High autistic traits linked with reduced performance on affective task switching: An ERP study

Autistic Traits and Emotion Dysregulation in 5-11-Year-Old Intellectually Able Children With Autism Spectrum Condition: Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Strategies

Emotion dysregulation (ED) is common among children with an autism spectrum condition (ASC). However, the mechanisms underlying emotion regulation strategies (ERSs) and their impacts on ED in this population remain unclear. The current study examined whether ED is directly related to autistic traits or mediated by deficits in ERSs after comorbidity is accounted for. A cohort of 110 intellectually able children aged 5-11 years with ASC participated in this study. Autistic traits and ED were assessed using the Autism Spectrum Quotient-Children and Child Behavior Checklist, respectively. Intrinsic ERSs, specifically cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, were evaluated using the Parent Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, alongside items measuring parental coregulation as an extrinsic ERS. After adjusting for comorbidities (i.e., other neurodevelopmental or neurological disorders), the findings revealed pronounced autistic traits in social skills, attention switching, communication, and imagination correlated with higher ED levels, with parental coregulation mediating this correlation. Notably, the effects of communication and imagination on ED were fully mediated by parental coregulation. Additionally, autistic traits related to imagination were demonstrated to impair the development of cognitive reappraisal, further exacerbating ED. These results provide a deeper understanding of the emotional challenges faced by intellectually able children with ASC. The findings of this study underscore the importance of interventions aimed at enhancing emotion regulation within the parent-child dyad and fostering the development of cognitive reappraisal through imitative tasks. Such ERS-focused interventions hold potential for mitigating the adverse effects of autistic traits on emotional functioning.

Altered processing of consecutive changeable emotional voices in individuals with autistic traits: behavioral and ERP studies

BACKGROUND

Similar to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), individuals with autistic traits are expected to exhibit alterations in emotion recognition. However, many previous studies using single emotional stimuli did not observe these alterations in such individuals. Given that consecutive changeable emotional stimuli are more common in social interactions than single emotional stimuli, impaired mental processing of consecutive changeable emotions may be a key factor underlying the social interaction challenges faced by these individuals.

METHODS

The present research aimed to investigate the behavioral and neural responses to consecutive changeable emotional voices in individuals with autistic traits through two studies (Study 1 and Study 2). Based on the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) scores, participants were categorized into two groups: the High-AQ and the Low-AQ groups. In Study 1, both groups were asked to judge a single emotional voice (positive, negative, or neutral; S1) presented in each trial in Task 1, or the last presented emotional voice (S3) in a triplet of stimuli (S1-S2-S3, trains of three consecutive changeable emotional voices) in Task 2. In Study 2, both groups were instructed to passively listen to the stimulus triplet (S1-S2-S3), and event-related potential (ERP) technology was used to investigate their neural responses to each stimulus.

RESULTS

No significant group difference was found in response to S1 voices in either Study 1 or Study 2. However, the High-AQ group elicited higher arousal levels (Study 1) and larger P2 amplitudes (Study 2) in response to S3 emotional voices (positive and negative) compared to the Low-AQ group.

CONCLUSION

These findings reveal that individuals with autistic traits may exhibit alterations in their processing of consecutive changeable emotions in the auditory modality.