Exploring social emotion processing in autism: evaluating the reading the mind in the eyes test using network analysis

Table 2 In-degree and emotion polarity for controls and ASD participants

Target term	ASD	Controls	Significant test	P value
Number of nodes	127	124	-	-
Number of edges	170	146	-	-
Network density	0.011	0.010
In-degree (mean score ± S.D.) (n = 43)	4 ± 1	3 ± 1	t(84) = 2.75	0.01
Polar
Negative (mean score ± S.D.) (n = 19)	4 ± 0	3 ± 1	t(36) = 2.46	0.02
Neutral (mean score ± S.D.) (n = 15)	3 ± 1	3 ± 0	t(28) = 1.10	0.28
Positive (mean score ± S.D.) (n = 9)	4 ± 0	3 ± 1	t(16) = 1.41	0.18

Note: Nodes: words (i.e., all the words appearing in the experiment, including the 43 target words and all answers);. Edges: relationship of participants' choices (i.e., the correct answer and wrong answers); Density: defined as the actual connections divided by all possible connections in network. In the present study, there were 5 possible answers (i.e., 5 nodes) and potential connections would be 10 for a given item. If no actual connection exits, density is zero; In-degree: an item-based measure that counts connections from all nodes (all possible answers) to a particular node (the correct answer)

ISSN: 1471-244X