Crompton Catherine J, Foster Sarah J, Wilks Charlotte E H, Dodd Michelle, Efthimiou Themis N, Ropar Danielle, Sasson Noah J, Lages Martin, Fletcher-Watson Sue
Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
Nat Hum Behav. 2025 May 14. doi: 10.1038/s41562-025-02163-z.
Autism is clinically defined by social communication deficits, suggesting that autistic people may be less effective at sharing information, particularly with one another. However, recent research indicates that neurotype mismatches, rather than autism itself, degrade information sharing. Here, using the diffusion chain method, we examined information transfer in autistic, non-autistic and mixed-neurotype chains (N = 311), replicating and extending a key study. We hypothesized that information transfer would deteriorate faster and rapport would be lower in mixed-neurotype compared with single-neurotype chains. Additionally, we examined whether informing participants of the diagnostic status of their chain and whether information was fictional or factual impacted performance and rapport. We found no difference in information transfer between single-neurotype and mixed-neurotype chains. Non-autistic chains indicated higher rapport, and disclosing diagnosis improved rapport. This result challenges assumptions about autistic communication deficits but contrasts with prior findings. Enhanced participant heterogeneity and methodological differences may explain these unexpected results. Protocol registration The Stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 23 August 2022. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://osf.io/us9c7/ .
自闭症在临床上的定义是社交沟通缺陷，这表明自闭症患者在分享信息方面可能效率较低，尤其是在彼此之间。然而，最近的研究表明，神经类型不匹配而非自闭症本身会降低信息共享。在此，我们使用扩散链方法，对自闭症、非自闭症和混合神经类型的链条（N = 311）中的信息传递进行了研究，重复并扩展了一项关键研究。我们假设，与单一神经类型的链条相比，混合神经类型的链条中信息传递会更快恶化，融洽度会更低。此外，我们还研究了告知参与者其所在链条的诊断状态以及信息是虚构还是真实是否会影响表现和融洽度。我们发现单一神经类型和混合神经类型的链条在信息传递方面没有差异。非自闭症链条显示出更高的融洽度，并且披露诊断情况会提高融洽度。这一结果挑战了关于自闭症沟通缺陷的假设，但与先前的研究结果形成对比。参与者异质性的增强和方法上的差异可能解释了这些意外结果。方案注册 本注册报告的第一阶段方案于2022年8月23日原则上获得接受。该方案经期刊接受后可在https://osf.io/us9c7/ 上查阅。
