Reading the Mind in the Voice Test and Reading the Mind in Films Test

Author of Tool: 

Golan, Baron-Cohen, Hill and Rutherford

Key references: 

Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., Hill, J. and Rutherford, M. D. (2006). The ‘Reading the Mind in the Voice’ Test-Revised: A Study of Complex Emotion Recognition in Adults with and Without Autism Spectrum Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37 (6), 1096-1106.

Primary use / Purpose: 

This test measures an individual’s ability to recognise complex emotions from a voice. Those with autism perform worse on this measure. In Reading the Mind in the Voice test the only information available is the sound clip of the voice, while in Reading the Mind in the Films an audio-visual clip is played.

Background: 

Previous studies had demonstrated this deficit for emotion-recognition in autism, using faces. However, the ‘reading the mind in the voice test and reading the mind in films test’ uses voices speaking in specific emotional states. The deficit is related to, but not explained by, a deficit in verbal IQ. This measure could be used in assessment and to monitor progress in social skills.

Psychometrics: 

Validity is discussed in Golan, Baron-Cohen, Hill and Rutherford (2006).

Keywords: 

• Anxiety

Web link to tool: 

Reading the Mind in the Voice and Reading the Mind in the Films

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 

https://dx.doi.org/10.13072/midss.198