Research summary
Theory-of-mind impairment in autism and its psychometric measurement in adults form the longest-running line in Simon Baron-Cohen's work, supplemented by population-scale neuroanatomical benchmarking. The Revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test addressed psychometric weaknesses of the 1997 original and was administered to a clinical group of 15 adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA) and 239 controls drawn from multiple samples; the revised test again discriminated clinical from control adults, and in both groups scores were inversely correlated with the Autism Spectrum Quotient as a measure of autistic traits, supporting its use as an adult-mentalising index [1][2]. An earlier adult theory-of-mind task was designed to escape the developmental ceiling at a mental age of about six years that limits second-order tests, requiring participants to infer mental states from photographs of a person's eyes; very high-functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome performed worse than age-matched normal controls and a clinical Tourette syndrome control group, indicating impairment that survives into adulthood among individuals who pass second-order tests [4]. The 1995 monograph Mindblindness elaborated a model of mindreading as effortless, automatic, and mostly unconscious mental-state attribution; the book draws on comparative psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary theory, and developmental data to argue that children with autism suffer selective impairment in mindreading that leaves the world essentially devoid of mental objects, with implications for how communication and social behavior are interpreted [3]. A 2022 multi-cohort imaging analysis constructed brain charts for the human lifespan, demonstrating high longitudinal stability of individuals across assessments, robustness to technical and methodological differences between primary studies, increased heritability of centile scores compared with non-centiled MRI phenotypes, and patterns of neuroanatomical variation revealed by centile scoring that distinguish neurological and psychiatric disorders, providing a normative quantification framework for individual deviation in commonly used neuroimaging phenotypes [5].
Recent publications
- Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?DOI
- The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and MathematiciansDOI
- The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test Revised Version: A Study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High‐functioning AutismDOI
- The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.
- The Empathy Quotient: An Investigation of Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High Functioning Autism, and Normal Sex DifferencesDOI
- MindblindnessDOI
- AutismDOI
- The extreme male brain theory of autismDOI
- Another Advanced Test of Theory of Mind: Evidence from Very High Functioning Adults with Autism or Asperger SyndromeDOI
- Brain charts for the human lifespanDOI
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Email Simon Baron‐Cohen 6-12 months before your application deadline. Read several recent papers and reference specific work in your message. Use our how to email a Japanese professor guide for the proven email structure.
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External profiles
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9217-2544
- OpenAlex: openalex.org
Profile compiled from public sources (Researchmap, OpenAlex, Chiba University faculty directory). Last refreshed 2026-05. Report incorrect information.