Reading mind from pictures of eyes: Theory of mind, language ability, general intellectual ability, and autism

Some researchers have claimed that theory of mind or ‘mind reading’ ability, necessary for inferring the mental states of others, depends on language ability. However, previous tests of theory of mind were verbally demanding, and high correlations found might have been an artifact. This paper reports the performance of 22 children with autism, with varying degrees of dysfunction, on a test devised by Baron-Cohen, Jolliffe, Mortimore, and Robertson (1997), based on a relatively nonverbal theory of mind. The test involved inference of mental states from photographs of human eyes. Results indicated that mind reading ability was independent of language ability, general intelligence, or mental age. Test scores were, however, strongly related to the severity of autistic disorder. These results suggest both the independence of mind-reading ability from language ability and general intelligence, and a strong relationship between theory of mind deficit and the autistic disorder.