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Sunk Cost Effect in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

The sunk cost effect, an interesting and well-known decision bias, is pervasive in real life and has been studied in various disciplines. In this study, we modified a task exemplifying the sunk cost effect and used it to evaluate this behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The control group exhibited a typical sunk cost effect in our task. We found that the sunk cost effect was lower in the ASD group than in the control group. The results agree with previous evidence of reduced sensitivity to context stimuli in individuals with ASD and extend this finding to the context of the sunk cost effect. Our findings are useful in addressing the practical implications on their socioeconomic behavior.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to extend their gratitude to the research team of the Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research at Showa University for their assistance in data acquisition. This work was supported by grants-in-aid for scientific research A (24243061), C (17K10326), Young Scientists B (17K16398), and on Innovative Areas (23120009, 16H06572), from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT); SENSHIN Medical Research Foundation; and Takeda Science Foundation. A part of this study is the result of the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences by agency for medical research and development (JP18dm0107151), “Research and development of technology for enhancing functional recovery of elderly and disabled people based on non-invasive brain imaging and robotic assistive devices”, the Commissioned Research of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, JAPAN, and the Joint Usage/Research Program of Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University. These agencies had no further role in the study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Institute of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, 6-11-11 Kita-karasuyama, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Junya Fujino, Shisei Tei, Takashi Itahashi, Yuta Aoki, Haruhisa Ohta, Chieko Kanai, Manabu Kubota, Ryu-ichiro Hashimoto, Motoaki Nakamura, Nobumasa Kato & Hidehiko Takahashi

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin-Kawaracho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan

    Junya Fujino, Shisei Tei, Manabu Kubota & Hidehiko Takahashi

  3. Institute of Applied Brain Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan

    Shisei Tei

  4. School of Human and Social Sciences, Tokyo International University, 2509 Matoba, Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan

    Shisei Tei

  5. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Showa University, 6-11-11 Kita-karasuyama, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Haruhisa Ohta

  6. Department of Functional Brain Imaging Research, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan

    Manabu Kubota

  7. Department of Language Sciences, Graduate School of Humanities, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan

    Ryu-ichiro Hashimoto

  8. Kanagawa Psychiatric Center, 2-5-1 Serigaya, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

    Motoaki Nakamura

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  1. Junya Fujino
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  3. Takashi Itahashi
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  11. Hidehiko Takahashi
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Contributions

JF, ST, TI, YA, HO, RH, MN, NK, and HT designed research; JF, ST, TI, and CK participated in the data acquisition; JF, YA HO, CK, MK, MN, and NK were in charge of the clinical assessment. JF, and ST analyzed data; TI, YA HO, CK, MK, RH, MN, NK, and HT helped with interpretation of data. JF, ST, TI, YA, HO, CK, MK, RH, MN, NK, and HT wrote the paper. All authors have made intellectual contribution to the work and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Hidehiko Takahashi.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Fujino, J., Tei, S., Itahashi, T. et al. Sunk Cost Effect in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 1–10 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3679-6

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