Adult Theory of Mind Test - AToM

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 30, 2025

Last Modified: January 26, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements the Adult Theory of Mind Test (AToM) by Brewer et al (2017) to study interpretations of others' beliefs, emotions and intentions ('Theory of Mind') using video scenarios of (scripted) real-life interactions. Brewer et al (2017) used these scenarios to study Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in adults.

Note: participants' responses need to be manually scored using the published scoring criteria.

References

Brewer, N., Young, R. L., & Barnett, E. (2017). Measuring Theory of Mind in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(7), 1927–1941. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3080-x

Duration

15 minutes

Description

Participants view 12 videos of interactions btw. people. At the end of each video, participants get 1 minute (max) to answer a question about the video: Six of the videos require participants to make social-cognitive inferences and six (control) videos require a more 'physical' interpretation of the scene. The order of the 12 videos is randomized.

Procedure

Participants view a randomized order of 12 videos (6 physical, 6 social).
After the videos end, they are asked to answer a question by typing into
a provided textbox. In addition, a few of the (social) scenarios also
ask yes/no questions about the scene.
Participants get 1 minute to provide their answers.

Scoring

The script records latency data as well as the entered responses.
However, the script does NOT SCORE the responses.
Please, use the published scoring criteria (in supplementary documents) accessible here:

https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10803-017-3080-x/MediaObjects/10803_2017_3080_MOESM1_ESM.docx
(link retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-017-3080-x)

Stimuli

The (English) movies can be publicly accessed at:
Physical Playlist Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJCW1evzKKcuy1rGu3Ocatm97s_KpdhyI
Social Playlist Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJCW1evzKKctzHvYfB1RADd27m8IBaWcu
(from Brewer et al, 2017)

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited in script 'atom_instructions_inc.iqjs'

Summary Data

File Name: atom_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
startdate Date script was run
starttime Time script was started
subjectid Assigned subject id number
groupid Assigned group id number
sessionid Assigned session id number
elapsedtime Time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed

Raw Data

File Name: atom_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
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
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
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.
trialCounter Tracks the number of trials run
phase RespCollection (vs. video; by default the video presenting trial does not store data to the datafile)
selectVideo Itemnumber of current video (0-11)
videoDurationMS The duration (in ms) of the current video until the question is displayed
title The video title
category Physical vs. social
itemType Physical: NA; social: stores the item type ("sarcasm", "misunderstanding", "faux pas", "persuasions", "white lie")
binaryRespQ 1 = requires a yes/no radiobutton; 0 = only requires a textbox
question Stores the current question asked
binaryResp Stores the binary yes/no response (if applicable)
qResp Stores the textbox response
trialcode 'trialEnd' both responses on the same data line
response The response of participant (scancode of response button)
latency Response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of textbox

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
Timing Parameters
responseTimeoutMS The time (in ms) allocated for response taking60000