Autism attenuates the perception of the mind-body divide

Abstract

People are intuitive Dualists—they tacitly consider the mind as ethereal, distinct from the body. Here we ask whether Dualism emerges naturally from the conflicting core principles that guide reasoning about objects, on the one hand, and about the minds of agents (theory of mind, ToM), on the other. To address this question, we explore Dualist reasoning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)—a congenital disorder known to compromise ToM. If Dualism arises from ToM, then ASD ought to attenuate Dualism and promote Physicalism. In line with this prediction, Experiment 1 shows that, compared to controls, people with ASD are more likely to view psychological traits as embodied—as likely to manifest in a replica of one’s body. Experiment 2 demonstrates that, unlike controls, people with ASD do not consider thoughts as disembodied—as persistent in the afterlife (upon the body’s demise). If ASD promotes the perception of the psyche as embodied, and if (per Essentialism) embodiment suggests innateness, then ASD should further promote Nativism—this bias is shown in Experiment 3. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrates that, in neurotypical (NT) participants, difficulties with ToM correlate with Physicalism. These results are the first to show that ASD attenuates Dualist reasoning and to link Dualism to ToM. These conclusions suggest that the mind-body distinction might be natural for people to entertain.

The illusion of the mind–body divide is attenuated in males

“…If ToM promotes Empiricism (due to its role in Dualism), then people with ASD should be less likely to lean towards Empiricism, and instead favor Nativism (relative to neurotypical people). This is precisely what was found 42 .…”

“…Whether ToM in fact promotes Dualism is more difficult to determine. Still, the present findings (from neurotypical males and females) complement past research from autistic individuals 42 . In both cases, lower ToM performance (in males, and in people with ASD) is linked to weaker Dualism and stronger Nativism (relative to females and the NT population, respectively).…”

“…Moreover, Dualist intuitions ought to correlate with sensitivity to ToM. This, is exactly what was found 42 . Still, the results from autistic individuals cannot speak to whether this attenuation of the mind–body divide is in fact caused by Dualism.…”

“…Recent results from autistic people bear this prediction out 42 . A large literature suggests that autistic people are less adept at reading the minds of others 39 , 43 – 53 .…”

How to Tell a Dualist?

“…The sample size was determined based on previous related research using the same tasks (Berent et al., 2021; Berent et al., 2022). All procedures in this research were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Northeastern University; all participants electronically signed an informed consent form.…”