Individual Differences Study - Baron-Cohen at al Flashcards
What was the background?
Autism involves social communication, social interactions, social imagination - BC was interesting in whether there was any core deficits that were common to people with autism - Theory of Mind was established by Sally-Annein the 1980s
What was the aim?
To investigate whether adults with autism still experience a deficit in Theory of Mind. And to develop a new way of testing Theory of Mind that would work for adults too.
What was the sample?
16 adults wither either autism or Asperger’s (13m 3f)
50 ‘normal’ adults (25m 25f)
10 adults with Tourette’s syndrome
How were the autistic adults recruited?
Via an advert in the National Autistic Society’s Communication magazine or through professional contacts of Baron-Cohen
How were the normal adults recruited?
Recruited from the general population of Cambridge, UK, where Baron-Cohen was based
How were the Tourette’s syndrome adults recruited?
Recruited from a referral centre in London
What was the procedure of the study?
Participants took the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes task’ which involved them being shown 25 pairs of eyes and they have to say which of two semantically opposite words/phrases best described what the person was think or feeling (eg. interested or disinterested, calm or anxious)
What happened with the autistic people in this procedure?
They were also asked to identify the gender of the people in the photos and to recognise the six basic emotions. If they failed either of these tasks they won’t do the Reading the eyes tasks
What were the findings/conclusions of the study?
Adults with autism did worse in the Eyes task (mean score 16.3/25) than either the ‘normal’ adults (20.3/25) or the adults with Tourette’s syndrome (20.4/25)
