Singleton, C. J., Ashwin, C. and Brosnan, M. (2014) Physiological Responses to Social and Nonsocial Stimuli in Neurotypical Adults With High and Low Levels of Autistic Traits:Implications for Understanding Nonsocial Drive in Autism Spectrum

This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Lay Abstract: Theories suggest that symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) arise from a reduced interest in social activities and a drive towards non-social activities. This research investigated how these atypical interests are related to differences in emotional responses to non-socially related objects (for example trains) compared with responses to faces. A non-ASD population was recruited for this study, and their autistic traits were measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) questionnaire. They were then shown images of different items, including pictures of non-social objects (e.g. cars), as well as pictures of faces, while their emotional response was monitored using a device that measures arousal through increases of sweat on the skin. The results showed that participants with a higher number of autistic traits had a significantly higher response to the non-social images than they did to faces, and the greater the difference between response to non-social and social images. This is the first time a study has demonstrated a relationship between autistic traits and emotional response to images of objects, suggesting that such a response may underlie the drive towards non-social systems that could result in the symptoms of restricted interests and repetitive behaviours in ASD. Scientific Abstract: Researchers have suggested that the two primary cognitive features of ASD, a drive towards non-social processing and a reduced drive towards social processing, may be unrelated to each other in the neurotypical (NT) population and may therefore require separate explanations. Drive towards types of processing may be related to physiological arousal to categories of stimuli, such as social (e.g. faces) or non-social (e.g. trains). This study investigated how autistic traits in an NT population might relate to differences in physiological responses to non-social compared with social stimuli. NT participants were recruited to examine these differences in those with high vs. low degrees of ASD traits. 46 participants (21 male, 25 female) completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) to measure ASD traits before viewing a series of 24 images while skin conductance response (SCR) was recorded. Images included 6 non-social, 6 social, 6 face-like cartoons and 6 non-social (relating to the participants' personal interests). Analysis revealed that those with a higher AQ had significantly greater SCR arousal to non-social stimuli than those with a low AQ.. This is the first study to …