A method for testing implicit learning in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder

This paper presents a mechanism for testing implicit learning ability in subjects with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with an ASD experience deficits in reciprocal social interaction and communication while displaying odd behavior and stereotyped mannerisms. The onset of the disorder usually occurs very early in development, before the emergence of evidence that effortful conscious processes are occurring within the individual. Implicit acquisition of information seems to play an important role in the typical development of social and communication skills. Since individuals with autism have associated deficits in these areas, a problem with the unconscious acquisition of information from the environment is suggested. However, it is not clear if the associated problem in unconscious acquisition is global, or if it is limited to information within a social context. This experimental paradigm is designed to measure implicit learning ability of both social and nonsocial information. Results demonstrate typical implicit learning ability on the nonsocial SRT task by the ASD group, and atypical performance on the social SRT task. There is additional evidence for a familial factor in RT while completing both SRT tasks. This study may yield important information regarding the endophenotype of autism.