baron- cohen et al (1997)

?
background?
baron-cohen suggested that the core deficit of autism is the inability to employ theory of mind, theory of mind is the ability to understand that others have emotions abnd ideas that can be different to yours own which starts developing- 4-6 yrs
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what is the sally-anne test?
The researcher shows two dolls named Sally and Anne. Sally puts the marble in her box and leaves. Then Anne moves the marble from the box to her basket. Sally returns and the researcher asks the p " where will sally look for her marble"
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aim?
to investigate whether lacking theory of mind is a core deficit of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and whether the reading the mind in the eyes task is a valid measure of ToM
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sampling method? autisum
16 people of normal intelligence with high functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome (13m;3f) were recruited by selfselecting (advert in the National Autistic Society magazine) and opportunity (from clinics)
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sampling method neurotypical people?
50 age matched neuro-typical Cambridge residents (25m;25f), who were recruited through random sampling
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sampling method tourettes?
10 age matched people of normal intelligence with Tourettes were recruited through an opportunity sample from a referral centre (8m;2f).
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why was the tourettes comparison group used for?
The Tourettes comparison group were used as the developmental disorder effects similar regions of the brain as autism but is not associated with deficits in ToM, so the experimenters could establish whether lack of ToM was specific to ASD.
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what was the method?
Quasi experiment (the disorder the participants had or whether they were neurotypical was naturally occurring), matched pairs design (matched on intelligence and age)
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what were the ethics?
Protection from harm as vulnerable participants- those with ASD- may have become anxious when tested on ToM. However, some were tested in their own home or the clinic to make them more comfortable, so they were not distressed by a new environment.
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what was the procedure?
The tasks were presented in random order and participants were tested individually in a quiet room, either in their own home or in the researchers clinic or in the lab at Cambridge university.
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materials and equitment eye task?
photographs of the eye region of 25 male/female faces, in black and white, shown for 3secs. Participants had to pick the mental state (from a forced-choice between two opposites) which best described what the person in the photo was thinking/ feeling
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how is the mental state decided?
The correct mental state was decided by a panel of judges who unanimously agreed
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materials and equitment strange stories?
test ToM at a mental at 8-9years. Stories are presented and the participant is asked whether the person in the story was telling the truth and why they said what they did,
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example of strange stories?
i.e. The child in the story doesn’t tell the truth about leaving her toy in the garden because and the correct answer for why the child said this is that she had forgotten. Use to test the concurrent validity of the Eyes task (that scores were cons
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control tasks, basic emotion recognition task?
Shown photographs of whole faces displaying one of Ekman’s 6 basic universal emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise, which are recognisable across all cultures) and asked to identify the emotion.
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control tasks, gender recognition task?
using the 25 photographs of the eyes, participants were asked to select the gender, to ensure that performance on the eyes task could not be explained by deficits in face perception, perceptual discrimination, or social perception.
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main findings?
ASD group had significantly worse ToM (mean: 16.3/25) than the Tourettes (20.4/25) or neurotypical group (20.3/25). The strange stories task shows concurrent validity with the eyes task as the autistic group made significantly more errors.
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conclusion?
Strange stories obtained similar results which validates the eyes task as a test of ToM. The research shows that even high-functioning adults with autism do lack ToM, suggesting it as a core deficit of ASD.
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what is the sally-anne test?

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The researcher shows two dolls named Sally and Anne. Sally puts the marble in her box and leaves. Then Anne moves the marble from the box to her basket. Sally returns and the researcher asks the p " where will sally look for her marble"

Card 3

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aim?

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Card 4

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sampling method? autisum

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Card 5

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sampling method neurotypical people?

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