Age- and Sex-Specific Standard Scores for the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test

Kynast, Jana; Polyakova, Maryna; Quinque, Eva Maria; Hinz, Andreas; Villringer, Arno; Schroeter, Matthias L.

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2020.607107

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…The link in performance between these tasks is absent in females. In addition, we did not find overperformance of females on the RMET-M [in contrast to other studies conducted with the standard RMET ( Baron-Cohen et al, 2001a , 2015 ; Schiffer et al, 2013 ; Baron-Cohen, 2017 ; Megías-Robles et al, 2020 ; Kynast et al, 2021 ), including our own findings ( Isernia et al, 2020 )]. This discrepancy most likely can be explained by modifications to the standard version (see Methods section), in contrast to which the RMET-M does not heavily rely on language capabilities and is balanced in relation to the visual input.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…The RMET-M was administered for addressing the issue of whether face reading and body language reading are connected to other social cognitive abilities such as reading in the static eyes. Based on earlier reports with the standard RMET (e.g., Kirkland et al, 2013 ; Baron-Cohen et al, 2015 ; Dodell-Feder et al, 2020 ; Kynast et al, 2021 ; for recent review, see Pavlova and Sokolov, 2022b ) including the recent work of our own group ( Isernia et al, 2020 ), we anticipated females to be more proficient on the RMET-M. Contrary to our expectations, however, accuracy of females and males was comparable (0.77 ± 0.10 for females, and 0.75 ± 0.09 for males; t (47) = 0.19, p = 0.288, one-tailed).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gender (a social construct) and sex (a neurobiological one) of observers are essential for performance on a wide range of social cognition tasks tapping bodies, faces, and eyes reading ( Pavlova et al, 2010 ; Kret et al, 2011 ; Sokolov et al, 2011 ; Kirkland et al, 2013 ; Krüger et al, 2013 ; Pavlova et al, 2015 , 2016 , 2020 ; He et al, 2018 , Dodell-Feder et al, 2020 ; Isernia et al, 2020 ; Kynast et al, 2021 ; see Pavlova and Sokolov, 2022b , for a most recent analysis of reading in the eyes). In the same vein, female but not male common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus ) are reported to exhibit curiosity to point-light biological motion ( Brown et al, 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ties between reading faces, bodies, eyes, and autistic traits

Pavlova

Romagnano²,

Kubon³

et al. 2022

Front. Neurosci.

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While reading covered with masks faces during the COVID-19 pandemic, for efficient social interaction, we need to combine information from different sources such as the eyes (without faces hidden by masks) and bodies. This may be challenging for individuals with neuropsychiatric conditions, in particular, autism spectrum disorders. Here we examined whether reading of dynamic faces, bodies, and eyes are tied in a gender-specific way, and how these capabilities are related to autistic traits expression. Females and males accomplished a task with point-light faces along with a task with point-light body locomotion portraying different emotional expressions. They had to infer emotional content of displays. In addition, participants were administered the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, modified and Autism Spectrum Quotient questionnaire. The findings show that only in females, inferring emotions from dynamic bodies and faces are firmly linked, whereas in males, reading in the eyes is knotted with face reading. Strikingly, in neurotypical males only, accuracy of face, body, and eyes reading was negatively tied with autistic traits. The outcome points to gender-specific modes in social cognition: females rely upon merely dynamic cues while reading faces and bodies, whereas males most likely trust configural information. The findings are of value for examination of face and body language reading in neuropsychiatric conditions, in particular, autism, most of which are gender/sex-specific. This work suggests that if male individuals with autistic traits experience difficulties in reading covered with masks faces, these deficits may be unlikely compensated by reading (even dynamic) bodies and faces. By contrast, in females, reading covered faces as well as reading language of dynamic bodies and faces are not compulsorily connected to autistic traits preventing them from paying high costs for maladaptive social interaction.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ties between reading faces, bodies, eyes, and autistic traits

Pavlova

Romagnano²,

Kubon³

et al. 2022

Front. Neurosci.

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“…As a more rapid progression of social cognition impairments and cognitive decline is expected in at risk subjects specific attention has to be given these cohorts. To identify impairments as early as possible, standardized diagnostic tools for social cognition shall be developed and applied in clinical routine with high priority—a neglected cognitive domain so far although included in diagnostic criteria for neurodegenerative diseases already (American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ; Kynast et al, 2021 ). Tests shall be adapted for the use in older persons (Kynast and Schroeter, 2018 ).…”

Section: Consequences Of Face Masking In the Long Termmentioning

confidence: 99%

Face Masks Protect From Infection but May Impair Social Cognition in Older Adults and People With Dementia

et al. 2021

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will have a high impact on older adults and people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Social cognition enables the understanding of another individual's feelings, intentions, desires and mental states, which is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent further spread of the disease face masks have been recommended. Although justified for prevention of this potentially devastating disease, they partly cover the face and hamper emotion recognition and probably mindreading. As social cognition is already affected by aging and dementia, strategies must be developed to cope with these profound changes of communication. Face masking even could accelerate cognitive decline in the long run. Further studies are of uppermost importance to address face masks' impact on social cognition in aging and dementia, for instance by longitudinally investigating decline before and in the pandemic, and to design compensatory strategies. These issues are also relevant for face masking in general, such as in medical surroundings—beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…highly educated, young adults/undergraduates). Based on meta-analytic evidence [ 4 ] and our own studies [ 2 , 17 ], we expected a small on-average performance advantage in women relative to men. In line with this, RMET performance has been reported to be sensitive to hormone effects, including testosterone and estrogen [ [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%