The cognitive representation of oneself is central to other sociocognitive processes, including relations with others. It is reflected in faster, more accurate processing of self-relevant information, a “self-prioritisation effect” (SPE) which is inconsistent across studies in autism. Across two tasks with autistic and non-autistic participants, we explored the SPE and its relationship to autistic traits, mentalizing ability and loneliness. A SPE was intact in both groups, but together the two tasks suggested a reduced tendency of late-diagnosed autistic participants to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar others and greater ease disengaging from the self-concept. Correlations too revealed a complex picture, which we attempt to explore and disentangle with reference to the inconsistency across self-processing studies in autism, highlighting implications for future research.

自己的认知表征是其他社会认知过程的核心，包括与他人的关系。它反映在对自我相关信息的更快、更准确的处理上，这是一种在自闭症研究中不一致的“自我优先效应”（SPE）。在自闭症和非自闭症参与者的两项任务中，我们探讨了 SPE 及其与自闭症特征、心智化能力和孤独感的关系。两组的 SPE 都是完整的，但两项任务一起表明，晚期自闭症参与者区分熟悉和不熟悉的人的倾向降低，并且更容易脱离自我概念。相关性也揭示了一幅复杂的画面，我们试图参考自闭症自我处理研究的不一致来探索和解开它，突出对未来研究的影响。