The Double Empathy Problem and Autism: A developmental perspective

One of the defining characteristics of Autism is a persistent difficulty in social communication and interaction. These difficulties have a profound effect on autistic peoples' ability to create and maintain relationships and have a significant impact on their quality of life (e.g., Tobin et al, 2014). Investigating the factors which contribute to these difficulties and how they arise is therefore a major aim of autism research.

While previous theories have been proposed to explain these communication difficulties - for example, a delayed development of theory of mind (Baron-Cohen, 2000) or that autistic people have limited empathy (Peterson, 2014) - these theories have come under criticism as they do not align with the findings of qualitative research into autistic peoples' lived experiences (e.g., Mandy, 2019, Welch et al, 2022 etc.).

The Double Empathy Problem (DEP; Milton, 2012) is an alternative theory to explain the social difficulties in autism. The DEP frames these social difficulties as arising because of differences in the behaviours and interaction styles of autistic and non-autistic people. These differences result in both groups mutually misreading each other and, as this misunderstanding is reinforced through repeated interactions, both groups develop a negative impression of the other. Over time, this results in a reduced ability in both groups to empathise with each other.

However, while this theory suggests that these social difficulties have their roots in early social development, currently all the evidence supporting the DEP comes from autistic and non-autistic adults. This represents a significant limitation both in terms of our understanding of the DEP, and in our ability to use our understanding of the DEP to create meaningful interventions.

This PhD therefore aims to investigate the DEP within the context of development, and will address three major aims: When does the DEP arise? Are there identifiable behaviours or non-verbal cues which contribute to the DEP? Can our understanding of the DEP be used to develop an intervention with the aim of improving non-autistic and autistic children's ability to empathise with each other?

To address these aims, we will utilise the retrodictive mind reading task; an experimental task which has been previously used to investigate the DEP in adults (Pillai et al, 2012; Sheppard et al, 2016 etc.). In this task, non-autistic and autistic participants are covertly video recorded reacting to a range of situations designed to evoke distinct emotional responses.

These clips are then be shown to participants, who are asked "What just happened to this person?" Participants' ability to accurately respond suggests that they were able to accurately interpret the behaviours and expressions of the person within the clip and used this information to retrodict the event that caused this response.

By modifying this procedure for use with children, we will be able to measure their ability to accurately interpret the thoughts and feelings of the children within the clip and how this changes according to whether the children are autistic, their autistic traits, children's age and (by utilising eye-tracking) the participants' non-verbal cues.