Self-Bias and Self-Related Mentalizing Are Unaltered in Adolescents with Autism

Overview

Journal J Autism Dev Disord

Publisher Springer

Date 2025 Jan 17

PMID 39821723

Authors

Letizia Amodeo

Annabel D Nijhof

David M Williams

Jan R Wiersema

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: The self is a multidimensional concept that can be represented at a pre-reflective (first-order) level, at a deeper, reflective level (second-order), or even at a meta-level (representing one's own thoughts, i.e. self-related mentalizing). Since self-related processing and mentalizing are crucial for social cognition, both constructs have been researched in individuals with autism, who experience persistent socio-communicative difficulties. Some studies suggested autism-related reductions of the self-bias, i.e. tendency to preferentially process self-related content; while others observed a decreased ability to mentalize on one's own thoughts in autism. However, prior research examined distinct levels of self-related processing in isolation, in the context of separate studies.

Methods: In this investigation, we directly compared self-bias, self- and other-related mentalizing within the same sample of adolescents with and without autism, to identify which of these are altered in this condition. Thirty adolescents with autism and 26 age- and IQ-matched controls performed a visual search task (first-order self-bias), a trait adjectives task (second-order self-bias), a feeling-of-knowing task (self-related mentalizing) and the Frith-Happé animations task (other-related mentalizing). Parents also completed two questionnaires (i.e. SRS, SCQ) assessing the adolescent's degree of autism traits.

Results: Our findings replicated previous research showing reduced other-related mentalizing in autism. However, we did not find any difference between adolescents with and without autism in terms of first- or second-order self-bias, nor in the ability to mentalize on one's own thoughts.

Conclusion: In line with recent investigations, our results do not support earlier claims of altered self-related information processing in autism.

References

Amodeo L, Wiersema J, Brass M, Nijhof A . A comparison of self-bias measures across cognitive domains. BMC Psychol. 2021; 9(1):132. PMC: 8414869. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00639-x. View

Barnard-Brak L, Brewer A, Chesnut S, Richman D, Schaeffer A . The sensitivity and specificity of the social communication questionnaire for autism spectrum with respect to age. Autism Res. 2015; 9(8):838-45. DOI: 10.1002/aur.1584. View

Baron-Cohen S, Leslie A, Frith U . Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?. Cognition. 1985; 21(1):37-46. DOI: 10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8. View

Burrows C, Usher L, Mundy P, Henderson H . The salience of the self: Self-referential processing and internalizing problems in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res. 2016; 10(5):949-960. PMC: 5438783. DOI: 10.1002/aur.1727. View

Carpenter K, Williams D . A meta-analysis and critical review of metacognitive accuracy in autism. Autism. 2022; 27(2):512-525. DOI: 10.1177/13623613221106004. View

Carruthers P . How we know our own minds: the relationship between mindreading and metacognition. Behav Brain Sci. 2009; 32(2):121-38. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X09000545. View

Cook J, Hull L, Crane L, Mandy W . Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2021; 89:102080. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102080. View

Cygan H, Tacikowski P, Ostaszewski P, Chojnicka I, Nowicka A . Neural correlates of own name and own face detection in autism spectrum disorder. PLoS One. 2014; 9(1):e86020. PMC: 3899112. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086020. View

David N, Gawronski A, Santos N, Huff W, Lehnhardt F, Newen A . Dissociation between key processes of social cognition in autism: impaired mentalizing but intact sense of agency. J Autism Dev Disord. 2007; 38(4):593-605. DOI: 10.1007/s10803-007-0425-x. View

10.

De Laet H, Nijhof A, Wiersema J . Adults with Autism Prefer Person-First Language in Dutch: A Cross-Country Study. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023; . DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06192-3. View

11.

Gillespie-Smith K, Ballantyne C, Branigan H, Turk D, Cunningham S . The I in autism: Severity and social functioning in autism are related to self-processing. Br J Dev Psychol. 2017; 36(1):127-141. DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12219. View

12.

Grainger C, Williams D, Lind S . Metacognition, metamemory, and mindreading in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder. J Abnorm Psychol. 2014; 123(3):650-9. DOI: 10.1037/a0036531. View

13.

Grainger C, Williams D, Lind S . Online action monitoring and memory for self-performed actions in autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013; 44(5):1193-206. DOI: 10.1007/s10803-013-1987-4. View

14.

Grainger C, Williams D, Lind S . Recognition memory and source memory in autism spectrum disorder: A study of the intention superiority and enactment effects. Autism. 2016; 21(7):812-820. DOI: 10.1177/1362361316653364. View

15.

Grisdale E, Lind S, Eacott M, Williams D . Self-referential memory in autism spectrum disorder and typical development: Exploring the ownership effect. Conscious Cogn. 2014; 30:133-41. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.08.023. View

16.

Hart J . Memory and the feeling-of-knowing experience. J Educ Psychol. 1965; 56(4):208-16. DOI: 10.1037/h0022263. View

17.

Henderson H, Zahka N, Kojkowski N, Inge A, Schwartz C, Hileman C . Self-referenced memory, social cognition, and symptom presentation in autism. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2009; 50(7):853-61. PMC: 2697280. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02059.x. View

18.

Hudson A, Wilson M, Green E, Itier R, Henderson H . Are you as important as me? Self-other discrimination within trait-adjective processing. Brain Cogn. 2020; 142:105569. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105569. View

19.

Keuleers E, Brysbaert M, New B . SUBTLEX-NL: a new measure for Dutch word frequency based on film subtitles. Behav Res Methods. 2010; 42(3):643-50. DOI: 10.3758/BRM.42.3.643. View

20.

Lind S, Williams D, Bowler D, Peel A . Episodic memory and episodic future thinking impairments in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: an underlying difficulty with scene construction or self-projection?. Neuropsychology. 2013; 28(1):55-67. PMC: 3906795. DOI: 10.1037/neu0000005. View