Adults with autism show increased sensitivity to outcomes at low error rates during decision-making.
Decision-making is an important function that can be quantified using a two-choice prediction task. Individuals with Autistic Disorder (AD) often show highly restricted and repetitive behavior that may interfere with adaptive decision-making. We assessed whether AD adults showed repetitive behavior on the choice task that was unaffected by changing task demands, by examining the influence of experimenter-determined error rates on decision-making. Sixteen AD adults and 14 typically developed subjects were administered a two-choice task using three error rate conditions. Although AD subjects showed occurrences of stereotyped responding, their decision-making behavior was strongly affected by changes in task demands, especially when they experienced frequent success. Thus, behavioral paradigms that provide frequent reinforcement may be helpful in modifying decision-making abilities in AD.
Minassian
Arpi
A
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 200 West Arbor Drive, Mailcode 8620, San Diego, CA 92103-8620, USA. aminassian@ucsd.edu
Paulus
Martin
M
Lincoln
Alan
A
Perry
William
W
D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003657:Decision Making; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012737:Sex Factors; D014888:Wechsler Scales