Social Decision Making in Autistic Adolescents: The Role of Theory of Mind, Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation

Abstract

Title Social decision making in autistic adolescents: the role of theory of mind, executive functioning and emotion regulation Running head

The Fair Decision-making of Children and Adolescents with High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Perspective of Dual-process Theories

“…In previous studies, fairnessrelated behaviours were shown to be related to ToM development defects (45), but no consistent conclusion was found in our study. At the same time, we found that the unfair acceptance rates of children and adolescents with HF-ASD are related to BRIEF scores, which is consistent with previous results (10,11,13,14). Further regression analysis shows that both GEM and working memory have an impact on the unfair acceptance rate of individuals with TD, while the interaction between the BRIEF scores of individuals with HF-ASD and age can negatively predict unfair acceptance rates.…”

The Fair Decision-making of Children and Adolescents with High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Perspective of Dual-process Theories

“…In previous studies, fairnessrelated behaviours were shown to be related to ToM development defects (46), but no consistent conclusion was found in our study. At the same time, we found that the unfair acceptance rates of children and adolescents with HF-ASD are related to BRIEF scores, which is consistent with previous results (11,12,14,15). Further regression analysis shows that both GEM and working memory have an impact on the unfair acceptance rate of individuals with TD, while the interaction between the BRIEF scores of individuals with HF-ASD and age can negatively predict unfair acceptance rates.…”

“…If not, both parties receive an amount of 0. The results showed that there was no significant difference between those with HF-ASD and those with typical development (TD) when in the role of recipient (11). Other researchers indicated that children with HF-ASD whose age between 6~16 years old were more likely to accept unfair distribution, and they claimed that this higher acceptance rate might be related to defects in theory of mind (ToM), which is the ability to understand and predict others' feelings and behaviours (12,13).…”

“…The study found that the unbalanced development of HF-ASD 'brain types', that is, the imbalance between systemizing and empathy, causes individuals with HF-ASD to have greater tolerance for unfair distribution (13). The other is Kate Anne Woodcock et al who used the UG found that individuals with HF-ASD are more influenced by ToM when acting as the proposer in fair decision-making games but are more influenced by EF when acting as the responder (11). Ultimately, there are different conclusions regarding the fair decisionmaking of individuals with HF-ASD, and the roles of ToM and EF have in the fair decision-making of individuals with HF-ASD have not been adequately taken both into consideration.…”

“…Some researchers have claimed that this risk may result from their misunderstanding of other people's intentions and their perception of unfair treatment, which results in HF-ASD children being less tolerant of unfair treatment (8)(9)(10). Kate Anne Woodcock et al used an ultimatum game (UG) to study the fair decision-making of HF-ASD children between 11 and 17 years old (11). In UG experiments, participants are given a fixed amount of funds and are assigned to a proposer or responder role.…”