Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective

Effective information transfer requires social communication skills. As autism is clinically defined by social communication deficits, it may be expected that information transfer between autistic people would be particularly deficient. However, the Double Empathy theory would suggest that communica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Autism : the international journal of research and practice 2020-10, Vol.24 (7), p.1704-1712
Main Authors: Crompton, Catherine J, Ropar, Danielle, Evans-Williams, Claire VM, Flynn, Emma G, Fletcher-Watson, Sue
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autistic adults
Autistic Disorder
Communication
Communication Skills
Empathy
Foreign Countries
Humans
Information communication
Information sharing
Interaction
Interpersonal Relations
Original
Peer Group
Peer Relationship
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Social Behavior
Social Cognition
Social skills
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Summary:Effective information transfer requires social communication skills. As autism is clinically defined by social communication deficits, it may be expected that information transfer between autistic people would be particularly deficient. However, the Double Empathy theory would suggest that communication difficulties arise from a mismatch in neurotype; and thus information transfer between autistic people may be more successful than information transfer between an autistic and a non-autistic person. We investigate this by examining information transfer between autistic adults, non-autistic adults and mixed autistic-with-non-autistic pairs. Initial participants were told a story which they recounted to a second participant, who recounted the story to a third participant and so on, along a ‘diffusion chain’ of eight participants (n = 72). We found a significantly steeper decline in detail retention in the mixed chains, while autistic chains did not significantly differ from non-autistic chains. Participant rapport ratings revealed significantly lower scores for mixed chains. These results challenge the diagnostic criterion that autistic people lack the skills to interact successfully. Rather, autistic people effectively share information with each other. Information transfer selectively degrades more quickly in mixed pairs, in parallel with a reduction in rapport. Lay abstract Sharing information with other people relies on the ability to communicate well. Autism is defined clinically by deficits in social communication. It may therefore be expected that autistic people find it difficult to share information with other people. We wanted to find out whether this was the case, and whether it was different when autistic people were sharing information with other autistic people or with non-autistic people. We recruited nine groups, each with eight people. In three of the groups, everyone was autistic; in three of the groups, everyone was non-autistic; and three of the groups were mixed groups where half the group was autistic and half the group was non-autistic. We told one person in each group a story and asked them to share it with another person, and for that person to share it again and so on, until everyone in the group had heard the story. We then looked at how many details of the story had been shared at each stage. We found that autistic people share information with other autistic people as well as non-autistic people do with other non-autistic people.
ISSN:1362-3613
1461-7005
DOI:10.1177/1362361320919286