Assumptions
What can be explained in terms of cognitive processes
behavior and emotions
What were the independent variables?
- Doodling and control group
What is one of the hypotheses of this study?
Participants with AS or HFA will have lower scores on the task (this would show a lack of ‘theory of mind’ in these participants)
• Participants with AS or HFA will have higher scores on the Autism Spectrum Quotient Test (AQ) measure
• Females in the adult and student comparison group will score higher on the task than males in the same group (this would show females have more ‘theory of mind’)
• Males in the student comparison group will score higher on the AQ than females (this would show mild autistic traits generally in males)
• The scores on the AQ and task will be negatively correlated (the more up the scores will go on one measure, the more down on the other: more autistic traits in an individual means less ‘theory of mind’)
What type of experiment was this?
Lab Experiment
What were the participants told to point to when they believe the target is absent in Pozzulo et al.?
A silhouette box
similarities and differences between people can be explained in terms of
individual patterns of cognition
What were the Ps were asked to recall (task)?
names of people attending and names of places mentioned
What is the dependent variable/key features of the dependent variable?
P's score on the revised 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' and for those in the AS/HFA and IQ matched condition their score on an AQ test
Describe the Cartoon face target.
Dora- She was talking to the audience
Diego - Putting on a pair of gloves for safety
-6 seconds
-each target was shown for 2-3 secs
-filmed in colour
-muted
What is a negative correlation?
when higher scores on one variable correspond with low scores on the other
attention, language, thinking, and memory are examples of this
cognitive processes
What was the reason why the order of the questions were reversed between Ps?
counterbalancing: to minimise extraneous variables e.g fatigue to reduce order effects.
What is 'theory of mind'?
a cognitive ability that allows us to realize that others have different feelings, beliefs, knowledge and desires from our own
Describe the features of the foils for both cartoon and adult.
What is a concurrent task?
An additional activity with a cognitive demand that we can perform at the same time as a primary task.
this is the cognitive ability to encode, store, and retrieve information
memory
What is the result from the doodling group?
Ps correctly recalled a mean of 7.8 party-goers and one person made a false alarm
What is the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task?
when Ps are shown photos of eyes and asked to identify the emotion shown from two options
What are the aims of this study?
What are the 2 stages that attributed to the theory of mind?
STAGE 1: Attributes of relevant mental state e.g compassion
STAGE 2: Inferring to the content of that mental state e.g compassion for loss.
cognitive psychologists often compare the way the brain processes information to this
a computer
What is the working memory model?
this model suggests two different types of current ('working") memory can be used at the same time
Features of Group 2.
Adult comparison group – 122 adults recruited by opportunity sampling from educational classes in Exeter and Cambridge library users, mean age 46
Describe the 3 female researchers and describe why that clothing style was chosen.
-Professional- casual clothing e.g blouse, dress pants
-Not overly formal as it may influence the children’s responses through social pressure as it could suggest authority
How did the eyes task help investigate theory of mind?
It was believed to use the cognitive processes associated with a theory of mind as participants needed to empathise with the person in the photograph in order to figure out their emotional state