Delayed self-recognition in children with autism spectrum disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social and communication deficits.
• Temporally extended self-awareness, the sense of self across time, is crucial for cognitive development.
• Previous research has not fully clarified self-awareness in individuals with ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate temporally extended self-awareness in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• To utilize the delayed self-recognition (DSR) paradigm to assess self-awareness in ASD.
• To compare DSR performance in children with ASD to age and verbal ability-matched controls.

Main Methods:

• Employed the delayed self-recognition (DSR) paradigm.
• Included children with ASD and neurotypical comparison children matched for age and verbal ability.
• Assessed performance on DSR alongside theory-of-mind tasks and pronoun usage.

Main Results:

• Children with ASD exhibited unattenuated performance on the DSR task.
• This occurred despite significant impairments in theory-of-mind tasks observed in the ASD group.
• A reduced propensity to use personal pronouns was noted in children with ASD.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest potentially intact temporally extended self-awareness in individuals with ASD.
• The DSR task's validity as an unambiguous measure of temporally extended self-awareness is questioned.
• Alternative strategies, not requiring a temporally extended self-concept, might explain performance on the DSR task.