Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective
A story passed along chains of eight people survived within autistic chains and within non-autistic chains, and degraded fastest in mixed ones.
Crompton, C. J., Ropar, D., Evans-Williams, C. V. M., Flynn, E. G. & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective. Autism, 24(7), 1704–1712.
- Type
- Journal article
- Find it
- doi.org/10.1177/1362361320919286
- Checked
- Against the abstract, 15 September 2026
Why it is on the list
Crompton and colleagues ran diffusion chains (autistic, non-autistic and mixed) and measured how much of a story survived each retelling. Mixed chains lost detail significantly faster and reported lower rapport; autistic and non-autistic chains did not differ significantly. Week 11 uses that comparison to challenge an account of autistic people as simply unable to share information. The course checked the abstract’s comparison between chain conditions, not a link-by-link explanation of the additional loss. Its proposal to negotiate a bilateral protocol remains a course interpretation to try, not an intervention this study tested.