The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test Revised Version: A Study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High‐functioning Autism

TLDR

The 1997 “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test was a measure of adult mentalising that distinguished adults with Asperger syndrome or high‑functioning autism from controls but suffered from psychometric shortcomings. This study revises the test to address those limitations. The revised test was administered to 15 adults with AS/HFA and 239 normal controls from multiple samples, successfully discriminating the groups. The test showed an inverse correlation with the Autism Spectrum Quotient in both groups and demonstrated greater sensitivity to subtle individual differences in social cognition.

Abstract

In 1997 in this Journal we published the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test, as a measure of adult “mentalising”. Whilst that test succeeded in discriminating a group of adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high‐functioning autism (HFA) from controls, it suffered from several psychometric problems. In this paper these limitations are rectified by revising the test. The Revised Eyes Test was administered to a group of adults with AS or HFA ( N = 15) and again discriminated these from a large number of normal controls ( N = 239) drawn from different samples. In both the clinical and control groups the Eyes Test was inversely correlated with the Autism Spectrum Quotient (the AQ), a measure of autistic traits in adults of normal intelligence. The Revised Eyes Test has improved power to detect subtle individual differences in social sensitivity.