Theory of mind or emotion

Principal investigator: Caroline Catmur

Nominated student: Beth Oakley

This was a Wellcome Trust-funded Biomedical Vacation Scholarship, "Reading the 'mind' or the emotion: Does the RMET measure theory of mind deficits or alexithymia in participants with autism spectrum conditions?"

This project measured emotion recognition and theory of mind in participants with autism spectrum conditions with and without co-morbid alexithymia. The results of this study suggested that a highly popular test of the ability to detect what someone else is thinking, the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test, is instead a test of the ability to recognise another person’s emotional expression. This is important because it suggests that patients who perform badly on this test may still be able to understand another person’s mental state, and that conversely, patients who perform well on this test may still have difficulties in mental state understanding.

Output:

Journal articles (see publications page for more details)

Oakley, B.F.M., Brewer, R., Bird, G. & Catmur, C. (2016). ‘Theory of Mind’ is not Theory of Emotion: A cautionary note on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(6): 818-823.

Oakley, B. F. M., Brewer, R., Bird, G. & Catmur, C. (2019). No evidence for an opposite pattern of cognitive performance in autistic individuals with and without alexithymia: a response to Rødgaard et al. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(7): 738-9.