Background
What was the purpose of the study?
What was to research into detecting autism in adults?
What groups made up participants in the original eyes test?
What are neurotypical, Asperger's & high-functioning autism, and Tourette's adults?
What is researcher piloting?
What are target words and foils for each photo being piloted on a group of 8 judges (4M&4F)
Describe the overall scores.
What are scores overall ranging from 17-35, with a mode of 24?
Describe one way in which the study was not valid.
What is the eyes test possibly not being a measure of theory of mind, being just a test for matching pictures to words? Emotions are also judged on more than just eyes, which aren't static, people move and have other characteristics to display emotions.
Describe Theory of Mind?
What is the ability to attribute mental state to oneself and others, which usually develops from 12-18 months to 4 years?
What were the IVS and DVS of the revised test?
What is
IV - AS/HF Control & Gender
DV - R-ET Score & AQ Score
What needed to be done for words and foils to get the 'go ahead'?
What are at least 5 judges being in agreeance on the target word of each photo?
Describe how H3 and H4 were supported?
Females scored higher on R-ET / Males scored higher on AQ
Describe two ways in which the study was valid.
What is the presence of important controls between the two conditions, a glossary to ensure comprehension, and two control groups (One for IQ), so intelligence wouldn't affect the results in relation to comparing?
Describe high-functioning autism.
What is high-functioning autism being at one end of the ASD spectrum, having less severe signs of other forms of autism?
Describe one control from Baron-Cohen et al. study.
What did the researchers eliminate?
What is the elimination of 4 items overall, leaving 36 in total?
How did the average results of the Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism group differ from the controls?
What are their mean scores being lower?
21.9 < 26.2 (General Population)
21.9 < 28 (Students)
Describe one methodological weakness and one strength that could arise if child participants were used in this study.
What is the possibility of a lower vocabulary thus making results invalid?
&
What is the ability to detect autism in early childhood?
What is a major identifier being impairment in reciprocal social interactions, obsessively repetitive patterns of behavior, and relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development?
List number and type of participants in each group from the revised test.
What is
Group 1 - 15 individuals diagnosed with AS/HFA
Group 2 - 122 adults - General Pop
Group 3 - 103 undergrad students
Group 4 - 14 randomly selected adults (Iq control)
What was the first step while using the R-ET with control groups?
What is the control group being the first group tested with the original 40 photos and did not differ much in their results?
List 2/5 conclusions gathered.
What is
Current study replicated the finding of previous tests 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 modifications made 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
Gender differences on R-ET most likely would have been significant if the sample was larger
What are 2 weaknesses of Baron-Cohen et al.?
What is lacking in ecological validity (reductionist), not being a valid test of mind blindness (simplistic), not giving a complete image of autism, and failing to take into account other causes of behaviors?
What is meant by a 'forced choice task'?
What is one where there are a limited number of possible answers so the participants cannot necessarily give exactly the answer they want?
What were the aims of the revised test?
What is to test -
a group of adults with AS or HFA on the revised version of the Eyes Test to see if the results would be replicated
if there is a negative correlation in a sample of normal adults between the R-ET and the Autism Spectrum Quotient
and to test if there is gender difference on the R-ET
What is being individually administered in a quiet room at either Cambridge or Exeter, AS/HFA group had to judge by the gender of each photo as a control ask.
The performance of the control group on the Eyes Test produced a normal distribution. What is meant by a 'normal distribution'?
What is a bell-shaped distribution / an even spread around the average / the range of results produced by a large, random sample?
What are 3 strengths of Baron-Cohen et al.?
What is being a simplistic study with increased reliability and standardization, being useful to use as a diagnostic tool, limited ethical concerns due to its simplicity, and high quantitative data that can be replicated?