Slower Processing Speed in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-analytic Investigation of Time-Based Tasks.
Autistic learners need a little more response time, so pause before prompting again.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team pooled 44 studies that compared reaction times of autistic and neurotypical people.
They looked at simple button-press tasks, choice tasks, and different kinds of cues.
All data came from peer-reviewed papers; no new lab work was done.
What they found
Autistic groups were consistently slower, but the gap was small.
The average delay showed up no matter the task or stimulus used.
Even with the small effect, the pattern held across all 44 studies.
How this fits with other research
Ferraro (2016) saw no speed gap in 32 similar studies. The older review used looser entry rules, so it let in noisy data that washed out the small delay.
McGonigle et al. (2014) built a new timed visual game and found two-thirds of high-functioning autistic youth slowed under time pressure. That lab result lines up with the small meta-analytic delay.
Amirault et al. (2009) showed a longer attentional blink in autism. Slower moment-to-moment shifting may share roots with slower button-press speed.
Why it matters
When you run fluency drills or give instructions, allow an extra beat for answers. Do not mistake the small delay for lack of knowledge; it is just processing time. Build wait time into trials, and record latency as its own data point.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition affecting information processing across domains. The current meta-analysis investigated whether slower processing speed is associated with the ASD neurocognitive profile and whether findings hold across different time-based tasks and stimuli (social vs. nonsocial; linguistic vs. nonlinguistic). Mean RTs of ASD and age-matched neurotypical comparison groups (N = 893 ASD, 1063 neurotypical; mean age ASD group = 17 years) were compared across simple RT, choice RT, and interference control tasks (44 studies, 106 effects) using robust variance estimation meta-analysis. Simple RT tasks required participants to respond to individual stimuli, whereas choice RT tasks required forced-choice responses to two or more stimuli. Interference control tasks required a decision in the context of a distractor or priming stimulus; in an effort to minimize inhibitory demands, we extracted RTs only from baseline and congruent conditions of such tasks. All tasks required nonverbal (motor) responses. The overall effect-size estimate indicated significantly longer mean RTs in ASD groups (g = .35, 95% CI = .16; .54) than comparison groups. Task type moderated effects, with larger estimates drawn from simple RT tasks than interference control tasks. However, across all three task types, ASD groups exhibited significantly longer mean RTs than comparison groups. Stimulus type and age did not moderate effects. Generalized slowing may be a domain-general characteristic of ASD with potential consequences for social, language, and motor development. Assessing processing speed may inform development of interventions to support autistic individuals and their diverse cognitive profiles.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2023 · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2007.11.015