The Impact of Affective Theory of Mind on Autistic Individual's Perception of Remorse

Previous research indicates that difficulties with expressing remorse may contribute to the longer sentences autistic individuals receive within the criminal justice system. These differences in remorse expression may stem from their reduced ability to perceive emotions in others. This study investigated the association between an individual's level of autistic traits and their remorse perception ability. We also examined the influence of Affective Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand others' emotional experiences, in remorse perception. We thought that the more autistic traits with which a person presented, the poorer their ability to perceive remorse would be, with overall ToM and affective ToM serving as mediating factors. Forty-five autistic and 47 non-autistic individuals assessed a series of facial expressions to determine the perceived level of remorse in each face. Results revealed that neither the combination of autistic traits nor any individual trait was significantly correlated with remorse perception ability. Additionally, autistic traits did not indirectly impact the perception of remorse through either overall ToM or affective ToM. These findings imply that individuals with high autistic traits, regardless of their perspective-taking abilities, exhibit similar capacities for perceiving remorseful expressions to those with less autistic traits—at least when the stimuli are static. Future research should investigate the differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals in perceiving remorse through different modalities of emotional expression, including behavioral and verbal cues.