Results and Comments
The picture viewing paradigm is commonly employed in experimental research in which experimental manip-
ulations are used (e.g., empathy towards different animal types; Westbury & Neumann, 2008 ) or in neuroscien-
tific research (e.g., fMRI). Researchers have rarely used the same stimuli across different experiments.
In addition, the results obtained depend on the specific way in which empathy-related responding is quantified
(e.g., self-report versus physiological response). The psychometric properties of the PVP approach require further
investigation.
Comic Strip Task (CST)
(Vo¨llm et al., 2006 ).
Variable
The CST paradigm as an indicator of empathy is based on how well one can correctly assess other individuals’
mental states (desires, intentions, and beliefs).
Description
The CST comes from the original version of attribution of intention by Sarfati et al. (1997) , and Brunet, Sarfati,
Hardy-Bayle, and Decety (2000) . This is a non-verbal task that presents a series of comic strips and asks partici-
pants to choose the best one out of two or three strips on an answer card to finish the story. Vo¨llm et al. (2006)
modified the original paradigm using some of the original comic strips from Brunet et al. (2000) from the ‘attribu-
tion of intention’ condition, but also generated new comic strips for assessing cognitive empathy. In the pilot
study of the empathy stimuli, Vo¨llm et al. (2006) reported that participants ‘rate each cartoon for clarity and
empathic understanding on a scale from 1 /C05 (very poor, poor, average, good and excellent) ...[with] ...the fol-
lowing instruction: “The cartoons that will be presented require you to put yourself in the situation of the main
character”.’ There are four conditions: theory of mind, empathy, physical attribution with one character, and
physical attribution with two characters. In the cognitive empathy condition, participants choose one of two pic-
tures to finish the story that makes the main character in the story feel better.
Sample
Vo¨llm et al. (2006) used a small sample of 13 male participants recruited from the general community and uni-
versity populations whose mean age was 24.9 years (ranging from 19 to 36 years).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
No information is currently available on internal consistency.
Test/C0Retest
Test/C0retest reliability coefficients for the CST are not currently available.
Validity
Convergent/Concurrent
Evidence on convergent/concurrent validity is not currently available.
Divergent/Discriminant
Brunet, Sarfati, Hardy-Bayle, and Decety (2003) showed that performance of schizophrenic patients was signif-
icantly lower than normal control participants on all three conditions measuring successful intention of
attribution.
Construct/Factor Analytic
Using an earlier version of the CST, Brunet et al. (2000) defined four conditions of attribution of intention (AI),
a physical causality with characters (PC-Ch), a physical causality with objects (PC-Ob), and a rest condition.
Brunet et al. (2000) conducted a principal components analysis for all experimental conditions with two main273 OVERVIEW OF THE MEASURES
III. EMOTION REGULATION