Baron Cohen

Question 0

(Inspiration)

Baron Cohen and his colleagues…

Answer 0

…believed that the standard tests for theory of mind were too easy for high functioning adults with Asperger syndrome or autism, SO THEY DEVELOPED THEIR OWN.

They wanted to prove that autistic adults to have theory of mind deficit compared with adults with no clinical condition.

Question 1

(Aim)

To investigate whether high functioning…

Answer 1

…adults with autism or Asperger syndrome would struggle with new and more difficult tests for theory of mind.

Question 2

(Sample)

16 high functioning…

Answer 2

…autistic/Asperger syndrome adults (13 male/3 female).

Question 3

(Sample)

They were recruited through…

Answer 3

…their doctors and in the national autistic society magazine.

Question 4

(Sample)

10 people with Tourrettes syndrome…

Answer 4

…(8 male 2 female). Recruited through a referral centre.

Question 5

(Sample)

50 age matched…

Answer 5

…adults with no clinical condition (25 male/25 female).

Question 6

Sample - Autism/Asperger syndrome.

Answer 6

1. 16 high functioning autistic adults with A or AS. (13M/3FM).
2. Recruited through their doctors and in the National Autistic society magazine.

Question 7

Sample - Tourrettes syndrome.

Answer 7

10 people with Tourrettes syndrome (8M/2FM). Recruited via a referral centre.

Question 8

Sample - Adults with no clinical condition.

Answer 8

50 age matched adults with no clinical condition.

25M/25FM

Question 9

(Independent variable)

High functioning…

Answer 9

…adults with autistic/Asperger syndrome.

Question 10

(Independent variable)

Adults with…

Answer 10

…Tourrettes syndrome.

Question 11

(Independent variable)

Adults with no…

Answer 11

…clinical condition.

Question 12

(Dependant variable)

Answer 12

Score of participant on the Eye Task.

Question 13

(Main Findings)

The high functioning autistic…

Answer 13

…adults performed significantly worse on the eyes task (16) compared to Tourrettes group and no clinical condition group (20).

Question 14

(Main Findings)

Gender…

Answer 14

…recognition tasks - no significant difference.

Question 15

(Main Findings)

In the no clinical…

Answer 15

…condition group, female performed better than males in the eye task.

Question 16

(Conclusion)

Even high functioning…

Answer 16

…autistic adults have a significant problem with their theory of mind. (Find it hard to read mental states).

Question 17

(Strengths)

High Validity.

Answer 17

The pattern of results from the eyes task was mirrored in Happe’s strange stories.

Question 18

(Strengths)

Useful study.

Answer 18

There are real life applications, as if the findings are accepted it could open up ways of helping high functioning autistic adults.

Question 19

(Weaknesses)

Low Ecological Validity.

Answer 19

The eyes task did not resemble real life as the photos of eye were static.

They were photos of just the eyes, but in real life people are in motion, you can ready their body language and can see they whole face.

Question 20

(Weaknesses)

Unrepresentative Sample.

Answer 20

Sample of autistic adults was small (16) and only 3 were female. Makes it hard to assume this is a representative sample of high functioning autistic adults. Generalisability is low.