AS PSYCHOLOGY

Approach: Cognitive
Case Study: Baron- Cohen (Eyes test)

Background Asperger syndrome, or Asperger’s, is a previously used diagnosis on

the autism spectrum. In 2013, it became part of one umbrella
diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5).
ToM doesn’t develop normally in autistic children. Therefore: No
‘mind reading’

Aim To test a group of adults with AS or HFA on the revised version of

the eyes test. This was in order to check if the deficits in this group
that had been found in the original study could be replicated.
To test if in a sample of normal adults, an inverse (negative)
correlation would be found between performance on the (revised)
Eyes Test and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ).
To test whether females scored better on the Eyes Test than males

Procedures Method: Natural experiment

Sample: Group 1 comprised adults with AS or HFA ( N=15 , all male).

Group 2 comprised normal adults ( N=122 ) drawn from adult
community and education classes in Exeter, or from public library
users in Cambridge. Group 3 comprised normal adult students (
N=103 , 53 male, 50 female) all studying for undergraduate degrees
in Cambridge University. Group 3 comprised normal adult students (
N=103 , 53 male, 50 female) all studying for undergraduate degrees
in Cambridge University

Tasks: Subjects in all four groups were tested on the revised adult
Eyes Test. This was individually administered in a quiet room in
Cambridge or Exeter. Subjects in the AS/HFA group were also asked
to judge the gender of each person in each photo, as a control task,
given anticipated impairments on mental state recognition.

Measured Variables:

Manipulated Variables:

Experimental Design: Independent measures design

Results Participant in the four groups did not differ in the number of words
in the glossary that they were unsure of, and in all participants, the
number of words checked did not exceed two.

Conclusion The revised version of the eyes test could still discriminate between
AS/HFA adults and controls from different sections of society as it
replicated previous finding. The new test appeared to overcome the
initial problems.

Evaluation:
Methodology Subjects were asked at the outset to read through the glossary and
indicate any word meanings they were unsure of. They were then
encouraged to read these particular meanings and were told that
they could return to this glossary at any point during the testing.

Validity Validity is reasonable in this study as the construct validity is good,

the IQ test and AQ test do measure what they are supposed to.
The Eyes test does seem to be able to discriminate between those
with AS or HFA and those that do not.
Ecological validity is a problem as the test uses static expressions to
elicit understanding, in real life this would not be the case. Also, the
procedure was in a laboratory environment.

Reliability This study’s reliability is good as they used a standardised procedure

(available online) for testing the participants which can easily be
reproduced. Extraneous variables are controlled by the use of an IQ
test.
There is evidence to suggest that the test can be translated and used
for first language speakers in other languages

Real world The application to be able to diagnose a person with AS or HFA easily
application and effectively, could be used by a professional or lay person as
everything needed is provided online.

Participants Is it possible that the sample was biased?

Group 2 were all selected from adult community and education
classes.
Group 3 were all from Cambridge University

Approach

Extraneous
Variables
 Generalizability This study has good generalisability, as the sample was reasonably
large, and the test included people with AS or HFA (which is the
target sample).
However, all the people with AS or HFA were male.

Ethics: Ethics are very strong.

The only possible ethical consideration would be protection. The tests may have caused
stress in the patients that could have altered test results