A quick measure of theory of mind in autistic adults: Decision accuracy, latency and self-awareness

Neil Brewer; Robyn L Young; Jade Norris; Katie Maras; Zoe  Michael; Emily  Barnett

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05166-7

A quick measure of theory of mind in autistic adults: Decision accuracy, latency and self-awareness

Neil Brewer, Robyn L Young, Jade Norris, Katie Maras, Zoe Michael, Emily Barnett

Flinders University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Citations (SciVal)

10 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Autistic adults often experience difficulties in taking the perspective of others, potentially undermining their social interactions. We evaluated a quick, forced-choice version of the Adult Theory of Mind (A-ToM) test, which was designed to assess such difficulties and comprehensively evaluated by Brewer et al. (2017). The forced-choice version (the A-ToM-Q) demonstrated discriminant, concurrent, convergent and divergent validity using samples of autistic (N = 96) and non-autistic adults (N = 75). It can be administered in a few minutes and machine-scored, involves minimal training and facilitates large-scale, live, or web-based testing. It permits measurement of response latency and self-awareness, with response characteristics on both measures enhancing understanding of the nature and extent of perspective taking difficulties in autistic individuals.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2479-2496
Number of pages	18
Journal	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume	52
Issue number	6
Early online date	28 Jun 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05166-7
Publication status	Published - 30 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by ARC DP 190100162, a Flinders Research Grant and the Hamish Ramsay Fund, and it was completed under an ESRC Future Research Leaders Grant (ES/N001095/1) to Katie Maras. We gratefully acknowledge S. Bury for initial software development, and M. Georgopoulos, M. Hanson and A. Wilson for assistance with participant recruitment and data collection.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Keywords

Autism
Decision latency
Metacognitive monitoring
Theory of Mind assessment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology

Access to Document

10.1007/s10803-021-05166-7Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "A quick measure of theory of mind in autistic adults: Decision accuracy, latency and self-awareness",

abstract = "Autistic adults often experience difficulties in taking the perspective of others, potentially undermining their social interactions. We evaluated a quick, forced-choice version of the Adult Theory of Mind (A-ToM) test, which was designed to assess such difficulties and comprehensively evaluated by Brewer et al. (2017). The forced-choice version (the A-ToM-Q) demonstrated discriminant, concurrent, convergent and divergent validity using samples of autistic (N = 96) and non-autistic adults (N = 75). It can be administered in a few minutes and machine-scored, involves minimal training and facilitates large-scale, live, or web-based testing. It permits measurement of response latency and self-awareness, with response characteristics on both measures enhancing understanding of the nature and extent of perspective taking difficulties in autistic individuals.",

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AU - Michael, Zoe

AU - Barnett, Emily

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by ARC DP 190100162, a Flinders Research Grant and the Hamish Ramsay Fund, and it was completed under an ESRC Future Research Leaders Grant (ES/N001095/1) to Katie Maras. We gratefully acknowledge S. Bury for initial software development, and M. Georgopoulos, M. Hanson and A. Wilson for assistance with participant recruitment and data collection. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

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AB - Autistic adults often experience difficulties in taking the perspective of others, potentially undermining their social interactions. We evaluated a quick, forced-choice version of the Adult Theory of Mind (A-ToM) test, which was designed to assess such difficulties and comprehensively evaluated by Brewer et al. (2017). The forced-choice version (the A-ToM-Q) demonstrated discriminant, concurrent, convergent and divergent validity using samples of autistic (N = 96) and non-autistic adults (N = 75). It can be administered in a few minutes and machine-scored, involves minimal training and facilitates large-scale, live, or web-based testing. It permits measurement of response latency and self-awareness, with response characteristics on both measures enhancing understanding of the nature and extent of perspective taking difficulties in autistic individuals.

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ER -

A quick measure of theory of mind in autistic adults: Decision accuracy, latency and self-awareness

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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ESRC Future Research Leaders - Reporting by People with Autism: A New Evidence Based Supportive Model of Information Gathering for Applied Interviews Contexts

Cite this

A quick measure of theory of mind in autistic adults: Decision accuracy, latency and self-awareness

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

ESRC Future Research Leaders - Reporting by People with Autism: A New Evidence Based Supportive Model of Information Gathering for Applied Interviews Contexts

Cite this