Cognitive flexibility in autism: How task predictability and sex influence performances.
Adeline Lacroix, Emma Torija, Alexander Logemann and 5 others
PMID 39635938WHAT IT FOUND
On this task, autistic and non-autistic adults did not differ overall in response speed.
Predictability improved speed for both groups, and the difference between groups appeared to grow as predictability increased rather than unpredictability.
Key findings
01There was no significant main group difference in response time between autistic and non-autistic adults.
02A significant interaction between group and predictability showed that the estimated difference between autistic and non-autistic response times increased as predictability increased.
03A significant interaction between group and sex on accuracy showed higher odds of correct responses for autistic females than autistic males and for non-autistic males than non-autistic females, but neither simple comparison was significant.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study tested adults only, so it does not show how children or autistic people with intellectual disabilities would perform. It was online and did not collect detailed clinical or cognitive information, so the results may not capture how diagnosed conditions or ability levels affect performance. Autistic males had lower educational attainment than other groups, which could influence task performance. The main group difference in response time was not significant, and the simple sex comparisons for accuracy were not significant. Co-occurring diagnoses were recorded only as yes or no, so specific conditions may have affected the results.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by MIAI@Grenoble Alpes, CerCoG@UGA IDEX UGA, and the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autistic adults have a cognitive flexibility deficit caused by unpredictability. The main group difference in response speed was not significant, and the group difference increased with predictability instead. The study tested adults without intellectual disabilities on one computer task, so it does not show how most patients would function in daily life.