Autistic Adults are Not Impaired at Maintaining or Switching Between Counterfactual and Factual Worlds: An ERP Study.
Heather J Ferguson, Lena Wimmer, Jo Black and 2 others
PMID 33704612WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults were not impaired at understanding counterfactuals.
Their brain responses to language anomalies matched those of non-autistic adults, even when switching between hypothetical and real-world scenarios.
Key findings
01Autistic and non-autistic adults showed comparable brain responses when detecting language inconsistencies, indicating intact ability to track and switch between factual and counterfactual worlds.
02Despite intact language processing, the autistic group showed significant difficulties with cognitive flexibility, making more errors on a card sorting task.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted only of high-functioning autistic adults with IQs in the normal range, so results may not apply to those with intellectual disabilities. The study used implicit brain measures (EEG) rather than asking participants to explicitly report their understanding, which might miss difficulties that only appear in deliberate, effortful processing. The sample size was modest (48 participants), which limits the certainty of the null findings regarding group differences.
Declared interests
Funded by the Leverhulme Trust. No other conflicts of interest are reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autistic adults have no difficulties with executive function or social cognition. While their language processing was intact, this same group showed significant impairments in cognitive flexibility and Theory of Mind tasks.