Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective

Abstract

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. However, when there are mixed groups of autistic and non-autistic people, much less information is shared. Participants were also asked how they felt they had got on with the other person in the interaction. The people in the mixed groups also experienced lower rapport with the person they were sharing the story with. This finding is important as it shows that autistic people have the skills to share information well with one another and experience good rapport, and that there are selective problems when autistic and non-autistic people are interacting.

Neurotype-Matching, but Not Being Autistic, Influences Self and Observer Ratings of Interpersonal Rapport

“…All participants took part in three experimental tasks using a diffusion chain method (Crompton et al, 2020b). This procedure involves a series of dyadic interactions in which an individual first observes a researcher complete a task, and then completed that task with a second participant.…”

“…Participants did not meet before the first task started, and were isolated in separate rooms whilst they waited for their turn to take part in the study. The first dyadic task involved building a tower out of spaghetti and plasticine (Caldwell and Millen, 2008), the second involved sharing a fictional story (see Crompton et al, 2020b), and the third involved participants creating geometric animal shapes from a Rubiks Twist ( TM ). Each task took between 1 and 5 min, and participants interacted with each other freely while completing each task.…”

Play-based interventions to support social and communication development in autistic children aged 2-8 years: A scoping review

“…due to school placement). This could be an interesting avenue for future play interventions, given recent ndings of enhanced communication between autistic/autistic pairs, compared to autistic/non-autistic pairs (Crompton et al, 2020) and calls for strengths-based approaches from autism research organisations internationally (Huntley et al, 2019) .…”

Social Cognition, Social Skill, and Social Motivation Minimally Predict Social Interaction Outcomes for Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults

“…Recent empirical work with autistic adults has shown that social interaction quality and positive perceptions are driven by relational factors to a greater degree than individual ones (Crompton et al, 2020;Morrison et al, 2020). For instance, autistic adults disclose more about themselves (Morrison et al, 2020), communicate more effectively, and establish better rapport (Crompton et al, 2020) when interacting with other autistic adults relative to NA adults. This suggests that relational compatibility, and not just individual characteristics, contribute to social interaction outcomes for autistic adults, but it remains unclear whether specific social abilities either individually or dyadically underlie this effect.…”