Theory of mind in adults with HFA and Asperger syndrome.

The team gave three Theory-of-Mind tests to adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome. They used the Strange Stories test, the Faux-pas test, and the Eyes test. They also asked each person to fill out a self-report questionnaire about social skills.

Adults with autism struggled on Strange Stories and Faux-pas tasks. Surprisingly, they scored the same as neurotypical adults on the Eyes test. The self-report form was the clearest way to tell the groups apart.

Franco et al. (2014) seems to disagree. They found that kids with autism can pass a simpler picture version of the Eyes test. The clash fades when you see the kids got one word and two pictures, while the adults here got the full adult version.

Ferreri et al. (2011) backs the doubt. They swapped open-ended questions for quick multiple-choice on Frith-Happé animations and still caught mentalizing problems in adults with autism. Their shortcut keeps the sensitivity the Eyes test missed.

Sherwell et al. (2014) adds more proof. Even when adults with autism looked at eyes, they could not work out what gift someone got from the person’s happy or fake smile. Eye gaze did not equal understanding.

If the Eyes test says “normal,” you might skip social training. Use a quick self-report or the Frith-Happé animations instead. These tools catch real-life mind-reading gaps and guide sharper goals for conversation or job-coaching programs.