Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services
IntroductionThe correct diagnosis of autistic individuals is an everyday challenge within autism outpatient services. While the short-story task (SST), a task measuring fiction-based mentalizing, has demonstrated promise in differentiating between autistic and non-autistic adults, its discriminative...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1500396/full |
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| author | Irina Jarvers Monika Sommer Monika Sommer Manuela Ullmann Verena Simmel Lore Blaas Stefanie Gorski Saskia Krüger-Lassen Matthias Vogel Berthold Langguth |
| author_facet | Irina Jarvers Monika Sommer Monika Sommer Manuela Ullmann Verena Simmel Lore Blaas Stefanie Gorski Saskia Krüger-Lassen Matthias Vogel Berthold Langguth |
| author_sort | Irina Jarvers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionThe correct diagnosis of autistic individuals is an everyday challenge within autism outpatient services. While the short-story task (SST), a task measuring fiction-based mentalizing, has demonstrated promise in differentiating between autistic and non-autistic adults, its discriminative ability has not been investigated in a sample of individuals seeking autism diagnostics at outpatient services.MethodsThis study aimed to evaluate the utility of the SST in individuals seeking autism diagnostics between 2016 and 2022 at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry & Psychotherapy of the University of Regensburg at medbo District Hospital Regensburg. The sample consisted of 211 individuals. In 100 of them an autism spectrum disorder has been diagnosed and 111 individuals were diagnosed with other conditions or none at all.ResultsPerformance on the SST did not significantly differ between the two groups, and receiver operator curve analysis did not support the SST as a reliable discriminator. However, linear regression analyses revealed that autism diagnosis was the sole significant predictor of SST mentalizing performance. Additionally, specific items of the SST showed significant differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals and constituted a significant predictor of autism diagnosis.DiscussionWhile the SST may not be robust enough to accurately identify autistic individuals on its own, it does offer clinicians valuable insights into how individuals interpret others’ actions and whether they grasp the broader context of a story versus focusing solely on details. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c5535947ea2f48a4ab3301aacf59e3be |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-c5535947ea2f48a4ab3301aacf59e3be2025-02-04T06:31:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402025-02-011610.3389/fpsyt.2025.15003961500396Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient servicesIrina Jarvers0Monika Sommer1Monika Sommer2Manuela Ullmann3Verena Simmel4Lore Blaas5Stefanie Gorski6Saskia Krüger-Lassen7Matthias Vogel8Berthold Langguth9Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg at the Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Regensburg, GermanyIntroductionThe correct diagnosis of autistic individuals is an everyday challenge within autism outpatient services. While the short-story task (SST), a task measuring fiction-based mentalizing, has demonstrated promise in differentiating between autistic and non-autistic adults, its discriminative ability has not been investigated in a sample of individuals seeking autism diagnostics at outpatient services.MethodsThis study aimed to evaluate the utility of the SST in individuals seeking autism diagnostics between 2016 and 2022 at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry & Psychotherapy of the University of Regensburg at medbo District Hospital Regensburg. The sample consisted of 211 individuals. In 100 of them an autism spectrum disorder has been diagnosed and 111 individuals were diagnosed with other conditions or none at all.ResultsPerformance on the SST did not significantly differ between the two groups, and receiver operator curve analysis did not support the SST as a reliable discriminator. However, linear regression analyses revealed that autism diagnosis was the sole significant predictor of SST mentalizing performance. Additionally, specific items of the SST showed significant differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals and constituted a significant predictor of autism diagnosis.DiscussionWhile the SST may not be robust enough to accurately identify autistic individuals on its own, it does offer clinicians valuable insights into how individuals interpret others’ actions and whether they grasp the broader context of a story versus focusing solely on details.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1500396/fullShort-Story Taskautism outpatient servicesfiction-based mentalizingdiagnosticsautism spectrum |
| spellingShingle | Irina Jarvers Monika Sommer Monika Sommer Manuela Ullmann Verena Simmel Lore Blaas Stefanie Gorski Saskia Krüger-Lassen Matthias Vogel Berthold Langguth Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services Frontiers in Psychiatry Short-Story Task autism outpatient services fiction-based mentalizing diagnostics autism spectrum |
| title | Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services |
| title_full | Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services |
| title_fullStr | Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services |
| title_short | Reading between the lines: exploring the discriminative ability of the Short-Story Task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services |
| title_sort | reading between the lines exploring the discriminative ability of the short story task in identifying autistic individuals within autism outpatient services |
| topic | Short-Story Task autism outpatient services fiction-based mentalizing diagnostics autism spectrum |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1500396/full |
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