Decision-making in a changing world: a study in autism spectrum disorders.

Nickerson et al. (2015) asked adults with autism to play a computer game. The game changed its rules without warning.

Sometimes the rule change involved social pictures, like faces. Other times it used neutral shapes. The team timed how fast and how well each adult adjusted.

Adults with autism made more mistakes than neurotypical adults right after the rule changed. The drop was biggest when the new rule involved social pictures.

In plain words, they struggled to switch gears when social cues shifted.

Gonzalez et al. (2013) saw the opposite pattern. Their adults with autism beat controls on a visual luggage-screening task. The twist: that task never changed its rules. The contradiction disappears when you see one job rewarded rigid focus while the other punished it.

Chezan et al. (2019) muddies the water. They also ran a visual search test, but added real-world clutter and social distractions. This time adults with autism were slower and less accurate. Together the three papers show: predictability helps, messy shifts hurt.

Worsham et al. (2015) used a similar social-decision lab set-up the same year. They found adults with autism sped up at the cost of accuracy when faces created conflict. The pair of 2015 studies warns us: rushing plus shifting rules is a double handicap.

If you run social skills or vocational training, build in clear signals when rules change. Start with stable, structured drills before you add real-life curveballs. Give written or visual prompts when social expectations shift. This small tweak can cut errors and frustration for adults who find rule changes extra hard.