The Understanding of Cognitive Abilities in Asperger’s Disorder by Using a Modified Prisoner’s Dilemma Game with a Variable Payoff Matrix

Masaru Tateno^{1, 2,}

¹Tokiwa Child Development Center, Tokiwa Hospital, Sapporo, Japan

²Department of Neuropsychiatry, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Cite this paper

Masaru Tateno. The Understanding of Cognitive Abilities in Asperger’s Disorder by Using a Modified Prisoner’s Dilemma Game with a Variable Payoff Matrix. American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2013; 1(4):75-76. doi: 10.12691/AJCMR-1-4-7

Abstract

The subjects with Asperger’s Disorder (ASP) have difficulties in social interaction. The Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) is a well-known model in game theory that illustrates the paradoxical disposition of interaction between two individuals. We investigated the cognitive characteristics of ASP by using a PD game. The subjects were 29 individuals with ASP and 28 healthy controls. In the PD game, each player has two cards: card 1 (cooperation) and card 2 (betrayal). The score each player obtains is decided depending on the combination of their selections according to a 2 x 2 payoff matrix. The P-score (“P” for punishment) is defined as the score that is given when they both select betrayal. Both the P-score at the end of the PD game and the total score were significantly higher in the ASP group although the rate of cooperative selection (the choice of Card 1) revealed no statistically significant difference between ASP and controls. ASP might be free of the dilemma that commonly arises among two persons because of social deficits in ASP subjects. The PD game might be a useful diagnostic support tool to understand the cognitive abilities in ASP.

Keywords

Asperger’s Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Autism, Prisoner’s Dilemma, game theory

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	Tateno M, Kikuchi S, Uehara K, Fukita K, Uchida N, Sasaki R, Saito T: Pervasive developmental disorders and autism spectrum disorders: are these disorders one and the same? Psychiatry investigation, 2011, 8(1), 67-70.
[2]	Nash J: Non-Cooperative Games. Ann Math, 1951, 54(2), 286-295.
[3]	Tayama M, Tateno M, Park TW, Ukai W, Hashimoto E, Saito T: The study of cognitive characteristics in Asperger's disorder by using a modified Prisoner's Dilemma game with a variable payoff matrix. PloS one, 2012. 7(11). e48794.).