Brief Report: The Factors Associated with Social Cognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Anysa Santini, Jennifer C Bullen, Matthew C Zajic and 2 others
PMID 36287328WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic children without intellectual disability scored lower than neurotypical peers on theory of mind, working memory, and inferential thinking.
Theory of mind was the strongest differentiator, correctly identifying 82% of the autistic group, but performance relied heavily on general cognitive abilities.
Key findings
01The neurotypical group outperformed the autistic group without intellectual disability on all measured cognitive variables, including theory of mind, working memory, and inferential thinking.
02Theory of mind performance correctly identified 82% of the autistic participants and 49% of the neurotypical participants, with working memory adding to this differentiation.
03Within the autistic group, those with higher verbal IQ scores had significantly better theory of mind scores than those with lower verbal IQ scores, a pattern not seen in the neurotypical group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size may have been too small to detect an interaction between diagnostic group and verbal IQ on theory of mind performance. The working memory test used (Story Memory) relies on language comprehension, so it is unclear if the results reflect pure working memory or verbal processing skills. The inferential thinking measure had low reliability coefficients, which may have affected its contribution to the results. The study did not measure other factors known to influence social cognition, such as joint attention or executive function.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a child with high verbal IQ has intact social cognition. The study shows that autistic children with higher verbal IQs performed better on theory of mind tasks, suggesting they may use general cognitive abilities to compensate for social difficulties. This means a high verbal score can mask underlying social processing deficits that would not be apparent in a neurotypical peer with the same verbal ability.