ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of predictions in social interaction and describes some of the latest findings of why social events are difficult to grasp and predict for autistic brains. The social world is an open system. It is not possible to predict human behaviour on the basis of fixed and absolute laws and rules. For this reason, the human brain has learnt how to unconsciously make use of context in order to make the social world more predictable. People with autism can also predict behaviour and mental states, such as emotions, but they are not able to do this quickly, intuitively and unconsciously. They need more time and, above all, more training and repetition. And if an autistic brain learns social concepts and rules, it has a tendency to treat them in absolute terms. Because of their tendency to think absolutely, the social world is full of prediction errors for people with autism. Dealing with other people confuses them and costs them a great deal of energy. We can support the social functioning of people with autism if we press the context button, clarifying the important elements in social context.
