Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Show a Circumspect Reasoning Bias Rather than ‘Jumping-to-Conclusions’

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often take longer to make decisions. The Autism-Psychosis Model proposes that people with autism and psychosis show the opposite pattern of results on cognitive tasks. As those with psychosis show a jump-to-conclusions reasoning bias, those with ASD should show a circumspect reasoning bias. Jumping-to-conclusions was assessed in a sample of 20 adolescents with ASD and 23 age-matched controls using the jumping-to-conclusions beads task. Both groups demonstrated equivalent levels of confidence in decision-making, however the ASD group required more beads than controls before making their decision. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the beads required and degree of autism symptoms. Consistent with the Autism-Psychosis Model, a more circumspect reasoning bias was evident in ASD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Originally Systemizing was scored 1 for an agree response and 2 for a strongly agree response and zero otherwise. Hoekstra et al. used a 0, 1, 2, 3 rating response scale. In the present study for the ASD and control participants, these two scoring frameworks were highly correlated (r(43) = 0.96, p<0.001) and we retained the scoring of Hoeekstra et al..

References

  • Allman, J. M., Watson, K. K., Tetreault, N. A., & Hakeem, A. Y. (2005). Intuition and autism: A possible role for Von Economo neurons. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 367–373.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (2002). The extreme male brain theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Science, 6, 248–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (2003). The essential difference: Men, women and the extreme male brain. Penguin: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (2009). Autism: The empathizing–systemizing (E–S) theory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156, 68–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 5–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Behrmann, M., Avidan, G., Leonard, G. L., Kimchi, R., Luna, B., Humphreys, K., et al. (2005). Configural processing in autism and its relationship to face processing. Neuropsychologia, 44, 110–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, M., Ashwin, C., & Gamble, T. (2013). Greater empathizing and reduced systemizing in people who show a jumping-to-conclusions bias in the general population: Implications for psychosis. Psychosis: Psychological Social and Integrative Approaches, 5, 71–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, M., Ashwin, C., Walker, I., & Donaghue, J. (2010). Can an ‘Extreme Female Brain’ be characterised in terms of psychosis? Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 738–742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, M. J., Scott, F. J., Fox, S., & Pye, J. (2004). Gestalt processing in autism: Failure to process perceptual relationships and the implications for contextual understanding. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 459–469.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Capps, L., Yirmiya, N., & Sigman, M. (1992). Understanding of simple and complex emotions in nonretarded-children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 33, 1169–1182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christ, S. E., Kanne, S. M., & Reiersen, A. M. (2010). Executive function in individuals with subthreshold autism traits. Neuropsychology, 24, 590–598.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Constantino, J. N., & Gruber, C. P. (2005). Social responsiveness scale (SRS). USA: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Constantino, J. N., Lavesser, P. D., Zhang, Y., Abbacchi, A. M., Gray, T., & Todd, R. D. (2007). Rapid quantitative assessment of autistic social impairment by classroom teachers. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46, 1668–1676.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corcoran, R., Rowse, G., Moore, R., Blackwood, N., Kinderman, P., Howard, R., et al. (2008). A transdiagnostic investigation of ‘theory of mind’ and ‘jumping to conclusions’ in patients with persecutory delusions. Psychological Medicine, 38, 1577–1583.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crespi, B., & Badcock, C. (2008). Psychosis and autism as diametrical disorders of the social brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 241–261.; discussion 261–320.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Martino, B., Harrison, N. A., Knafo, S., Bird, G., & Dolan, R. J. (2008). Explaining enhanced logical consistency during decision-making in autism. Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 10746–10750.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. S. T. B. T. (2008). Dual-processing accounts of reasoning, judgment, and social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 255–278.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farran, E. K., & Brosnan, M. J. (2011). Perceptual grouping abilities in individuals with autism spectrum disorder; exploring patterns of ability in relation to grouping type and levels of development. Autism Research, 4, 283–292.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, D. (2007). Suspicious minds: The psychology of persecutory delusions. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 425–457.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, D., Pugh, K., & Garety, P. (2008). Jumping-to-conclusions and paranoid ideation in the general population. Schizophrenia Research, 120, 254–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garety, P. A., Bebbington, P., Fowler, D., Freeman, D., & Kuipers, E. (2007). Implications for neurobiological research of cognitive models of psychosis. Psychological Medicine, 37, 1377–1391.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garety, P. A., Freeman, D., Jolley, S., Dunn, G., Bebbington, P. E., Fowler, D., et al. (2005). Reasoning, emotions and delusional conviction in psychosis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 114, 373–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golan, O., Ashwin, E., Granader, Y., McClintock, S., Day, K., Leggett, V., et al. (2010). Enhancing emotion recognition in children with autism spectrum conditions: An intervention using animated vehicles with real emotional faces. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40, 269–279.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Golan, O., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2006). Systemizing empathy: Teaching adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism to recognize complex emotions using interactive multimedia. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 591–617.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, G., Johnson, C. R., & Minshew, N. J. (2001). Attentional processes in Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 433–440.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grandin, T. (2000). My mind is a web browser: How people with autism think. Cerebrum, 2, 14–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grandin, T. (2002). Do animals and people with autism have true consciousness. Evolutionary Cognition, 8, 241–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoekstra, R. A., Vinkhuyzen, A. A. E., Wheelwright, S., Bartels, M., Boomsma, D. I., Baron-Cohen, S., et al. (2011). The construction and validation of an abridged version of the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ-Short). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41, 589–596.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. A., Yechiam, E., Murphy, R. R., Queller, M. S., & Stout, J. C. (2006). Motivational processes and autonomic responsivity in Asperger’s disorder: Evidence from the Iowa gambling task. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12, 668–676.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kanne, S. M., Christ, S. E., & Reiersen, A. M. (2009). Psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial difficulties in young adults with autistic traits. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39, 827–833.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langdon, R., Ward, P. B., & Coltheart, M. (2010). Reasoning anomalies associated with delusions in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 36, 321–330.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, T. M., Ziegler, M., Mehl, S., & Rief, W. (2010). The jumping-to-conclusions bias in delusions: Specificity and changeability. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 40–49.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., Goode, S., Heemsbergen, J., Jordan, H., Mawhood, L., et al. (1989). Autism diagnostic observation schedule: A standardized observation of communicative and social behavior. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19, 185–212.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luke, L., Clare, I. C. H., Ring, H., Redley, M., & Watson, P. (2012). Decision-making difficulties experienced by adults with autism spectrum conditions. Autism, 16, 612–621.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McKay, R., Langdon, R., & Coltheart, M. (2006). Need for closure, jumping-to-conclusions and decisiveness in delusion-prone individuals. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders, 194, 422–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKay, R., Langdon, R., & Coltheart, M. (2007). Jumping to delusions? Paranoia, probabilistic reasoning and need for closure. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12, 362–376.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McPartland, J., Dawson, G., Webb, S., Panagiotides, H., & Carver, L. (2004). Event-related brain potentials reveal anomalies in temporal processing of faces in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 1235–1245.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moritz, S., Van Quaquebeke, N., & Lincoln, T. (2012). Jumping to conclusions is associated with paranoia but not general Suspiciousness. Schizophrenia Research and Treatment, Article ID 384039, 9 pages.

  • Moritz, S., & Woodward, T. S. (2005). Jumping-to-conclusions in delusional and non-delusional schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 193–207.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulieres, I., Hubert, B., & Burack, J. A. (2006). Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: An update and eight principles of autistic perception. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 27–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, T. D. (2008). A pilot study of social cognition training for adults with high-functioning autism. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent?id=uuid:ef5d1e16-6a40-4e44-9c6a-62f6febfcc0c&ds=DATA_FILE. Last accessed October 23, 2012.

  • Plaisted, K., Swettenham, J., & Rees, E. (1999). Children with autism show local precedence in a divided attention task and global precedence in a selective attention task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 733–742.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reiersen, A. M., Constantino, J. N., Grimmer, M., Martin, N. G., & Todd, R. D. (2008). Evidence for shared genetic influences on self-reported ADHD and autistic symptoms in young adult Australian twins. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 11(6), 579–585.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, M. D., & McIntosh, D. N. (2007). Rules versus prototype matching: Strategies of perception of emotional facial expressions in the autism spectrum. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 187–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., Southgate, V., White, S., & Frith, U. (2009). Mindblind eyes: An absence of spontaneous theory of mind in Asperger Syndrome. Science, 325, 883–885.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, V. E., Baron-Cohen, S., & Knight, R. T. (1998). Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 10, 640–656.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turner-Brown, L. M., Perry, T. D., Dichter, G. S., Bodfish, J. W., & Penn, D. L. (2008). Brief report: Feasibility of social cognition and interaction training for adults with high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1777–1784.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wakabayashi, A., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Goldenfeld, N., Delaney, J., Fine, D., et al. (2006). Development of short forms of the empathy quotient (EQ-Short) and the systemizing quotient (SQ-Short). Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 929–940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (1999). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence. Oxford: Pearson Assessment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheelwright, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Goldenfeld, N., Delaney, J., Fine, D., Smith, R., et al. (2006). Predicting autism spectrum quotient (AQ) from the systemizing quotient-revised (SQ-R) and empathy quotient (EQ). Brain Research, 1079, 47–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Winter, M. (2003). Asperger syndrome: What teachers need to know. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Grant sponsor EPSRC; Grant number EP/G031975/1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

    Mark Brosnan, Emma Chapman & Chris Ashwin

Authors
  1. Mark Brosnan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Emma Chapman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chris Ashwin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Brosnan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brosnan, M., Chapman, E. & Ashwin, C. Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Show a Circumspect Reasoning Bias Rather than ‘Jumping-to-Conclusions’. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 513–520 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1897-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1897-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation