Baron Cohen Et Al

Question 1

Background

Answer 1

There is no evidence which suggests autistic people do/don’t have a theory of mind
Adults have been tested in the past and it was found out that they had difficulty with mental state stories

Question 2

Aim

Answer 2

To test theory of mind

Question 3

What experiment was it

Answer 3

Quasi

Question 4

IV

Answer 4

Whether they had autism/as, Tourette’s syndrome or were normal adults

Question 5

DV

Answer 5

Performance on eyes task out of 25

Question 6

How was the DV measured

Answer 6

Showing ppts 25 standardised photos of eye region and asking them to choose between 2 words to best describe the feelings/thoughts of the person

Question 7

Group 1

Answer 7

16 autistic/as ppl with normal intelligence recruited through an advert in national autistic magazine

Question 8

Group 2

Answer 8

50 normal adults age matched drawn from the general population of Cambridge

Question 9

Group 3

Answer 9

10 adults with Tourette’s syndrome age matched with group 1&2. Normal intelligence and recruited through a centre in London

Question 10

Procedure

Answer 10

The eyes task, strange stories and control tasks (gender recognition and basically recognition task) were presented in random order to ppts
Ppts were tested individually in a quiet room either in their home or in the researchers lab at Cambridge uni

Question 11

Key findings

Answer 11

Normal females were better than males
Autism made more errors on strange stories task
Autism - 16.3
Normal - 20.3
Tourette's - 20.4

Question 12

Conclusions

Answer 12

Results provide evidence that adults with as and autism do have impaired theory of mind

Question 13

Theories on which the study is based

Answer 13

All autistic ppl have a impairment in understand mental states
They find it difficult to communicate and understand emotions