Micaela JacobsonHonours Spec. in Psychology, BSc candidate

Supervisor: Dr. Adam Cohen

THE HUMAN MIND READER

What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?

Introduction

What is a social attentional cue?◦ (Posner Cueing Paradigm)

Introduction (cont’d)

-Can use gaze or arrows!

Both are impaired in people with autism…

Goal: To combine these two areas of research

Purpose: To distinguish between two competing hypotheses

-privileged circuitry

-Previous studies have not found a difference between arrow cues and gaze cues… but they did not provide a social context!

Introduction (cont’d): The Present Study

2 x 2 factorial

◦Congruency (within subjects)◦Cue type (between subjects)

Introduction (cont’d) Study Design

Hypothesis

We expected an interaction between cue type and congruency

Introduction (cont’d)

Method/ Approach

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False Belief Trial

True Belief Trial

The predicted interaction was non-significant

(p = 0.2)◦Did not support the “privileged circuitry”

hypothesis◦Null hypothesis was supported by

Bayesian analysis

Results/ Analysis

The brain treats directional cues in a more general-purpose way than we expected (in regard to connectivity)

Conclusion

Implications for autism…

Conclusions/ Implications