Social performances pervade human interactions. Some autistic people describe their social performances as ‘camouflaging’ and engage in these performances to mitigate social challenges and survive in the neurotypical world. Here, we reconsider autistic camouflaging under the unifying framework of impression management (IM) by examining overlapping and unique motivations, neurocognitive mechanisms, and consequences. Predictive coding and Bayesian principles are synthesized into a computational model of IM that applies to autistic and neurotypical people. Throughout, we emphasize the inherently transactional, context-dependent nature of IM, the distinct computational challenges faced by autistic people, and the psychological toll that compelled IM can take. Viewing camouflaging through this lens highlights the pressing needs to change societal attitudes, destigmatize autism, refine social skills-building programs for autistic individuals, and integrate these programs with environment-focused support.

社交表演贯穿于人类互动中。一些自闭症患者将他们的社交表现描述为“伪装”，并参与这些表现以减轻社会挑战并在神经典型世界中生存。在这里，我们通过检查重叠和独特的动机、神经认知机制和后果，在印象管理 (IM) 的统一框架下重新考虑自闭症伪装。预测编码和贝叶斯原理被综合到适用于自闭症和神经典型人群的 IM 计算模型中。在整个过程中，我们强调了 IM 固有的事务性、依赖于上下文的性质、自闭症患者面临的独特计算挑战，以及强迫 IM 可能造成的心理损失。