Differences in Naturalistic Deception Between Autistic and Neurotypical Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract Autistic individuals may be perceived as less honest than neurotypical counterparts, particularly when their neurotype is unknown. However, findings on naturalistic deception in autism remain mixed. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined naturalistic deception differences between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Sixteen studies (430 autistic and 430 neurotypical participants) were identified through searches of five databases (1994 to July 2024). A meta-analysis on 10 studies revealed that across studies, autistic participants deceived significantly less than neurotypical participants in hide-and-seek tasks, but showed no significant difference in temptation resistance tasks. Due to heterogeneity across studies, potential moderators such as age, gender, and experimenter neurotype could not be investigated. Findings have implications for improving understanding of autistic individuals’ communication preferences.