Autistic People Seem Oblivious to Their Social Reputation

An experimental game reveals that healthy controls, but not high-functioning patients with autism, are more generous when observed.

Dissecting social behaviors in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is important for developing targeted interventions. To understand the role of social reputation in adults with ASD, investigators used experiments that measured the effect that being observed has on charitable behavior.

Ten high-functioning participants with ASD (mean age, 29; 2 women) and 11 healthy controls (mean age, 30; 1 woman) completed a task in which they received an allotment of money and were presented with choices to donate money to a charity at varying costs to themselves. They performed this task and a control task (continuous performance test [CPT]) twice, once when alone and once with an observer present. Empathy, mood effects of being observed, and ne…

Reviewing Author

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose