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GPT-4o reads the mind in the eyes

James W.A. Strachan et al.

Computers in Human Behavior2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2026.108992article
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0.50

What the paper says

Humans possess a sophisticated ability to read the mind in the eyes of other people. Here we tested whether this ability is also present in GPT-4o, a multimodal LLM. Using two versions of a widely used theory of mind test, the Reading the Mind in Eyes Test and the Multiracial Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, we found that GPT-4o outperformed humans in extracting mentalistic information from upright faces but underperformed humans when faces were inverted. GPT-4o errors were not random but revealed a highly consistent, yet incorrect, processing of mental-state information across trials, with an orientation-dependent error structure that qualitatively differed from that of humans for inverted faces but not for upright faces. These findings highlight how advanced mental state inference abilities coexist in GPT-4o alongside substantial differences in information processing compared to humans. • GPT-4o surpasses humans in reading mental states from the eye-region. • Face inversion severely reduces GPT-4o’s mindreading. • Unlike human errors, GPT-4o’ errors are not random. • Error analysis reveals GPT-4o’s highly structured error space.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2026.108992

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@article{james2026,
  title        = {{GPT-4o reads the mind in the eyes}},
  author       = {James W.A. Strachan et al.},
  journal      = {Computers in Human Behavior},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2026.108992},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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