Simon Baron Cohen &Therese Joliffe (1997) A new test for Theory of Mind

1. Simon Baron Cohen &Therese Joliffe (1997) A new test for Theory of Mind

2. Baron Cohen et al (1997)The eye task Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling CONCERNED or UNCONCERNED Which word best describes what this person is thinking or feeling CONCERNED or UNCONCERNED

3. Autism • An experimental approach, investigating the nature of autism • Autism (from Greek meaning “self”) • Identified by Leo Kanner (1943) • Children very much in their own little world, show no regard for the existence of others • “treat people and objects alike”

4. Characteristics of Autism • Impaired ability to communicate verbally • Impaired ability to communicate non-verbally (no pointing) • Inability to relate socially to others • Inability to behave flexibly • Obsession with a restricted repertoire of activities (“insistence on sameness”) • “Islets of ability” (eg. art/music) • IQ below 70 (80%) – but not consistent (eg. above average in visual/spatial tests, low in language tests)

5. Asperger’s Syndrome • Identified by Hans Asperger (1944) in young Austrian boys • Less severe than Autism • Problems with social interactions, behaviour, emotions, etc • Fewer problems with language and cognitions • Grouped with the AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS

6. Explanations/Theories for Autism/Asperger’s • Kanner (1943) & Bettelheim (1967): poor parenting (psychoanalytic) • Nikolas Tinbergen (1983): lack of instinct to bond/form attachment with other members of family • Lovaas (1979) suggested that the symptoms are dealt with, without going into the causes (behaviourism) • Physiological/genetic – some evidence of brain differences, seems heritable, identical twins concordant for autism, 1/3 also suffer epilepsy

7. Second Order Representations • Alan Leslie (1984) suggests a cognitive mechanism • Second order representations – developed in 2nd year of life • “ability to impute mental states to others” • Responsible for pretend play

8. Simon Baron-Cohen • Professor at Cambridge University • Suggests physiological explanations (hereditary) •  Autism is extreme form of the “male brain” • (It’s 3 times more common in boys) • Cousin of Sacha Baron-Cohen • “Ni-i-ice!”

9. Baron-Cohen et al's explanation • Autistic people do not have a “Theory of Mind” • They do not understand that people have their own thoughts about the world •  serious implications for social interaction • They do not understand people can hold false beliefs • They do not engage in pretend play

10. An old test for Theory of Mind • The Sally-Anne test was used (Wimmer & Perner, 1983) •  tests a child's ability to understand what a person believes • easily solved by “normal” 5-year-olds

11. Sally has a basket. Anne has a box. The “Sally – Anne Test” 1 • Children tested individually - seated at desk opposite researcher • Two dolls - Sally & Anne • Sally has basket, Anne has box

12. Sally has a marble. She puts the marble into her basket. The “Sally – Anne Test” 2 • Naming Question: children asked to confirm they know the names of the two dolls (CONTROL) • Sally puts marble in basket

13. The “Sally – Anne Test” 3 • Sally goes for a walk (doll disappears from view) • Anne plays a trick - takes marble from Sally's basket and puts it in her (Anne's) box

14. The “Sally – Anne Test” 4 • Sally returns • CRITICAL QUESTION (the “Belief Question”): “Where will Sally look for her marble?”

15. The “Sally – Anne Test” - Responses • "Where will Sally look for her marble?" • Correct response: "in Sally's basket" • (that is where Sally left it - she is unaware of Anne's trickery) • Incorrect response: "in Anne's box" • (Sally does not know this - child is saying where they believe the marble is) •  demonstrates inability to understand Sally has a false belief

16. Why a new test? • Sally-Anne test identifies autism in CHILDREN • Adults with Autism can pass it • (they apply logic and experience, rather than trying to “get into Sally’s head”) • CEILING EFFECT  test stops being useful when participants reach a certain level of ability • Need a new test for adults

17. The “Strange Stories” test • Francesca Happé (1994) created this test for older children • 24 “vignettes” (very short stories, just a paragraph each) • 2 questions – one about physical events (what happened?); one about mental events (what did people think, mean or feel?) • People with Autism/Asperger’s have difficulty with the mental events question

18. Example from the “Strange Stories” test • Sarah and Tom are going on a picnic. It is Tom's idea, he says it is going to be a lovely sunny day for a picnic. But just as they are unpacking the food, it starts to rain, and soon they are both soaked to the skin. Sarah is cross. She says, "Oh yes, a lovely day for a picnic alright!" • PHYSICAL EVENTS: Is it true, what Sarah says? • MENTAL EVENTS: Why does she say this?

19. The Study • Research Question: WHY do adults with autistic spectrum disorders have problems with social relationships? • The hypothesis: • That adults with Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome can’t interpret states of mind from ‘reading eyes’

20. Details of the Study • Method: Natural experiment (or “quasi-experiment”) • 3 groups of participants • IV = Normal, Autistic, Tourette’s syndrome • DV = performance on eye task (maximum score = 25)

21. THE SAMPLE • Participants • (1) 16 adults with Autism/Asperger’s 13 male 3 female • (2) 50 normal adults, 25 male, 25 female • (3) 10 Tourette’s patients, 8 male, 2 female • matched on age & normal intelligence Note: The 2 clinical groups (1 and 3) had passed 1st order ToM tests at 6 year old level

22. The Procedure • The ‘eyes task’ procedure: • 25 photos of eyes • each 15 x 10cm black and white • each photo shown for 3 seconds • forced choice question • tested individually in quiet room

23. More on the Eye Task Procedure • Forced choice ‘eye task’ questions • examples • TARGET (correct) FOIL (opposite) • attraction worried • friendly hostile • calm anxious • The TARGET is the correct answer presented randomised both left and right.

24. More on how the eye task was selected • How was the ‘eye task’ created • Magazine photos selected • 4 judges generated the target words • TARGET FOIL • calm anxious • The TARGET is the correct answer. The FOIL is the opposite.

25. Controls 1 • CONTROL in generating targets & foils • (increases eye task VALIDITY) • eye photos shown to panel of 8 adults who did not know there was a ‘right or wrong’ answer there was 100% agreement with TARGET

26. Controls 2 • CONTROL tasks • (1) Gender Identification: all participants asked to identify the GENDER of each of the 25 eye photos • (2) Basic emotion task: all participants asked to identify the emotion in full face photos, happy, sad, angry, afraid, surprise, disgust (Paul Ekman’s 6 basic categories of emotion) • CORRELATION • Participants also attempted Happé’s Strange Stories task – check for CONCURRENT VALIDITY

27. Results • Findings: • Score are out of 25; mean scores below:

28. Conclusions • Were these differences significant (above the level of chance) ? • At a significance level of p =< 0.0001 Normal and Tourette’s better than Autistic • At a significance level of p =< 0.0001 Normal females better than males

29. Conclusions • Evidence for subtle ‘mindreading’ deficits in intelligent adults on the Autistic spectrum • The eye task is a ‘pure theory of mind test’ because there is NO context • (but that does mean it lacks ecological validity)