BARON COHEN

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To test whether adults with autism or Asperger’s syndrome would be impaired on a theory of mind test called the eyes task and whether females would perform better than males.

Question 2

Participants in group 1

Answer 2

16 people with autism or Asperger 13 males 3 females 18-49 years

Question 3

Ps in group 2

Answer 3

Normal - 50 in total 25 of each

Question 4

Ps group 3

Answer 4

10 Tourette’s syndrome

Question 5

Procedure

Answer 5

Pa tested individually

4 tasks for them to do- eyes task , strange stories task, gender recognition and basic emotion recognition

Question 6

Results for the eyes task

Answer 6

Out of 25
Group 1 - 16.3
2- 20.3
3-20.4

Question 7

Conclusions

Answer 7

Concluded that adults with autism and aspergers despite being normal or above average intelligence have subtle deficits in mind reading ability
Females significantly better

Question 8

Ethics

Answer 8

Can be assumed ps gave consent but might not have been informed fully on purpose of the task
Not mention of debrief and could be hard to explain to adult with autism

Question 9

Validity

Answer 9

Because participants were matched for mean age and intelligenve levels it helped the researchers be able to rule these out as possible extraneous variables
Ps taking tests in different orders controls order effects