Autistic adults form first impressions from voices in similar ways to non-autistic adults.

Abstract

In everyday life, listeners spontaneously and rapidly form first impressions from others' voices. Previous research shows that, compared to non-autistic people, autistic people show similarities and differences in how they evaluate others based on their faces. However, it remains unclear whether autistic people form first impressions from voices in the same way as non-autistic people. We asked both autistic and non-autistic listeners to rate an inferred characteristic (trustworthiness) and an apparent characteristic (age) from voice recordings to establish how they form first impressions from voices. Non-autistic and autistic listeners formed first impressions for age and trustworthiness in similar ways. Specifically, both groups showed comparable overall ratings of age and trustworthiness of voices. Further, both autistic and non-autistic listeners required similar amounts of information to form an impression. Finally, when comparing trait impressions within- and across-groups, we again found no systematic evidence of impression formation differing between autistic and non-autistic people. These findings indicate that first impression formation is potentially a relative social strength in autism. This suggests that the social challenges encountered by autistic people may be confined to specific areas of social perception rather than being universally pervasive.