Another Advanced Test of Theory of Mind: Evidence from Very High Functioning Adult with Autism or Asperger Syndrome

by Simon Baron-Cohen and Therese Jolliffe (1997) Jr. Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 813-822.

“We report the performance of very high functioning adults with autism and Asperger Syndrome on an adult test of theory of mind ability. The task involved inferring the mental state of a person just from information in photographs of a person’s eyes. Relative to age-matched normal controls and a clinical control group, the group with autism and Asperger Syndrome were significantly impaired on this task.”(p. 813)

“Anecdotally, many of our subjects with autism or Asperger Syndrome have told us that going to the movies is, for them, often a frustrating experience, a waste of their time. This is because the social action proceeds rapidly, and they find it hard to work out why a character did or said something (their intentions or motives), who knows what and who doesn’t, and why the audience laughs at particular points in the film. It just all happens too fast.” (p. 820).