title: Brief report: do individuals with autism spectrum disorder think they know their own minds?
abstract: How much do individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) think they know about their inner states? To find out, we asked 24 participants with ASD and 24 non-clinical participants to rate how well they knew about six topics of self knowledge; they also rated how well a comparison individual knew these things about them. Participants with ASD differed from the non-clinical participants in assigning about the same amount of knowledge to the comparison individual as to themselves. Non-clinical participants, in contrast, assigned relatively more knowledge to themselves. The findings are consistent with the possibility that individuals with ASD do not appreciate the value of having first-person privileged access to their own inner states.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. peter.mitchell@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Keefe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness; D003469:Culture; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D012649:Self Concept