Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26313946›Full record

Trial reportPloS one2015

The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test: Complete Absence of Typical Sex Difference in ~400 Men and Women with Autism.

Simon Baron-Cohen, Daniel C Bowen, Rosemary J Holt, Carrie Allison, Bonnie Auyeung, Michael V Lombardo, Paula Smith, Meng-Chuan Lai

Open access · goldAbstract readClinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 115 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
115citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
11.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

115 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 244 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Trial
  8. White matter hyperintensities associated with small vessel disease impair social cognition beside attention and memory.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2018
    Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Emotional Arousal-Induced Episodic Memory Benefits Are Attenuated in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Especially in Older Age.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

55 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Simon Baron-CohenAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Daniel C BowenAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Rosemary J HoltAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Carrie AllisonAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Bonnie AuyeungAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Michael V LombardoAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology and Center of Applied Neuroscience, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Paula SmithAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Meng-Chuan LaiAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
University of Cambridge · GBCambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust · GBNational Taiwan University Hospital · TWUniversity of Cyprus · CYUniversity of Edinburgh · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council G0600977Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 091774/Z/10/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test (Eyes test) is an advanced test of theory of mind. Typical sex difference has been reported (i.e., female advantage). Individuals with autism show more difficulty than do typically developing individuals, yet it remains unclear how this is modulated by sex, as females with autism have been under-represented. Here in a large, non-male-biased sample we test for the effects of sex, diagnosis, and their interaction. The Eyes test (revised version) was administered online to 395 adults with autism (178 males, 217 females) and 320 control adults (152 males, 168 females). Two-way ANOVA showed a significant sex-by-diagnosis interaction in total correct score (F(1,711) = 5.090, p = 0.024, ηp2 = 0.007) arising from a significant sex difference between control males and females (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.47), and an absence of a sex difference between males and females with autism (p = 0.907, d = 0.01); significant case-control differences were observed across sexes, with effect sizes of d = 0.35 in males and d = 0.69 in females. Group-difference patterns fit with the extreme-male-brain (EMB) theory predictions. Eyes test-Empathy Quotient and Eyes test-Autism Spectrum Quotient correlations were significant only in females with autism (r = 0.35, r = -0.32, respectively), but not in the other 3 groups. Support vector machine (SVM) classification based on response pattern across all 36 items classified autism diagnosis with a relatively higher accuracy for females (72.2%) than males (65.8%). Nevertheless, an SVM model trained within one sex generalized equally well when applied to the other sex. Performance on the Eyes test is a sex-independent phenotypic characteristic of adults with autism, reflecting sex-common social difficulties, and provides support for the EMB theory predictions for both males and females. Performance of females with autism differed from same-sex controls more than did that of males with autism. Females with autism also showed stronger coherence between self-reported dispositional traits and Eyes test performance than all other groups.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderReadingSex CharacteristicsSupport Vector MachineAdultFemaleHumansMale

Identifiers

PMID26313946
PMCPMC4552377
OpenAlexW1943649909

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.