Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)

Background

The 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test' (RMET) - or short 'eyes test'- is popular behavioral assessment tool to measure people's abilities to recognize internal mental states, such as thoughts, feelings, intentions and emotions in others ("Theory-of-Mind"). The RMET was specifically designed to go beyond basic emotions (like happiness or sadness) to measure a person's advanced ability to infer complex, subtle mental states and emotions. It was originally developed in 1997 by Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues at the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre and further revised in 2001 into its current 36-item format.

The revised RMET presents participants with 36 black and white images of an actor's eyes (male or female) and asks participants to select from four possible answer choices the one that best describes the expressed emotion. Each correct choice results in a point for a maximal score of 36.

Because the RMET was designed to go beyond basic emotions, the words used to describe the possible mental states (e.g. "despondent") require a solid if not advanced knowledge of (English) vocabulary. While the test itself provides a built-in dictionary that explains each of the words used in more detail and can be called upon at any time, the reliance on advanced language skills may still limit the test's validity and utility. Furthermore, the use of static imagery for assessments of real-world, dynamic social interactions is frequently questioned and has led to the development of assessment measures such as the "Reading the Mind in Films" (RMF) Task, the direct successor of the RMET, as well as the Adult Theory of Mind Test (AToM) that rely on video scenarios of social interactions.

The paper and pencil version of the RMET can be downloaded in (various languages) here.

Task Procedure

The participant is shown 36 black and white images of an actor's eyes (male or female). Each image is accompanied by four emotion descriptions, and participants are asked to select the one that best describes the expressed mental state of the person (belonging to the eyes). If participants are unsure about the meaning of any of the words, they can always press the button 'show dictionary' to read up on the word(s) in question.

What it Measures

The RMET is an assessment tool of complex emotion recognition in adults

Psychological domains

• Theory-of-Mind (ToM): The ability to understand internal mental states of other people
• Emotion Recognition: The ability to recognize specific emotions in others

Main Performance Metrics

• Number of Correct Responses: Accuracy of complex emotion recognition

Psychiatric Conditions

RMET performance tends to be impaired in patients with the following conditions:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
• Dementia

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET).

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Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' Test Revised Version: A Study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-functioning Autism. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychiatry, 42, 241-252.

Maurage, Grynberg, Noël, Joassin, Hanak, Verbanck, . . . Philippot. (2011). The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test as a new way to explore complex emotions decoding in alcohol dependence. Psychiatry Research, 190(2-3), 375-378.

Cohen, Tubiana-Potiez, & Kahn. (2015). French Validation of the "reading the Mind in the Eyes Test": Relation with Subclinical Psychotic Positive Symptoms in General Population. European Psychiatry, 30, 1226.

Baron-Cohen, S., Bowen, D., Holt, R., Allison, C., Auyeung, B., Lombardo, M., . . . Lai, M. (2015). The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test: Complete Absence of Typical Sex Difference in ~400 Men and Women with Autism. PLoS One, 10(8), PLoS One, Aug 2015, Vol.10(8).

Bos, Hofman, Hermans, Montoya, Baron-Cohen, & Van Honk. (2016). Testosterone reduces functional connectivity during the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 68, 194-201.

Burke, T., Elamin, M., Bede, P., Pinto-Grau, M., Lonergan, K., Hardiman, O., & Pender, N. (2016). Discordant performance on the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test, based on disease onset in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 17(7-8), 467-472.

Preti, A., Vellante, M., & Petretto, D. (2017). The psychometric properties of the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test: An item response theory (IRT) analysis. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 22(3), 233-253.

Black, J. (2018). An IRT Analysis of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 1-9.