People suffering from autism disorder are more consistent in high-level decision making scenarios. They are even lesser likely to show a cognitive inclination because they are hardly affected by the way the options are presented. A recent research has concluded the fact. The findings have also deduced that autism patients are less prone to the affects of decoy options when studying and picking the best product among too many options as compared to people who don't suffer from autism.
"People with autism are indeed more consistent in their choices than the neurotypical population. From an economic perspective, this suggests that people with autism are more rational and less likely to be influenced by the way choices are presented," said George Farmer, psychology researcher at the University of Cambridge.
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Autism patients are considered to pay attention to more on detail and less on the bigger picture. Thus, in the study, researchers wanted to know if this inclination would be viable to higher-level decision making tasks. For the study, published in Psychological Science, the team recruited 90 adults with autism and 212 neurotypical adults to participate in an online decision-making study. The data revealed that, compared with neurotypical participants, participants with autism made more consistent choices and made fewer switches in their selections.
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The results showed that individuals with autism are less likely to show a cognitive bias that often affects their neurotypical peers.
"These findings suggest that people with autism might be less susceptible to having their choices biased by the way information is presented to them -- for instance via marketing tricks when choosing between consumer products," Farmer said.
(With IANS Inputs)
