Due to differences in social communication and cognitive functioning, autistic adults may have greater difficulty engaging in and detecting deception compared to neurotypical adults. Consequently, ...autistic adults may experience strained social relationships or face increased risk of victimization. It is therefore crucial that research investigates the psychological mechanisms that are responsible for autistic adults’ difficulties in the deception process in order to inform interventions required to reduce risk. However, weaknesses of extant research exploring deception in autism include a heavy focus on children and limited theoretical exploration of underlying psychological mechanisms. To address these weaknesses, this review aims to introduce a system-level theoretical framework to the study of deception in autistic adulthood: The Brunswik Lens Model of Deception. Here, we provide a comprehensive account of how autism may influence all processes involved in deception, including: Choosing to Lie (1), Producing Deception Cues (2), Perceiving Deception Cues (3) , and Making the Veracity Decision (4). This review also offers evidence-based, theoretical predictions and testable hypotheses concerning how autistic and neurotypical adults’ behavior may differ at each stage in the deception process. The call to organize future research in relation to a joint theoretical perspective will encourage the field to make substantive, theoretically motivated progress toward the development of a comprehensive model of deception in autistic adulthood. Moreover, the utilization of the Brunswik Lens Model of Deception in future autism research may assist in the development of interventions to help protect autistic adults against manipulation and victimization.
Parkinson's disorder (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 1-3% of the population aged 60 years and older. In addition to motor difficulties, PD is also marked by visual ...disturbances, including depth perception, abnormalities in basal ganglia functioning, and dopamine deficiency. Reduced ability to perceive depth has been linked to an increased risk of falling in this population. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether disturbances in PD patients' visual processing manifest through atypical performance on visual illusion (VI) tasks. This insight will advance understanding of high-level perception in PD, as well as indicate the role of dopamine deficiency and basal ganglia pathophysiology in VIs susceptibility. Groups of 28 PD patients (
= 63.46,
= 7.55) and 28 neurotypical controls (
= 63.18,
= 9.39) matched on age, general cognitive abilities (memory, numeracy, attention, language), and mood responded to Ebbinghaus, Ponzo, and Müller-Lyer illusions in a computer-based task. Our results revealed no reliable differences in VI susceptibility between PD and neurotypical groups. In the early- to mid-stage of PD, abnormalities of the basal ganglia and dopamine deficiency are unlikely to be involved in top-down processing or depth perception, which are both thought to be related to VI susceptibility. Furthermore, depth-related issues experienced by PD patients (e.g., increased risk for falling) may not be subserved by the same cognitive mechanisms as VIs. Further research is needed to investigate if more explicit presentations of illusory depth are affected in PD, which might help to understand the depth processing deficits in PD.
The advent of electronic tablets, such as Apple's iPad, has opened up the field of learning via technology, and the use of electronic applications ("apps") on these devices continues to dramatically ...rise. Children with communication and social impairment, specifically those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), often use educational and recreational apps within the context of their home and school settings. Here we examine in which contexts learning via this medium may be beneficial, and outline recommendations for the use of electronic tablets and the design features for apps to promote learning in this population that is characterized by a unique profile of needs and heterogeneous ability levels.
•Pictorial understanding qualitatively differs in typical development (TD) and autism.•Artists’ representational intent mediates how TD children name and draw 2-D shapes.•Children with autism do not ...reflect on intentions when comprehending 2-D shapes.•For TD children, the meaning of a picture is not determined entirely by resemblance.•Picture comprehension in autism may be increasingly egocentric.
Research has debated whether shape or inferred referential intent directs children’s picture naming. Here we investigate whether typically developing (TD) children aged 2–5 years and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comprehend pictures differently depending on whether they are intentional symbols. Participants were shown ambiguous line drawings and were informed that they were either intentional or accidental creations. Children were asked to name and draw each picture. TD children only evidenced a preference for shape-based naming when pictures were intentional representations, and were increasingly likely to create canonical drawings of symbolised referents when stimuli were intentional. Representational intentions did not influence the verbal or drawing responses of children with ASD, however, the nature of their drawings was related to their prior naming. Thus, the meaning that TD children derive from 2-D shapes is mediated by referential intent, while picture comprehension in autism may be comparatively egocentric.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK
This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children matched on receptive language share resources fairly and reciprocally. Children ...completed age-appropriate versions of the Ultimatum and Dictator Games with real stickers and an interactive partner. Both groups offered similar numbers of stickers (preferring equality over self-interest), offered more stickers in the Ultimatum Game, and verbally referenced ‘fairness’ at similar rates. However, children with ASD were significantly more likely to accept unfair offers and were significantly less likely to reciprocate the puppet’s offers. Failure to reciprocate fair sharing may significantly impact on social cohesion and children’s ability to build relationships. These important differences may be linked to broader deficits in social-cognitive development and potentially self-other understanding.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, VSZLJ, ZAGLJ
Autism spectrum disorder may reduce children's sensitivity to authenticity when valuing objects. Here, we investigate how autistic adults value authentic objects and how their judgements are ...influenced by ‘need to belong’ (NTB). Autistic adults (N = 41) and neurotypical adults (N = 89) answered questions about pairs of objects that differed on various authentic qualities. The groups did not differ in their awareness that authenticity mediates monetary worth and others’ perceptions of an object’s owner. However, the influence of authenticity was somewhat suppressed in autistic adults, who were generally less happy to own objects. Across populations, higher NTB was associated with increased desire to own objects and increased happiness associated with owning authentic objects specifically. These findings suggest that sensitivity to the value of authenticity could be developmentally delayed in autism, but differences in subjective appraisals of authentic objects may be a lifelong characteristic.
•Autistic and neurotypical adults valued objects that differed on authentic qualities.•Authenticity and ‘need to belong’ influenced object valuations in both groups.•Autistic adults were less critical of inauthenticity and less happy to own objects.•Sensitivity to object authenticity may be developmentally delayed in autism.•Early differences in subjective object valuation endure into adulthood in autism.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Ownership has a unique and privileged influence on human psychology. Typically developing (TD) children judge their objects to be more desirable and valuable than similar objects belonging to others. ...This ‘ownership effect’ is due to processing one’s property in relation to ‘the self’. Here we explore whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – a population with impaired self-understanding – prefer and over-value property due to ownership. In Experiment 1, we discovered that children with ASD did not favour a randomly endowed toy and frequently traded for a different object. By contrast, TD children showed a clear preference for their randomly endowed toy and traded infrequently. Both populations also demonstrated highly-accurate tracking of owner-object relationships. Experiment 2 showed that both TD children and children with ASD over-value their toys if they are self-selected and different from other-owned toys. Unlike TD children, children with ASD did not over-value their toys in comparison to non-owned identical copies. This finding was replicated in Experiment 3, which also established that mere ownership elicited over-valuation of randomly endowed property in TD children. However, children with ASD did not consistently regard their randomly endowed toys as the most valuable, and evaluated property irrespective of ownership. Our findings show that mere ownership increases preferences and valuations for self-owned property in TD children, but not children with ASD. We propose that deficits in self-understanding may diminish ownership effects in ASD, eliciting a more economically-rational strategy that prioritises material qualities (e.g. what a toy is) rather than whom it belongs to.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
We investigated whether preschool children’s extension of labels from memory representations of pictures is enhanced by exposure to multiple exemplars during teaching. Neurotypical 2-year-olds ...(N = 23) and 3-year-olds (N = 19) mapped novel word-picture associations in a referent selection task. Their retention and generalisation of labels was then assessed after 5 min with depicted 3-D objects. During referent selection, children were presented with a single variant of each novel picture (single exemplar condition) or two differently coloured variants of each novel picture (multiple exemplars condition). Both age groups extended labels to similarly coloured objects with significantly greater accuracy when taught with multiple exemplars. Three-year-olds also generalised labels to differently coloured category members with significantly greater accuracy in the multiple exemplars condition, where they outperformed two-year-olds. We propose that comparing multiple pictures of to-be-learned referents strengthens encoding of category-defining shape, facilitating extension of labels to objects from memory.
•Two- and three-year-olds learned novel word-picture pairings via referent selection.•Retention and generalisation of labels was assessed after 5 min with 3-D objects.•Retention accuracy increased in both age groups when taught with multiple exemplars.•Three-year-olds’ generalisation accuracy was enhanced by multiple exemplars.•Comparing multiple pictures of referents strengthens encoding of category shape.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Word learning depends on attention - children must focus on the right things at the right times. However, autistic children often display restricted interests, limiting their intake of stimuli during ...word learning. This study investigates how category interests influence word learning in autism and neurotypical development. Autistic and neurotypical children matched on receptive vocabulary used a touch-screen computer to learn novel words associated with animals (high-interest stimuli) and objects (neutral-interest stimuli) via fast mapping. Response accuracy and speed were examined at referent selection, 5-minute retention, and 24-hour retention. Both groups identified meanings of novel words associated with unfamiliar animals and objects via mutual exclusivity with comparable accuracy. After 5 minutes, autistic children retained animal names with greater accuracy than neurotypical children. Autistic children showed a greater increase in their accuracy between 5-minute and 24-hour retention and outperformed neurotypical children across conditions after a night's sleep. Across groups, 24-hour retention was predicted by number of target word repetitions heard at referent selection, indicating a relationship between fast mapping input and retention. However, autistic children were slower to respond correctly, particularly in the animal condition. For autistic children, superior word learning associated with high-interest stimuli was relatively short-term, as sleep appeared to consolidate their memory representations for neutral-interest stimuli. Although these results demonstrate that fundamental word learning mechanisms are not atypical in autism, slower response times may signal a speed-accuracy trade-off that could have implications for naturalistic language acquisition. Our findings also indicate favourable environmental conditions to scaffold word learning.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, VSZLJ, ZAGLJ
Items with special histories (e.g. celebrity owners) or qualities (e.g. limited editions) are more valuable than similar “inauthentic” items. Typically developing (TD) children privilege authenticity ...and are particularly influenced by who objects belong to. Here, we explore why children and adults over-value items with special ownership histories and examine how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects object valuation. In Studies 1 and 2, TD children perceived items belonging to famous owners (with “good” or “bad” reputations) to be more valuable than similar items belonging to non-famous owners. However, they ascribed significantly higher values to items belonging to famous heroes than infamous villains when compared. Children with ASD did not over-value objects with special ownership histories, but their valuations were moderated by qualities unrelated to ownership (e.g. rarity). In Study 3, adults with ASD assigned high values to authentic items with special ownership histories but were more likely to keep inauthentic objects than neurotypical adults. Our findings show that association with a famous owner is sufficient to increase an item's value for TD children and adults (with and without ASD). The degree of added value may be determined by the famous owner's character for TD children, but not adults. By contrast, children with ASD value objects via a different strategy that prioritizes material qualities over ownership history. However, the awareness of authenticity displayed by adults with ASD suggests that the emergence of ownership history as an important influence on object evaluation may be developmentally delayed in ASD, rather than completely absent.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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