title: Brief Report: Reduced Optimism Bias in Self-Referential Belief Updating in High-Functioning Autism.
abstract: Previous research has demonstrated irrational asymmetry in belief updating: people tend to take into account good news and neglect bad news. Contradicting formal learning principles, belief updates were on average larger after better-than-expected information than after worse-than-expected information. In the present study, typically developing subjects demonstrated this optimism bias in self-referential judgments. In contrast, adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were significantly less biased when updating self-referential beliefs (each group n = 21, matched for age, gender and IQ). These findings indicate a weaker influence of self-enhancing motives on prospective judgments in ASD. Reduced susceptibility to emotional and motivational biases in reasoning in ASD could elucidate impairments of social cognition, but may also confer important cognitive benefits.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research Cologne, Translational Neurocircuitry Group, Gleueler Str. 50, 50931, Cologne, Germany. bojana.kuzmanovic@sf.mpg.de.|Research Center Juelich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Ethics in the Neurosciences (INM-8), 52426, Juelich, Germany. bojana.kuzmanovic@sf.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Bojana
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3698-7789
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kuzmanovic
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research Cologne, Translational Neurocircuitry Group, Gleueler Str. 50, 50931, Cologne, Germany.|Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zürich and ETH Zürich, Translational Neuromodeling Unit Wilfriedstrasse 6, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rigoux
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937, Cologne, Germany.|Research Center Juelich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Cognitive Neuroscience (INM-3), 52426, Juelich, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vogeley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder; D015982:Bias; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D000067656:Optimism / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Autism; Belief updating; Judgment; Learning; Optimism bias; Rationality