Alle Publikationen
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2017
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(2017): The Eyes as Window to the Mind. In: The American journal of psychiatry 174 (1), S. 1-2. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16101188
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(2017): The psychometric properties of the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test: an item response theory (IRT) analysis. In: Cognitive neuropsychiatry 22 (3), S. 233-253. DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2017.1300091
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2017.1300091 Abstract: INTRODUCTION The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test (hereafter: Eyes Test) is considered an advanced task of the Theory of Mind aimed at assessing the performance of the participant in perspective-takingthat is, the ability to sense or understand other people's cognitive and emotional states. In this study, the item response theory analysis was applied to the adult version of the Eyes Test. METHODS The Italian version of the Eyes Test was administered to 200 undergraduate students of both genders (males = 46%). Modified parallel analysis (MPA) was used to test unidimensionality. Marginal maximum likelihood estimation was used to fit the 1-, 2-, and 3-parameter logistic (PL) model to the data. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) due to gender was explored with five independent methods. RESULTS MPA provided evidence in favour of unidimensionality. The Rasch model (1-PL) was superior to the other two models in explaining participants' responses to the Eyes Test. There was no robust evidence of gender-related DIF in the Eyes Test, although some differences may exist for some items as a reflection of real differences by group. CONCLUSIONS The study results support a one-factor model of the Eyes Test. Performance on the Eyes Test is defined by the participant's ability in perspective-taking. Researchers should cease using arbitrarily selected subscores in assessing the performance of participants to the Eyes Test. Lack of gender-related DIF favours the use of the Eyes Test in the investigation of gender differences concerning empathy and social cognition.
2010
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(2010): Cross-cultural reading the mind in the eyes: an fMRI investigation. In: Journal of cognitive neuroscience 22 (1), S. 97-108. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21187
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21187 Abstract: The ability to infer others' thoughts, intentions, and feelings is regarded as uniquely human. Over the last few decades, this remarkable ability has captivated the attention of philosophers, primatologists, clinical and developmental psychologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists. Most would agree that the capacity to reason about others' mental states is innately prepared, essential for successful human social interaction. Whether this ability is culturally tuned, however, remains entirely uncharted on both the behavioral and neural levels. Here we provide the first behavioral and neural evidence for an intracultural advantage (better performance for same- vs. other-culture) in mental state decoding in a sample of native Japanese and white American participants. We examined the neural correlates of this intracultural advantage using fMRI, revealing greater bilateral posterior superior temporal sulci recruitment during same- versus other-culture mental state decoding in both cultural groups. These findings offer preliminary support for cultural consistency in the neurological architecture subserving high-level mental state reasoning, as well as its differential recruitment based on cultural group membership.
Keywords: Adolescent, Adult, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Brain Mapping, Cross-Cultural Comparison, European Continental Ancestry Group, Eye, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Prefrontal Cortex/anatomy & histology/physiology, Reaction Time/physiology, Social Perception, Temporal Lobe/anatomy & histology/physiology, Theory of Mind/physiology, Young Adult
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