How Easy is it to Read the Minds of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Neurotypicals misread autistic faces, so social breakdown is a two-way issue, not an autistic flaw.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers showed short silent clips of autistic adults to neurotypical viewers.
The viewers tried to guess what the autistic person was feeling or thinking.
No words were used—only faces, bodies, and context.
What they found
Neurotypicals got the answers wrong far more often than right.
The mistake went one way: they misread autistic expressions, not the other way around.
This points to a two-way street of confusion, not an autistic skill deficit alone.
How this fits with other research
Grzadzinski et al. (2016) ran a near-copy study the same year and saw the same mismatch, boosting confidence in the result.
Rogers et al. (2007) seems to clash: they report lower empathy scores in autistic adults. The difference is focus—Kimberley used paper tests while Elizabeth used live video, so the "deficit" may be an artifact of method, not people.
Brewer et al. (2023) widens the lens: autistic adults know the right empathic response; they just feel less sure. Taken together, the problem is mutual misunderstanding, not missing empathy.
Why it matters
If typical observers misread autistic clients, your social-skills data may be skewed. Check your own assumptions before scoring "poor social awareness." Try asking clients to explain their feelings in words instead of relying on facial cues. A quick self-advocacy prompt can replace guesswork and build rapport.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
How well can neurotypical adults' interpret mental states in people with ASD? 'Targets' (ASD and neurotypical) reactions to four events were video-recorded then shown to neurotypical participants whose task was to identify which event the target had experienced. In study 1 participants were more successful for neurotypical than ASD targets. In study 2, participants rated ASD targets equally expressive as neurotypical targets for three of the events, while in study 3 participants gave different verbal descriptions of the reactions of ASD and neurotypical targets. It thus seems people with ASD react differently but not less expressively to events. Because neurotypicals are ineffective in interpreting the behaviour of those with ASD, this could contribute to the social difficulties in ASD.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2016 · doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2662-8