Autistic traits and social anxiety predict differential performance on social cognitive tasks in typically developing young adults

The current work examined the unique contribution that autistic traits and social anxiety have on tasks examining attention and emotion processing. In Study 1, 119 typically-developing college students completed a flanker task assessing the control of attention to target faces and away from distracting faces during emotion identification. In Study 2, 208 typically-developing college students performed a visual search task which required identification of whether a series of 8 or 16 emotional faces depicted the same or different emotions. Participants with more self-reported autistic traits performed more slowly on the flanker task in Study 1 than those with fewer autistic traits when stimuli depicted complex emotions. In Study 2, participants higher in social anxiety performed less accurately on trials showing all complex faces; participants with autistic traits showed no differences. These studies suggest that traits related to autism and to social anxiety differentially impact social cognitive processing.

Autism spectrum disorder in Latin American families: Experiences in Chile

INTRODUCTION

The present study provides pilot data investigating relationships between severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits, community supports, and other family variables as reported by caregivers of children with ASD in Chile.

METHOD

An anonymous caregiver survey was developed based on previous ASD survey studies conducted in the United States and direct input from collaborators residing in Chile. Participants included Chilean caregivers of individuals with ASD (N = 50; M_{child age} = 6.98). The survey addressed topics regarding the child's ASD traits, the caregiver's beliefs and perceptions of ASD, and community supports and engagement.

RESULTS

Correlational analyses indicated associations between ASD traits, physician support, family stress, stigma, and community engagement.

DISCUSSION

Results from this study highlight the importance of future research to better understand and treat Latin American children with ASD and their families. (PsycINFO Database Record