Nuances of double empathy in autistic and non-autistic people: examination using the empathic accuracy paradigm.
Yonat Rum, Noa Feldman, Shir Genzer and 4 others
Autistic and non-autistic adults were equally accurate at reading each other's emotions from short videos.
In follow-up comparisons, autistic people tracked autistic speakers slightly better than non-autistic people did. Non-autistic people reported feeling more empathy, regardless of who they watched.
Key findings
1Neither the neurotype of the person rating nor the neurotype of the person being rated produced a significant difference in empathic accuracy, whether measured as continuous moment-to-moment emotional tracking or as identification of specific emotions.
2A trend-level interaction (p = .059) suggested autistic raters tracked autistic targets' moment-to-moment emotions slightly better. In the follow-up comparison within autistic targets, this difference reached significance (p = .018, d = 0.35), while no such difference appeared for non-autistic targets.
3Non-autistic raters reported significantly higher felt empathy (M = 6.05 vs M = 4.56) and empathic interest (M = 4.9 vs M = 3.83) than autistic raters, regardless of whether the target was autistic or non-autistic.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Autism status was self-reported and not independently verified in either the raters or the storytellers. Only 10 video clips (five per neurotype) were used as stimuli, limiting how well the set represents autistic and non-autistic populations. Participants rated strangers on a screen from their own computers, which is more structured and less noisy than real-time social interaction. Each participant saw only two clips, limiting experimental control over narrative style and expressivity. Recruitment through an autism research database and social media may attract participants with particular self-awareness or interest in autism, and excludes autistic people who need support to complete an online task. The study measured a one-time response to a stranger and does not speak to empathy in ongoing relationships.
The easy way to misread this
The most likely misread is that non-autistic people are more empathic than autistic people. The self-report measure shows non-autistic raters reported feeling more empathy, but their actual accuracy in reading emotions was the same as autistic raters. Feeling empathy and accurately reading it are different things, and this study found they do not track together.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →