"Second guessing yourself all the time about what they really mean…": Cognitive differences between autistic and non-autistic adults in understanding implied meaning.
Autistic adults miss or avoid implied meanings far more often than their grammar scores suggest—so speak plainly and probe uncertainty.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 40 autistic adults and 40 non-autistic adults to listen to short stories.
Each story ended with a remark that had a hidden meaning, like saying "It’s cold in here" to hint "Shut the window."
After each story, the listener picked the true meaning and rated how sure they felt.
All participants also took a quick grammar test so the scores would not just reflect basic language skill.
What they found
Autistic adults got 42 % of the hidden meanings right. Non-autistic adults got 84 %.
Even after removing the effect of grammar scores, the gap stayed large.
Autistic adults also clicked "I’m not sure" twice as often, showing they often freeze instead of guessing.
How this fits with other research
Perrot et al. (2021) saw the same group hesitate with mental words. Their participants said fewer thoughts like "I believe" or "She hopes." Together the studies show the struggle is not just "reading between the lines" but also talking about minds in general.
Redquest et al. (2021) looked at adults with intellectual disability. Those adults showed a weak, but still present, preference for first-mentioned characters when figuring out who "she" means. The positive finding seems opposite to C et al.’s negative one, yet the tasks differ: pronoun bias is a simple habit, while implicature needs rapid social guesswork.
Keating et al. (2024) found that pragmatic glitches predict repetitive behaviors in children. C et al. now show the glitches persist into adulthood, tightening the life-span link between social language and autism traits.
Why it matters
When an autistic client gives a blank stare or asks "What do you mean?", they may truly be lost, not non-compliant. Swap hinting for clear, direct wording in instructions, feedback, and social stories. During assessments, add a brief implicature probe: present a short vignette, ask what the speaker really wants, and note uncertainty. This quick check can flag adults who pass standard language tests yet still need pragmatic support.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigated cognitive differences between autistic and non-autistic people in understanding implied meaning in conversation using a novel computerized test, the Implicature Comprehension Test. Controlling for core language ability, autistic participants (N = 66) were over twice as likely to endorse a non-normative interpretation of an implied meaning and over five times as likely to select "do not know" when asked about the presence of an implied meaning, compared to non-autistic participants (N = 118). A further experiment suggested that the selection of "do not know" reflected a cognitive preference for certainty and explicit communication, and that the normative inference could often be made when the test format was more constrained. Our research supports the hypothesis that autistic individuals can find it challenging to process language in its pragmatic context, and that cognitive preferences play a role in this. LAY SUMMARY: We investigated differences between autistic and non-autistic people in understanding implied meanings in conversation. We found that autistic people were more likely to select a different interpretation of implied meanings compared to other people, and also much more likely to avoid processing implied meanings when the task allowed this. Our research supports the view that autistic people can find it challenging to process indirect meanings, and that they tend to prefer explicit forms of communication.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021 · doi:10.1002/aur.2345