Knowledge of the temporal structure of events in relation to autistic traits and social ability

Kara E Hannah; Kevin S Brown; Mikayla Hall-Bruce; Ryan A Stevenson; Ken McRae

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103779

Knowledge of the temporal structure of events in relation to autistic traits and social ability

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2022 Nov:231:103779. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103779. Epub 2022 Oct 31.

Authors

Kara E Hannah¹, Kevin S Brown², Mikayla Hall-Bruce³, Ryan A Stevenson⁴, Ken McRae⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. Electronic address: khannah6@uwo.ca.
² Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States.
³ Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.

PMID: 36327668
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103779

Abstract

Event knowledge, a person's understanding of patterns of activities in the world, is crucial for everyday social interactions. Social communication differences are prominent in autism, which may be related to atypical event knowledge, such as atypical knowledge of the sequences of activities that comprise the temporal structure of events. Previous research has found that autistic individuals have atypical event knowledge, but research in this area is minimal, particularly regarding autistic individuals' knowledge of the temporal structure of events. Furthermore, no studies have investigated the link between event knowledge and autistic traits in a non-clinical sample. We investigated relationships between event knowledge and autistic traits in individuals from the general population with varying degrees of autistic traits. We predicted that atypical ordering of event activities is related to autistic traits, particularly social communication abilities, but not other clinical traits. In Study 1, atypical ordering of event activities correlated with social ability, but not with most measures of repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. In Study 2, the typicality of activity ordering varied by participants' social ability and the social nature of the events. Relationships were not found between event activity ordering and other clinical traits. These findings suggest a relationship between autistic traits, specifically social abilities, and knowledge of the temporal structure of events in a general population sample.

Keywords: Autistic traits; Event knowledge; Events; Social abilities; Social communication; Temporal structure.

MeSH terms

Autistic Disorder*
Communication
Humans
Social Skills*