The Perceived Social Context Modulates Rule Learning in Autism
Abstract
This study examines how the awareness of social situation affects rule learning in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using computer-based distrust and deception games. Twenty-eight 4- to 7-year-old children with ASD and 28 age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) peers learned the distrusting and deceptive rules in a non-social condition, in which they were playing with a computer, or a social condition with another person pretending to interact via a computer. Results showed intact rule-learning ability in the ASDs in the non-social condition, but poorer overall performance and slower learning process than TD children when they thought that they interacted with a human opponent. Rule learning in ASD was affected by their beliefs about the social context.
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Autistic children did not show a performance gain comparable to non-autistic children when social information relating to a hypothetical person's trustworthiness was offered, but did show a comparable performance gain for helpful non-social information.
“autistic children did not show a performance gain comparable to non-autistic children when social information relating to the hypothetical person's trustworthiness was offered to them, but did show a comparable performance gain for helpful non-social information [36].”
From Autistic Cognition: Charting Routes to Anxiety (2021) · cites this paper as [36]
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Autistic Cognition: Charting Routes to Anxiety
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Guo, T., Wu, Y., Xia, M., Chen, H. G., Shao, Q., Peng, F., & Chen, J. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1855311
- Authors
- Lu, H., Li, P., Fang, J., & Yi, L.
- Affiliations
- Peking University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Yi, Li
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2019-08-24
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 4698-4706
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- OpenAlex
- W2969647652
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (31571135, 31470974)
- Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (Z171100000117015)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, rule induction, social environment, distrust, deception, social cognition, children, video games
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Learning, Deception, Male, Peer Group, Social Environment, Social Skills
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