Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective
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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.
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Certain types of communication, including information sharing, can be more successful within same-neurotype than cross-neurotype pairs.
“Furthermore, certain types of communication, including information sharing, can be more successful within same-neurotype than cross-neurotype pairs (Crompton et al., 2020).”
From Compassionate pedagogy for neurodiversity in higher education: A conceptual analysis (2023) · cites this paper as Crompton et al., 2020
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- Authors
- Crompton, C. J., Ropar, D., Evans-Williams, C. V., Flynn, E. G., & Fletcher-Watson, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- The Autism Academy, UK
- Queen's University Belfast (GB)
- The University of Edinburgh, UK
- Corresponding author
- Crompton, Catherine J
- Venue
- Autism
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-05-20
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1704-1712
- ISSN
- 1362-3613 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7005
- PMC
- PMC7545656
- OpenAlex
- W3026879779
- Cited by
- 524
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 115 · 2025: 113 · 2024: 97 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 26.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Autism (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (acceptedVersion)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF0200)
- 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 › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- social communication, story recall, rapport, autistic adults, social interaction difficulties, information sharing
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic Disorder, Communication, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Peer Group
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