Social reward processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review of the social motivation hypothesis

The current empirical literature on the social motivation hypothesis is mixed, but findings suggest that examining specific sub-dimensions of reward processing may be important to clarify deficits in ASD. It is unclear whether inconsistency in findings is due to methodological limitations. As the literature stands, findings across studies support deficits in reward processing for both social and nonsocial rewards or individual differences in social reward processing. Interestingly, included articles cite few previously published studies on this topic, likely contributing to inconsistency in experimental designs and findings. Comparison across methodological approaches is warranted to help account for contrasting findings and determine the utility of the social motivation hypothesis given mixed evidence.