Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Created: February 26, 2017
Last Modified: June 19, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
This script implements a computerized version of the revised Eyes Test; a test of emotion recognition. The script is based on Baron-Cohen et al (2001).
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
Materials are downloadable from the following link: https://www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc_tests/
7 minutes
Participants are given 36 photographs of people's eyes and four word descriptions that describe the possible mental state of the person in question. Participants are asked to select the option that they think best describes the mental state of the person. There is no time limit to this test and participants can look up the descriptions of the words anytime they need to.
(1) Practice: 1 image
(2) Test: Part1: 17 images
(3) Test: Part2: 19 images
Trial: an image is presented with 4 surrounding words, guessing probability = 0.25
Chance Performance = 36*0.25 = 9 items
images are presented in a fixed sequence
images downloaded from: https://www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc_tests/
can be edited in script eyestest_instructions_inc.iqjs
( this script contains all language-sensitive code)
File Name: eyestest_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| generalPopulationMeanNumberCorrect | The reported correct count of the general population tested by Baron-Cohen et al (2001, p. 245) |
| generalPopulationPropCorrect | Proportion correct of the general population tested by Baron-Cohen et al (2001) |
| generalPopulationSD | The reported standard deviation of correct counts of the general population tested by Baron-Cohen et al (2001, p. 245) |
| countCorr | Count of correctly identified expressions |
| propCorrect | Proportion correctly identified expressions => the higher the amount, the higher social sensitivity |
| zValue | The z-value of the Correct Count (using the General Population Correct Count) |
| pValue | The p-value of the correct count |
| meanRT | Mean latency (ms) of correctly identified expressions |
File Name: eyestest_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| blockcode | The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| blocknum | The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialcode | The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialnum | The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run even those that do not store data to the data file. |
| gender | "f"(emale) vs. "m"(ale) (gender of image) |
| trialCount | Trial counter |
| image | Stores the current image name |
| word1 | Stores the current word1 (top left) |
| word2 | Stores the current word2 (top right) |
| word3 | Stores the current word3 (bottom left) |
| word4 | Stores the current word4 (bottom right) |
| corrResp | The correct response (1-4) |
| response | The participant's response: selected word (word1-word4) |
| correct | Accuracy of response 1 = correct response 0 = otherwise |
| latency | The response latency (in ms) of current trial; measured from: onset of image until response is selected |
| rt | The cumulative time (in ms) spent on the current image (includes time spent on dictionary) measured from onset of image until a word is selected |
| countCorr | Running count of correctly identified expressions |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
Design |
||
| showSummaryFeedback | True (1): participants are given the number of correctly selected emotions and their median reaction time false (0): no performance feedback is provided at the end | false |