baron-cohen et al. (eyes test)

cognitive approach

What are the three aims of the study?

1. to test adults with high-functioning autism (HFA)/Asperger syndrome (AS) on the revised eyes test to see if deficits on the original test were still seen

2. to see if there us a negative correlation between autism spectrum quotient (AQ) and the eyes test scores

3. to see if females score higher on the eye test than males

Which assumption from the cognitive approach does it follow?

individual differences in cognitive processes such as attention, language, thinking, and memory can help to explain our differing behaviors and emotions

• link: the study is taking neurotypical people and people with HFA or AS and testing to see if they interpret emotions differently by looking at a persons eyes

What are the features of the sample?

sample 1:

• 15 male adults with HFA/ AS

• volunteered by seeing ads in the UK national autistic society magazine or support group

sample 2:

• people taken from the general population

• 122 total (55M 67F)

• mean age of 46.5 with a wide range of education levels and jobs

sample 3:

• students taken from a university assumed to have a high IQ

• 103 total (53M 50F)

sample 4:

• people matched on IQ and age to sample one

• 14 total

What was the research method used?

quasi experiment- studying something that is naturally occurringhatw

What are the two experimental designs used?

independent measures design- the participants were either neurotypical or had HFA/AS

matched pairs design- sample one was matched to sample four

What were the independent variables and how were they operationalized?

AS/HFA or control: whether people had AS/HFA or were neurotypical

gender: whether females or males performed better on the eyes test

What were the three dependent variables and how were they operationalized?

revised eyes test score (R-ET): what they received on the eyes test

AQ score: what score they received on the autism quotient test

gender identification (only for the participants with HFA/AS): if they correctly guessed the gender of the people in the eyes test

What were the controls/ solutions used in the R-ET?

• making the test 36 questions rather than 25

• using 4 answer choices instead of 2

• using only complex emotions instead of simple emotions

• make the answer choices similar rather than complete opposites

• an equal number of female and male faces were used

• a glossary was included for the participants to refer to during the test

What were the procedures?

1. participants in all 4 groups took the revised eyes test in a quiet room, alone, in either Exeter or Cambridge

2. the test required them to select which 4 of the words matched the expression for the set of eyes

3. participants with HFA/AS were also asked to determine the gender of the eye as a control task

• the control group did not do it as their scores have a ceiling effect

4. participants were also asked if they were unsure of any words in the glossary and to look over them if necessary

5. the AQ test was given to the HFA/AS group, the students, and the IQ matched group

What were the results?

• the AS/HFA group performed significantly worse than the other groups on the R-ET

• on the AQ test the AS/HFA group scored significantly higher than the control groups

• females scored higher on the R-ET than males

• males scored higher on the AQ test than females

• there was a significant negative correlation between scores on the AQ and R-ET

What are the conclusions?

• current study replicated findings of previous tests and showed that AS/HFA adults are significantly impaired in identifying social interaction cues

• current study reconfirmed that AS/HFA adults score significantly higher on the AQ test than the general population

• the modification made to t he test enabled the R-ET to be more sensitive in the measurement of adult social intelligence

• the results of the study demonstrated that the R-ET is useful in identifying impairments related to AS/HFA

• people with AS/HFA have low social intelligence and find it difficult to read other peoples emotions

High or low generalizability?

low

why:

• small sample for people with AS/HFA (15) and they were only males

High or low reliability?

high

why: standardized procedures

• everyone took the same test with paper and pencil

• took the test individually in a quiet room

• got the same 36 question test with 4 answer choices

What is the psychology being investigated?

theory of mind: being able to recognize your emotions and the people’s around you and understanding the full extent of the emotion to then fully explain why they feel that way. (empathy)- putting yourself in someone else’s shoes

How can the findings be applied to the real world?

• used in therapy to help people with neurological disorders read emotions and better understand social cues

• can be used to identify autism in adults

High or low internal validity?

high

why: use of many controls

• changed the original test to reduce ceiling effect

• 36 questions rather than 25

• 4 answer choices rather than 2

• using complex emotions

• making the answer choices similar

High or low external validity?

low

why: does not replicate real-life scenarios

• people see in color not black and white and the pictures were in black and white

• people see a persons body language not only their eyes

• people can hear the tone in a persons voice

What ethical guideline was broken or kept?

broken:

psychological protection- AS/HFA adults may become stressed as they are doing a task that they are not good at

kept:

informed consent- the people volunteered to take part in the studyw

What is the ceiling effect?

occurs when a test is too easy and all participants in a condition achieve a very high score. this is problematic as it does not allow the researchers to differentiate between results.