Differences in Cooperative and Competitive Coordination in Autistic and Neurotypical Adults

Many social situations require people to coordinate their choices with others without communicating, raising what behavioral game theorists call ‘strategic uncertainty’. In cooperative coordination problems, the available incentives allow all interaction partners to mutually benefit by taking a risk together, while in competitive problems, only one can maximize profit, if they risk alone. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit persistent difficulties in social behavior, yet it is unknown how they respond to strategic uncertainty in cooperative and competitive contexts. Participants (21 autistic, 190 neurotypical adults) engaged in a cooperative and competitive economic game, choosing between a lower paying but safe and a potentially beneficial but risky option, whose payoff depends on another anonymous participant’s actions. The games were played without feedback, to prevent learning and emphasize default beliefs about what others might choose. As a non-social control, participants chose between the same options, but the outcome of the risky option depended on an ambiguous lottery. Results revealed that ASD participants showed significantly lower risk-taking overall, with exploratory analyses indicating this was most pronounced in cooperative and competitive contexts. Reduced risk-taking selectively decreased payoffs in cooperation but not in other games. Response times were significantly longer in ASD overall, driven by slower decisions specifically in cooperation. In competition, ASD participants displayed reduced decision variability compared to neurotypical participants, while no group differences in variability emerged in other contexts. These findings suggest that autistic adults face challenges with strategic uncertainty in cooperation and tend to adopt more rigid strategies in competition. Overall, the results highlight opportunities for interventions to improve social decision-making, cooperation, and strategic flexibility in autism. Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Social-Decision Making, Coordination, Cooperation and Competition