Abstract
It has been argued that metacognition and mindreading rely on the same cognitive processes (Carruthers in The opacity of mind: an integrative theory of self-knowledge, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011). It is widely accepted that mindreading is diminished among individuals diagnosed with autism (Brunsdon and Happé in Autism 18(1):17–30, 2014), however, little is known about metacognition. This study examined metacognition in relation to mindreading and autism using post-decision wagering. Results from a student sample showed negative associations between autism traits and metacognitive accuracy, and metacognitive reaction times and mindreading. These findings were replicated in a general population sample, providing evidence of a reliable association between metacognition, mindreading and autism traits. However, adults diagnosed with autism showed equivalent levels of metacognitive accuracy to age- and IQ-matched comparison participants, albeit only with an overall increase in meta-level processing time.
Highlights
MeasuresAutism-spectrum Quotient (AQ; Baron-Cohen et al 2001a)
The key results were that Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits were significantly related to metacognitive accuracy and mindreading ability was associated significantly with metacognitive reaction times (RT)
These results, which we interpret below, should lead to the prediction that adults with a full diagnosis of ASD would show impairments in both measures of metacognitive performance
Summary
Thirty-nine students (30 females) from the University of Kent took part in the experiment. There were two phases to the task, the Perceptual Judgement Phase and the Wagering Phase (see Fig. 1) During this phase, participants were shown a series of images made up of dots (50 trials) on a computer screen. “Meta-level” performance was indexed in each participant by calculating a gamma correlation (Kruskal and Goodman 1954) between perceptual discrimination accuracy and number of counters wagered, providing a measure of metacognitive accuracy. This measure has been recommended by Nelson (1984), and Nelson et al (2004) and has been extensively used in research on metacognitive monitoring processes
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