Haywood, Dana (4/12) Basic emotion processing in adults with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (Philip Wong, Ph.D.;Benjamin Saunders, Ph.D.; Paul Ramirez, Ph.D.)
Researchers are beginning to establish a better understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), yet the core mechanisms of impairment that contribute to the pervasive social dysfunctions remain elusive. Deficits to certain basic and foundational emotional functions are suspected of being a core mechanism of impairment that contributes to the social dysfunctions. This study investigated emotion processing in adults with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD), compared to typically developed (TD) adults. Specifically, certain automatic affective functions, as well as distinctions in emotion processing with the inclusion of higher-order cognitive functions, were examined. This study assessed 27 adults with HFASD and 38 TD adults. A combination of a mere exposure task and an affective priming task was used. The combined measure was comprised of two experimental conditions, a brief stimulus exposure condition and an optimal stimulus exposure condition. The exposure duration of one of the two sources of affect was manipulated between the two conditions. Manipulation of stimulus exposure duration was used to assess the two aspects of emotion processing under investigation. A basic affect task was also used to observe explicit emotional evaluation between the two groups when cognitive resources were engaged. This study intended to provide evidence that among adults with HFASD, (a) deficits in automatic affective functions exist and (b) atypical cognitive strategies are utilized to partially compensate for impaired automatic emotion processes. The results suggested that deficits in certain automatic affective functions may exist in the HFASD group; however the findings only partially supported the predictions, which would have provided stronger evidence to support this assertion. The notion of impaired automatic affective functions is still in question, particularly due to the unexpected performance of the TD group. Yet, there were still other indications of deficits in automatic affective functions demonstrated by the HFASD group. As predicted, the HFASD group demonstrated emotion processing, to some degree, under conditions that engaged higher-order cognitive resources. This suggests that emotion processing is reliant on higher-order cognition, more so than for TD individuals. In sum, the HFASD group exhibited the use of different mechanisms to evaluate emotions than the TD group.
