A relationship was found between autistic traits and success in exploratory play

Researchers tested 77 university students on a curiosity-based research task.

In a recent study published in PLoS computational biologyresearchers examined how curiosity-driven behaviors vary depending on individual characteristics, especially autistic characteristics, and their impact on the success of exploration.

Their findings highlight how individual differences in autistic traits shape exploration styles, which has implications for the potential of personalized approaches to enhance learning processes.

Background

Curiosity-based learning focuses on independent exploration, motivated by an internal desire to learn rather than external rewards. People tend to explore environments where they expect greater learning progress, withdrawing when progress is minimal.

However, exploratory behavior varies greatly between individuals and may relate to personality traits such as autistic traits, risk-taking, and impulsivity.

Autistic traits, including an emphasis on sameness, are associated with unique learning patterns, such as a lower ability to adapt to uncertain or loud situations. Previous research has shown that people with higher autistic traits may have lower tolerance for prediction errors, which affects their exploratory behavior.

About the study

In this study, researchers examined how autistic traits influence curiosity-driven exploration. Their first hypothesis was that people with higher autistic traits might emphasize reducing uncertainty and value diminutive, consistent improvements in learning. Alternatively, intolerance of uncertainty may lead people high in autistic traits to avoid situations with unpredictable outcomes.

The study recruited 77 participants who were recent or current university students, of whom 70 continued to participate in the study. Final participants ranged in age from 17 to 35 years, with an average age of 22.2; 14 identified as men, 51 as women and 5 as non-binary.

Participants interacted with animal characters in an on-screen task, predicting each character’s next location based on probabilistic hiding patterns. The task included three places (meadow, sea and beach), each with four animals.

The task allowed participants to explore freely, and choices were tracked for prediction errors, learning progress, and novelty preferences. The hierarchical model assessed trial-by-trial learning, prediction errors, and exploratory choices. No instructions were given and no rewards were given if participants guessed correctly.

Additionally, researchers collected information about autistic traits using social behavior questionnaires designed for adults and, optionally, reports from participants’ parents. The study focused on the “insistence on sameness” subscale, which assesses the need for predictability and avoidance of change. Researchers have also examined the broader impact of autistic traits on exploratory behavior.

By examining the influence of autistic traits on educational choices, the study aims to better understand how these traits influence curiosity-driven exploration, which varies from person to person.

Arrangements

Four logistic models examined the influence of factors (prediction error, learning progress, novelty) on participants’ decisions to stay or leave. Autistic traits (especially “insistence on sameness”) and trial duration were analyzed for their effects.

Participants who placed less emphasis on sameness benefited from learning gains early, but later switched to prediction error. However, participants who emphasized sameness later relied on learning progress but did not initially exploit either factor. The novelty did not significantly influence these decisions.

Similar trends were observed when self-report data were included as explanatory variables, but not all interactions (especially time) reached statistical significance.

Investigating the associations between exploratory decisions and autistic traits, researchers found that participants with both high and low sameness emphasis preferred novel options.

Reports from others suggest that novelty influenced both low and high emphasis on sameness groups, while the effects of prediction error and learning progress were not significant. Self-reports showed that the low-insistence group preferred options with lower prediction errors, while the high-insistence group preferred options with greater learning progress.

In terms of associations with learning performance, greater emphasis on sameness correlated with better performance for most hiding patterns, except for the high-noise, untrainable pattern. This interaction was significant for reports from others but not for self-reports.

Conclusions

The researchers examined how autistic traits influence curiosity-based learning behaviors by performing a task in which participants chose when to stop sampling the environment and what to investigate next. They used computational modeling to analyze participants’ learning progress and prediction errors.

While participants who placed less emphasis on sameness relied more on academic progress to leave the environment early, they switched to using expected prediction error to leave the class if they expected destitute performance.

Participants who emphasized sameness more demonstrated greater persistence, initially relying less on academic progress, but gradually began to drop classes only when academic progress declined. All participants preferred the novel options.

However, other autistic traits, such as reduced social interaction and empathy, may also influence exploration beyond insistence on sameness. The researchers emphasized the need for future research to explore brain mechanisms and causal links between autistic traits and learning behaviors.