especially important for full disclosure before the experiment took place
How was privacy ensured in this experiment
All data was anonymous and all participant’s identities were concealed
What were the results regarding which group identified significantly fewer target words than all other groups
Group 1 (AS/HFA group) identified significantly fewer target words than all other groups
How many times was the glossary used during the experiment
No participant in any of the conditions checked the glossary for more than 2 definitions
What result was there between groups 2 and 3
In the group 2 (normal adults) comparison and group 3 (student) comparison, sex differences were apparent between males and females on the eyes test, but this was not significant
What did the results in gender recognition scores for group 1 look like
All participants in Group 1 scored 33 or above out of 36 on gender recognition task
Who scored the highest on the AQ test
Group 1 (AS/HFA group)
What differences were there in AQ scores between males and females in the student comparison group results
Males scored significantly higher than females on the AQ scores in the student comparison group
What were the results for each group in the average number of words correctly identified on the eye test
Group 1 (AS/HFA) scored the lowest, Group 2 (Adult controls) scored slightly higher than Group 1, then Group 3 (Student controls) scored higher than Group 2, and lastly, Group 4 (IQ-matched controls) scored the highest out of all of the groups. 1,2,3,4 from least to most
What two test scores did the results show a significant correlation between, and what does this suggest
Statistically significant correlation between AQ and Eyes test scores (-0.53)
-This suggests that as a participant’s AQ score increases (meaning higher autistic traits) their ability to identify correct target words correctly decreases
What is a conclusion we can reach about people with ASD
They have a deficit in cognitive processes that allow them to identify emotions in other people
What is the lack of ‘theory of mind’ or ability to attribute emotions to others strongly linked to
ASD
What does evidence in sex differences in comparison groups with males show us
males show more autistic traits than females and perform worse on eye test
What did the revised test help with and what was it more sensitive on
It will help further research in this area because it was a more sensitive measure of adult social intelligence
What were 5 strengths of Baron-Cohen’s 2001 study
-Highly standardized
-Highly controlled (helps eliminate extraneous variables)
-High internal validity
-High reliability
-Improved on the previous version of this experiment
What were 4 weaknesses of Baron-Cohen’s 2001 study
-Random allocation impossible (possible confounding variables)
-Low ecological validity (lacks mundane realism)
-Unnatural conditions of experiment (future version could use videos of eyes instead of photos)
-Small sample size - group 1 in particular
What is the GRAVE analysis for this study
G: Generalisability - Medium
R: Reliability - High
A: Application - High
V: Validity - Medium
E: Ethics - High
