Is low social motivation the cause of social difficulties in autistic individuals? A cognitive study

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26780360
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Akechi Hironori 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 助教 (50723368)
• Research Collaborator: KIKUCHI Yukiko 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 助教 (90600700)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 自閉スペクトラム症 / 社会的認知

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The cognitive cause of social difficulties that autistic individuals confront in their daily lives has been thought to be their unique social cognitive style. In this study, we empirically tested the hypothesis that the unique social cognition of autistic individuals derives from their low levels of social motivation. Through our research, it was found that the social motivation both in autistic and typically developing individuals was somewhat associated with social cognitive tendencies. Social preference, which could be linked to social motivation, was observed to be equally strong in autistic and typically developing individuals.

Free Research Field

発達心理学，発達認知科学