Experiment 1 (N = 46) | Neurotypical (NT) group N = 26 | Autistic group N = 20 | NT versus Autistic group | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD | Mean | SD | t-test | p-value | |
Age | 29.85 | 9.90 | 27.79 | 9.22 | 0.71 | 0.48 |
Verbal fluency (Spot the word)1 | 44.73 | 6.23 | 47.63 | 6.71 |  − 1.49 | 0.14 |
Non-verbal reasoning (Matrix reasoning item bank, MaRs-IB)2 | 61.64 | 16.98 | 64.48 | 18.57 |  − 0.52 | 0.60 |
Mentalising (Animated Triangle)3 | 9.62 | 1.87 | 8.74 | 2.35 | 0.88 | 0.18 |
Autistic Quotient (AQ)4 | 19.19 | 7.29 | 33.37 | 6.73 |  − 6.65 |  < 0.0001 |
Experiment 2 (N = 82) | Neurotypical group (NT) N = 42 | Autistic group N = 40 | NT versus Autistic group | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD | Mean | SD | t-test | p-value | |
Age | 27.50 | 4.91 | 27.63 | 5.13 | 0.13 | 0.89 |
Verbal fluency (Spot the word)1 | 44.54 | 8.46 | 45.73 | 9.83 |  − 0.59 | 0.56 |
Non-verbal reasoning (Matrix reasoning item bank, MaRs-IB)2 | 61.37 | 17.26 | 63.08 | 18.68 |  − 0.43 | 0.67 |
Mentalising (Animated Triangle)3 | 8.93 | 2.22 | 9.37 | 1.85 |  − 0.44 | 0.33 |
Autistic Quotient (AQ)4 | 19.98 | 6.74 | 28.39 | 8.60 |  − 4.93 |  < 0.0001 |
Combined (N = 128) | Neurotypical (NT) group N = 68 | Autistic group N = 60 | NT versus Autistic group | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD | Mean | SD | t-test | p-value | |
Age | 28.49 | 7.27 | 27.58 | 6.62 | 0.73 | 0.46 |
Verbal fluency (Spot the word)1 | 44.61 | 7.63 | 46.33 | 8.95 |  − 1.17 | 0.24 |
Non-verbal reasoning (Matrix reasoning item bank, MaRs-IB)2 | 61.47 | 17.02 | 63.52 | 18.50 |  − 0.65 | 0.51 |
Mentalising (Animated Triangle)3 | 9.19 | 2.10 | 9.17 | 2.03 | 0.08 | 0.94 |
Autistic Quotient (AQ)4 | 19.67 | 6.91 | 29.97 | 8.33 |  − 7.60 |  < .0001 |