The Fair Decision-making of Children and Adolescents with High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Perspective of Dual-process Theories

Abstract

Background: Fairness has received much attention in our society. At present, the findings regarding fair decision-making in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) are inconsistent. Previous studies have shown that the fair decision-making of typically developing children is influenced by theory of mind (ToM) and executive functioning (EF). As those with HF-ASD have defects in both domains, this study aims to explore the differences in fair decision-making between children and adolescents with HF-ASD and those with typical development (TD). Methods: We used a simple ultimatum game (UG) to explore 31 children and adolescents with HF-ASD and 38 children and adolescents with TD. T tests and chi-square tests were used to compare group differences, and Pearson correlation analysis and stepwise regression analysis were used to analyse the mechanisms influencing the two groups' unfair acceptance rates. Results: The results show that children with HF-ASD are more likely to accept unfair offers, but for adolescents, the difference is not significant. Regression analysis showed that the interaction between the behavior regulation index (BRI) and age could negatively predict the unfair acceptance rate of children and adolescents with HF-ASD. Working memory and ToM can negatively predict the unfair acceptance rate of those with TD. Conclusion: This study concluded that the development of fair decision-making by children and adolescents with HF-ASD falls far behind that of those with TD. Intuition processes play a dominant role in the fair decision-making processes of children and adolescents with HF-ASD, and we believe that comorbidity, age, experience and emotional management are important factors influencing the fair decision-making of individuals with HF-ASD.

Enhanced rationality in autism spectrum disorder

“…Neurotypical receivers, however, frequently reject lower offers to punish the proposer for what they feel is an unfairly small offer. Strikingly, a series of studies found that individuals with ASD act more rationally, as they are twice as likely as neurotypical individuals to accept offers that are considered 'unfair' but economically are more beneficial [34][35][36].…”

A brain structural connectivity biomarker for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in early childhood

“…These intrinsic frontal connections are strongly associated with social and other types of reward processing as well as decision making 27 and these functions are known to be impaired in ASD. [28][29] Three other clusters involved inferior, medial and superior frontal gyri connections with thalamus, basal ganglia, cingulate, insula, occipital cortex, post-central gyrus and cerebellum associated with social cognition, language comprehension, sensory and motor processing functions, [30][31][32] all of which are impaired in ASD. [33][34][35][36] The remaining cluster primarily involved connections between the superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule with the precuneus in the default mode network, associated with self-processing, experience of agency, autobiographic and episodic memory retrieval and visuospatial imagery.…”