Master Mindreaders
Master Mindreaders
Much of the effort to understand the brain substrate of theory of mind and empathy
has involved the study of individuals with deficits in that domain, such as those on
the autism spectrum. Studying individuals with presumed superior abilities in
picking up social signals may yield important additional information. We predicted
that reading readers may have superior abilities and tested this by contrasting a
group of 22 professional psychic readers with matched controls on a measure of
theory of mind (”Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test) and a multidimensional
measure of empathy Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Although tarot readings readers
were not superior in reading the language of the eyes, they were shown to have more
cognitive empathy, as measured with the ”Fantasy” subscale of the IRI. We discuss
the merits of research involving ”experts” in social cognition and propose other
possible groups of ”master mindreaders.”
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