Somatosensory Evoked Potentials Reveal Reduced Embodiment of Emotions in Autism.

Consistent with current models of embodied emotions, this study investigates whether the somatosensory system shows reduced sensitivity to facial emotional expressions in autistic compared with neurotypical individuals, and whether these differences are independent from between-group differences in visual processing of facial stimuli. To investigate the dynamics of somatosensory activity over and above visual carryover effects, we recorded EEG activity from two groups of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or typically developing (TD) humans (male and female), while they were performing a facial emotion discrimination task and a control gender task. To probe the state of the somatosensory system during face processing, in 50% of trials we evoked somatosensory activity by delivering task-irrelevant tactile taps on participants' index finger, 105 ms after visual stimulus onset. Importantly, we isolated somatosensory from concurrent visual activity by subtracting visual responses from activity evoked by somatosensory and visual stimuli. Results revealed significant task-dependent group differences in mid-latency components of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). ASD participants showed a selective reduction of SEP amplitudes (P100) compared with TD during emotion task; and TD, but not ASD, showed increased somatosensory responses during emotion compared with gender discrimination. Interestingly, autistic traits, but not alexithymia, significantly predicted SEP amplitudes evoked during emotion, but not gender, task. Importantly, we did not observe the same pattern of group differences in visual responses. Our study provides direct evidence of reduced recruitment of the somatosensory system during emotion discrimination in ASD and suggests that this effect is not a byproduct of differences in visual processing.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The somatosensory system is involved in embodiment of visually presented facial expressions of emotion. Despite autism being characterized by difficulties in emotion-related processing, no studies have addressed whether this extends to embodied representations of others' emotions. By dissociating somatosensory activity from visual evoked potentials, we provide the first evidence of reduced recruitment of the somatosensory system during emotion discrimination in autistic participants, independently from differences in visual processing between typically developing and autism spectrum disorder participants. Our study uses a novel methodology to reveal the neural dynamics underlying difficulties in emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder and provides direct evidence that embodied simulation of others' emotional expressions operates differently in autistic individuals.

Reading the mind in the eyes and cognitive ability in schizophrenia- and autism spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties in theory of mind (ToM). We examined group differences in performance on a ToM-related test and associations with an estimated IQ. METHODS: Participants [N = 1227, SZ (n = 563), ASD (n = 159), and controls (n = 505), 32.2% female] completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and assessments of cognitive ability. Associations between IQ and group on RMET were investigated with regression analyses. RESULTS: SZ (d = 0.73, p < 0.001) and ASD (d = 0.37, p < 0.001) performed significantly worse on the RMET than controls. SZ performed significantly worse than ASD (d = 0.32, p = 0.002). Adding IQ to the model, SZ (d = 0.60, p < 0.001) and ASD (d = 0.44, p < 0.001) continued to perform significantly worse than controls, but no longer differed from each other (d = 0.13, p = 0.30). Small significant negative correlations between symptom severity and RMET performance were found in SZ (PANSS positive: r = -0.10, negative: r = -0.11, both p < 0.05). A small non-significant negative correlation was found for Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores and RMET in ASD (r = -0.08, p = 0.34). CONCLUSIONS: SZ and ASD are characterized by impairments in RMET. IQ contributed significantly to RMET performance and accounted for group differences in RMET between SZ and ASD. This suggests that non-social cognitive ability needs to be included in comparative studies of the two disorders.

Validation of the German Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire and replication of sensory processing differences in students with higher and lower Autism-Spectrum Quotient.

BACKGROUND: The Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ) gives insight into sensory processing differences (hypo- and hyper-sensitivity across modalities), which is a clinically defining characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Because there is no validated German version of this instrument, this study aimed at validating the German GSQ. Further, a replication of the GSQ's sensory processing differences was intended. METHODS: University students of Technische Universität or Universitätsklinikum in Dresden, Germany, were recruited via email distribution or the university homepage and 297 German-speaking students completed the online survey, comprising the German GSQ, Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and Symptom-Checklist (SCL-90). For validation of the German GSQ, confirmatory factor analyses followed by exploratory factor analyses were applied. RESULTS: The German GSQ has moderate to low validity, good to acceptable reliability, and a different internal structure from the original GSQ. Replicating the sensory processing differences in students with higher and lower AQ was not successful. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the GSQ, developed especially for individuals with ASD, is less informative for the general population if there are not enough individuals with higher AQ scores in the sample.

Full-field electroretinogram in autism spectrum disorder.

PURPOSE: To explore early findings that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reduced scotopic ERG b-wave amplitudes. METHODS: Light-adapted (LA) and dark-adapted (DA) ERGs were produced by a range of flash strengths that included and extended the ISCEV standard from two subject groups: a high-functioning ASD group N = 11 and a Control group N = 15 for DA and N = 14 for LA ERGs who were matched for mean age and range. Flash strengths ranged from DA -4.0 to 2.3 log phot cd s m(-2) and LA -0.5 to 1.0 log phot cd s m(-2), and Naka-Rushton curves were fitted to DA b-wave amplitude over the first growth limb (-4.0 to -1.0 log phot cd s m(-2)). The derived parameters (V max, K m and n) were compared between groups. Scotopic 15-Hz flicker ERGs (14.93 Hz) were recorded to 10 flash strengths presented in ascending order from -3.0 to 0.5 log Td s to assess the slow and fast rod pathways, respectively. LA 30-Hz flicker ERGs, oscillatory potentials (OPs) and the responses to prolonged 120-ms ON-OFF stimuli were also recorded. RESULTS: The ISCEV LA b-wave amplitude produced by 0.5 log phot cd s m(-2) was lower in the ASD group (p < 0.001). Repeated measures ANOVA for the LA b-wave amplitude series forming the photopic hill was significantly (p = 0.01) different between groups. No group differences were observed for the distributions of the time to peaks of LA a-wave, b-wave or the photopic negative responses (phNR) (p > 0.08) to the single flash stimuli, but there was a significant difference in the distribution for the LA b-wave amplitudes (corrected p = 0.006). The prolonged 120-ms ON responses were smaller in the ASD group (corrected p = 0.003), but the OFF response amplitude (p > 0.6) and ON and OFF times to peaks (p > 0.4) were similar between groups. The LA OPs showed an earlier bifurcation of OP2 in the younger ASD participants; however, no other differences were apparent in the OPs or 30-Hz flicker waveforms. DA b-wave amplitudes fell below the control 5th centile of the controls for some individuals including four ASD participants (36 %) at the 1.5 log phot cd s m(-2) flash strength and two (18%) ASD participants at the lower -2 log phot cd s m(-2) flash strength. However, across the 13 flash strengths, there were no significant group differences for b-wave amplitude's growth (repeated measures ANOVA p = 0.83). Nor were there any significant differences between the groups for the Naka-Rushton parameters (p > 0.09). No group differences were observed in the 15-Hz scotopic flicker phase or amplitude (p > 0.1), DA ERG a-wave amplitude or time to peak (p > 26). The DA b-wave time to peak at 0.5 log phot cd s m(-2) was longer in the ASD group (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Under LA conditions, the b-wave is reduced across the ASD group, along with the ON response of the prolonged flash ERG. Some ASD individuals also show subnormal DA ERG b-wave amplitudes. These exploratory findings suggest there is altered cone-ON bipolar signalling in ASD.

Episodic but not semantic order memory difficulties in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from the Historical Figures Task.

Considerable evidence suggests that the episodic memory system operates abnormally in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) whereas the functions of the semantic memory system are relatively preserved. Here we show that the same dissociation also applies to the domain of order memory. We asked adult participants to order the names of famous historical figures either according to their chronological order in history (probing semantic memory) or according to a random sequence shown once on a screen (probing episodic memory). As predicted, adults with ASD performed less well than age- and IQ-matched comparison individuals only on the episodic task. This observation is of considerable importance in the context of developmental theory because semantic and episodic order memory abilities can be dissociated in typically developing infants before they reach the age at which the behavioural markers associated with ASD are first apparent. This raises the possibility that early emerging memory abnormalities play a role in shaping the developmental trajectory of the disorder. We discuss the broader implications of this possibility and highlight the urgent need for greater scrutiny of memory competences in ASD early in development.

Examining a model of anxiety in autistic adults.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety disorders commonly occur in autism. Existing studies implicate intolerance of uncertainty, alexithymia, sensory processing differences and emotion regulation difficulties as influencing factors of anxiety in autism. To date, a few studies have considered the combination of these factors within the same sample. This study used structural equation modelling to test the prediction that intolerance of uncertainty and emotion regulation constitute more direct causes of anxiety in autism that mediate the influences of sensory processing difference and alexithymia as more sequential contributing factors. Autistic (n = 86) and non-autistic adults (n = 100) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires. Only when applied to each group separately, the broad predictions of the model were confirmed for the autistic group following data-driven additions of paths between sensory processing difference and anxiety and alexithymia implying that sensory processing difference contribute indirectly as well as directly to individual differences in anxiety. For the non-autistic group, model fit could only be achieved after removing autism-related traits and sensory processing differences as predictors of anxiety. These results suggest that aetiology and expression of anxiety in autism partially overlap with what is observed in the general population except that sensory processing differences appear to play a relatively unique role in the context of autism.

Trait and State Anxiety Effects on Mismatch Negativity and Sensory Gating Event-Related Potentials.

We used the auditory roving oddball to investigate whether individual differences in self-reported anxiety influence event-related potential (ERP) activity related to sensory gating and mismatch negativity (MMN). The state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) was used to assess the effects of anxiety on the ERPs for auditory change detection and information filtering in a sample of thirty-six healthy participants. The roving oddball paradigm involves presentation of stimulus trains of auditory tones with certain frequencies followed by trains of tones with different frequencies. Enhanced negative mid-latency response (130-230 ms post-stimulus) was marked at the deviant (first tone) and the standard (six or more repetitions) tone at Fz, indicating successful mismatch negativity (MMN). In turn, the first and second tone in a stimulus train were subject to sensory gating at the Cz electrode site as a response to the second stimulus was suppressed at an earlier latency (40-80 ms). We used partial correlations and analyses of covariance to investigate the influence of state and trait anxiety on these two processes. Higher trait anxiety exhibited enhanced MMN amplitude (more negative) (F(1,33) = 14.259, p = 6.323 × 10-6, ηp2 = 0.302), whereas state anxiety reduced sensory gating (F(1,30) = 13.117, p = 0.001, ηp2 = 0.304). Our findings suggest that high trait-anxious participants demonstrate hypervigilant change detection to deviant tones that appear more salient, whereas increased state anxiety associates with failure to filter out irrelevant stimuli.

Autistic and non-autistic young people's and caregivers' perspectives on COVID-19-related schooling changes and their impact on emotional well-being: An opportunity for change?

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic young people experience poorer mental health and well-being compared to their non-autistic peers. Navigating the complex social, academic, procedural and sensory aspects of school may be particularly challenging for autistic young people and contribute to poorer mental well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented school changes and provided a unique opportunity to gather caregiver's and young people's perspectives on the impact of school and pandemic-related school changes on the well-being of both autistic and non-autistic young people. We asked for the views of caregivers and young people aged 11-18 years gathered across three timepoints between May and December 2020. Their responses revealed both benefits and challenges associated with school changes. Insights into possible lessons from the pandemic and recommendations for more flexible, individualised and strengths-based educational practices are discussed.

Toward Autism-Friendly Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Exploring Autistic Individuals' Experiences of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scans in the United Kingdom, a Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: Autistic individuals might undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination for clinical concerns or research. Increased sensory stimulation, lack of appropriate environmental adjustments, or lack of streamlined communication in the MRI suite may pose challenges to autistic patients and render MRI scans inaccessible. This study aimed at (i) exploring the MRI scan experiences of autistic adults in the United Kingdom; (ii) identifying barriers and enablers toward successful and safe MRI examinations; (iii) assessing autistic individuals' satisfaction with MRI service; and (iv) informing future recommendations for practice improvement. Methods: We distributed an online survey to the autistic community on social media, using snowball sampling. Inclusion criteria were: being older than 16, have an autism diagnosis or self-diagnosis, self-reported capacity to consent, and having had an MRI scan in the United Kingdom. We used descriptive statistics for demographics, inferential statistics for group comparisons/correlations, and content analysis for qualitative data. Results: We received 112 responses. A total of 29.6% of the respondents reported not being sent any information before the scan. Most participants (68%) confirmed that radiographers provided detailed information on the day of the examination, but only 17.1% reported that radiographers offered some reasonable environmental adjustments. Only 23.2% of them confirmed they disclosed their autistic identity when booking MRI scanning. We found that quality of communication, physical environment, patient emotions, staff training, and confounding societal factors impacted their MRI experiences. Autistic individuals rated their overall MRI experience as neutral and reported high levels of claustrophobia (44.8%). Conclusion: This study highlighted a lack of effective communication and coordination of care, either between health care services or between patients and radiographers, and lack of reasonable adjustments as vital for more accessible and person-centered MRI scanning for autistic individuals. Enablers of successful scans included effective communication, adjusted MRI environment, scans tailored to individuals' needs/preferences, and well-trained staff.

Why is this an important issue?: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an examination that shows human anatomy and may explain the causes of symptoms. Autistic people may need MRI scans for various reasons, such as low back pain, headaches, accidents, or epilepsy. They have known sensitivities to sound, light, smell, or touch and increased anxiety, so the narrow, loud, isolating, unfamiliar MRI environment may be overwhelming to them. If MRI scans are, for these reasons, inaccessible, many autistic people will have to live with long-standing conditions, pain, or other symptoms, or have delayed treatment, with impact on their quality of life, and life expectancy. What was the purpose of this study?: We tried to understand how autistic people perceive MRI examinations, things that work, and the challenges they face. We also asked for their suggestions to improve practice and accessibility. What did we do?: We distributed an online questionnaire to autistic adults through social media. We analyzed the data using appropriate statistical and text analysis methods. What were the results of the study?: We received 112 responses. Autistic people rated their overall MRI experience as average. Nearly a third (29.6%) reported they were not sent any information before MRI, and only 17.1% reported that radiographers offered some reasonable environmental adjustments. Most participants (68%) reported that radiographers provided detailed information on the day of the scan. Only 23.2% of them disclosed their autistic identity when booking MRIs. We found that quality of communication, physical environment, patient emotions, staff training, stigma, and timely autism diagnosis impacted their MRI experiences. What do these findings add to what was already known?: Autistic people MRI scan experiences are at the heart of this project. Our project shows that MRI for common symptoms is often inaccessible by autistic people. We should improve the MRI environment, adjust communication format/content for them, and deliver person-centered care in MRI. Health care professionals should receive relevant training, to understand the challenges autistic people might face and better support them in MRI scanning. What are potential weaknesses in the study?: The pandemic has impacted participant recruitment; therefore, the results of this sample may not reflect the full impact on the wider autistic population or adequately represent the autistic community, due to small size and including only people who could consent.These results come from different centers, so there is a lot of variation in the use of MRI equipment. How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: We outline the main challenges associated with MRI, so autistic adults and their families/carers understand more of what they could expect in future examinations; hopefully, researchers and scanner manufacturers will try to tackle these challenges to make MRI scans truly accessible for autistic people.We shared this knowledge with stakeholders to develop guidelines and started using it in training. We want to ensure that MRI is person-centered and more accessible for autistic patients.

Motion and pattern cortical potentials in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.

PURPOSE: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition in which visual perception to both static and moving stimuli is altered. The aim of this study was to investigate the early cortical responses of subjects with ASD to simple patterns and moving radial rings using visual evoked potentials (VEPs). METHODS: Male ASD participants (n = 9) and typically developing (TD) individuals (n = 7) were matched for full, performance and verbal IQ (p > 0.263). VEPs were recorded to the pattern reversing checks of 50' side length presented with Michelson contrasts of 98 and 10 % and to the onset of motion-either expansion or contraction of low-contrast concentric rings (33.3 % duty cycle at 10 % contrast). RESULTS: There were no significant differences between groups in the VEPs elicited by pattern reversal checkerboards of high (98 %) or low (10 %) contrast. The ASD group had a significantly larger N160 peak (1.85 x) amplitude to motion onset VEPs elicited by the expansion of radial rings (p = 0.001). No differences were evident in contraction VEP peak amplitudes nor in the latencies of the motion onset N160 peaks. There was no evidence of a response that could be associated with adaptation to the motion stimulus in the interstimulus interval following an expansion or contraction phase of the rings. CONCLUSION: These data support a difference in processing of motion onset stimuli in this adult high-functioning ASD group compared to the TD group.

Loneliness, positive, negative and disorganised Schizotypy before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Loneliness is common in psychosis and occurs along a continuum. Here we investigate inter-relationships between loneliness, three-dimensional schizotypy, and depressive symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample included 507 university students (48.3% participated before and 51.7% during the COVID-19 pandemic) who completed the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale-Brief, the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms depression scale and the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale. Schizotypy and depression scores were regressed onto loneliness individually and in multiple regressions. The cohorts did not differ in any of the schizotypy domains (all p > .29). Depressive symptoms (p = .05) and loneliness (p = .006) were higher during the pandemic than before. Across cohorts, loneliness was significantly associated with positive (ß = 0.23, p < .001), negative (ß = 0.44, p < .001), and disorganised schizotypy (ß = 0.44, p < .001), and with depression (ß = 0.72, p < .001). Schizotypy together explained a significant amount of variance in loneliness (R2 = 0.26), with significant associations with positive (ß = -0.09, p = .047), negative (ß = 0.31, p < .001) and disorganised schizotypy (ß = 0.34, p < .001). When depression was included (ß = 0.69, p < .001), only positive (ß = -0.09, p = .008) and negative schizotypy (ß = 0.22, p < .001) significantly predicted loneliness. When all schizotypy dimensions and depression were considered together, only negative schizotypy and depression significantly predicted loneliness. Loneliness and depressive symptoms were higher during the pandemic, but this did not relate to cohort differences in schizotypy.

Arousal-modulated memory encoding and retrieval in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Recently, we have shown that pupil dilation during a recognition memory task can serve as an index of memory retrieval difficulties in autism. At the time of publication, we were unaware of specific data-analysis methods that can be used to shed further light on the origins of such memory related pupil dilation. Specifically, by distinguishing "tonic" from "phasic" changes in pupil dilation and considering their temporal progression, it is possible to draw inferences about the functional integrity of a locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system (LC-NE) that is known to play a key role in regulating memory encoding and retrieval processes. We therefore apply these analyses to our previously published eye-tracking data of adults with ASD (N = 24) and neurotypical development (TD, N = 30) during the recognition memory task. In this re-analysis, we related pupil dilation during encoding and retrieval to recognition accuracy in a per-trial analysis of linear mixed models. In ASD, we replicated attenuated recognition accuracy, which was accompanied by attenuated pupil dilation during encoding and retrieval. Group differences in pupil dilation during retrieval occurred late during the trial (after 1.75 s) and indicated an altered top-down processing like attenuated attribution of semantic salience in response to previously encoded stimuli. In addition, only in the ASD group were higher pupil dilation during encoding and lower pupil dilation during retrieval associated with decreased recognition accuracy. This supports altered modulation of memory encoding and retrieval in ASD, with LC-NE phasic activity as promising underlying mechanism. LAY SUMMARY: We investigated the changes of pupil size during memory testing in autism spectrum disorder. Adults with ASD remembered fewer items correctly than neurotypical individuals (TD). This reduced memory was related to increased pupillary responses at study and decreased pupil dilation at test only for adults with ASD indicating a different modulation of memory by the locus coeruleus.

What Can Performance in the IEDS Task Tell Us About Attention Shifting in Clinical Groups?

The Intra-Extra-dimensional set shift task (IEDS) is a widely used test of learning and attention, believed to be sensitive to aspects of executive function. The task proceeds through a number of stages, and it is generally claimed that patterns of errors across stages can be used to discriminate between reduced attention switching and more general reductions in rates of learning. A number of papers have used the IEDS task to argue for specific attention shifting difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Schizophrenia, however, it remains unclear how well the IEDS really differentiates between reduced attention shifting and other causes of impaired performance. To address this issue, we introduce a simple computational model of performance in the IEDS task, designed to separate the competing effects of attention shifting and general learning rate. We fit the model to data from ASD and comparison individuals matched on age and IQ, as well as to data from four previous studies which used the IEDS task. Model fits do not show consistent evidence for reductions in attention shifting rates in ASD and Schizophrenia. Instead, we find performance is better explained by differences in learning rate, particularly from punishment, which we show correlates with IQ. We, therefore, argue that the IEDS task is not a good measure of attention shifting in clinical groups. LAY SUMMARY: The Intra-Extra-Dimensional Set shift task (IEDS) is often given to autistic individuals, who tend to make more errors relative to comparison groups. This higher error rate is taken to mean that autistic individuals struggle with attention control. Our computational model of the IEDS shows that the performance of ASD and some other clinical groups can be explained instead by differences in learning rate, rather than differences in attention control.

A Physiological Marker of Recognition Memory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder? - The Pupil Old/New Effect.

This study investigated the pupil Old/New effect in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD). Participants studied verbal and visual meaningful and meaningless materials in black and white on a computer screen. Pupil sizes were measured while participants performed a Remember (episodic memory with context)/Know (semantic memory, no context) recognition memory test. ASD compared to TD individuals showed significantly reduced recognition rates for all materials. Both groups showed better memory for visual compared to verbal (picture superiority effect) and meaningful compared to meaningless materials. A pupil size ratio (pupil size for test item divided by baseline) for old (studied) and new (unstudied) materials indicated larger pupils for old compared to new materials only for the TD but not the ASD group. Pupil size in response to old versus new items was positively related to recognition accuracy, confirming that the pupil Old/New effect reflects a memory phenomenon in the ASD group. In addition, this study suggests an involvement of the noradrenergic neurotransmitter system in the abnormal hippocampal functioning in ASD. Implications of these findings, as well as their underlying neurophysiology, will be discussed in relation to current theories of memory in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 627-640. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Most measures of memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) depend on verbal answers. In addition to these verbal answers, this study measured the size of the participants' pupil in response to studied and unfamiliar materials revealing memory difficulties in ASD. Measuring pupil size works nonverbally, outside of conscious awareness and forms the basis of studies on less verbal persons with ASD. Mechanisms and brain regions underlying memory differences in ASD are discussed.

Short-Term Memory Span and Cross-Modality Integration in Younger and Older Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This study tested whether adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show the same pattern of difficulties and absence of age-related differences in short-term memory (STM) as those that have been reported in episodic long-term memory (LTM). Fifty-three adults with ASD (age range: 25-65 years) were compared to 52 age-, biological sex-, and intelligence-matched typically developing (TD; age range: 21-67 years) adults on three STM span tasks, which tested STM performance for letters (Verbal), grid locations (Visuospatial), or letters in grid locations (Multimodal). A subsample of 34 TD and 33 ASD participants ranging in age from 25 to 64 years completed a fourth Multimodal Integration task. We also administered the Color Trails Test as a measure of executive function. ASD participants' accuracy was lower than that of the TD participants on the three span tasks (Cohen's d: 0.26-0.50). The Integration task difference was marginally significant (p = .07) but had a moderate effect size (Cohen's d = 0.50). Regression analyses confirmed reduced STM performance only for older TD participants. Analyses also indicated that executive processes played a greater role in the ASD group's performance. The demonstration of similar difficulties and age-related patterning of STM in ASD to those documented for LTM and the greater recruitment of executive processes by older ASD participants on the Integration task suggest a compensatory role of frontal processes both as a means of achieving undiminished task performance and as a possible protection against older age cognitive decline in ASD. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm this. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1970-1984. © 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC. LAY SUMMARY: Little is known about short-term memory (STM) in younger and older adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study tested different kinds of STM and showed that ASD adults remembered shorter sequences of letters, crosses, or letters in grid cells less well than matched participants with typical development. However, older ASD individuals performed similarly to younger ASD individuals, nor showing the reduction in performance usually seen with older age. The data suggest that ASD individuals use different underlying mechanisms when performing the tasks and that this might help protect their memory as they grow older.

Declarative Memory and Structural Language Impairment in Autistic Children and Adolescents.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that a plausible contributory factor of structural language impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is impaired declarative memory. We hypothesized that familiarity and recollection (subserving semantic and episodic memory, respectively) are both impaired in autistic individuals with clinically significant language impairment and learning disability (ASDLI/LD ); whereas recollection is selectively impaired in autistic individuals with typical language (ASDTL ). Teenagers with ASDLI/LD (n = 19) and primary school age children with ASDTL (n = 26) were compared with teenagers with learning disability (LD) (n = 26) without autism, and primary school aged typically developing (TD) children (n = 32). Both experiments provided strong support for the hypothesized links between declarative memory processes and lexical-semantic facets of language in the two autistic groups, but not in the TD group. Additional findings of interest were that declarative memory processes and lexical-semantic knowledge were also linked in the LD group and that the ASD groups-and to a lesser extent the LD group-may have compensated for declarative memory impairments using spared visual-perceptual abilities, a finding with potential educational implications. Relative difficulties with familiarity and recollection in ASDLI/LD and LD may help explain structural language impairment, as investigated here, but also the broader learning disabilities found in these populations. Autism Res 2020. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1947-1958. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Language impairment and learning disability affect 45% of the autistic population yet the factors that may be contributing to them is remarkably under-researched. To date there are no explanations of the lexical semantic (word meaning) abnormalities observed in ASD. We found that declarative memory is associated with lexical semantic knowledge in autism and learning disability but not in typical development. Difficulties with declarative memory may also be compensated for using visual-perceptual abilities by autistic and learning-disabled adolescents, which has positive implications for educationalists.

Reward Devaluation in Autistic Children and Adolescents with Complex Needs: A Feasibility Study.

Rewards act as a motivator for positive behavior and learning. Although compounding evidence indicates that reward processing operates differently in autistic individuals who do not have co-occurring learning disabilities, little is known about individuals who have such difficulties or other complex needs. This study aimed first to assess the feasibility of using an adapted reward devaluation paradigm to examine basic reward processes in this underrepresented population, and second to investigate whether autistic children and adolescents with complex needs would show dynamic behavioral changes in response to changes in the motivational value of a reward. Twenty-seven autistic children and adolescents with complex needs and 20 typically developing 5-year-old children took part in the study. Participants were presented with two visual cues on a touchscreen laptop, which triggered the delivery of a video, music, or physical reward. One of the rewards was then presented in abundance to decrease its motivational value. Participants showed decreased interest in the video and music rewards after devaluation. The experimental setup was found to be suitable to test individuals with complex needs, although recommendations are made for the use of physical rewards. The results suggest that autistic participants with complex needs demonstrate goal-directed behavior and that it is feasible to develop experimental paradigms that can shed important light on learning processes that are fundamental to many education and intervention strategies for this population. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1915-1928. © 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC. LAY SUMMARY: We adapted an experimental task to conduct research with autistic children and adolescents with complex needs, who remain grossly underrepresented in autism research. We found that once a reward was presented in great quantity, participants were less motivated to obtain it, showing that they adapted their behavior to changes in the value of that reward. This is an important finding to help promote learning and design better interventions for this population.

Eye-Tracking Reveals Absent Repetition Learning Across the Autism Spectrum: Evidence From a Passive Viewing Task.

In the domain of memory, autism is characterized by difficulties in explicitly remembering the specific order of stimuli, whereas implicit serial order memory appears to be preserved. This pattern is of considerable interest because serial order memory is known to play a critical role in children's language development. Currently, however, few paradigms exist that can effectively probe serial order memory across heterogeneous groups of children, including those who are minimally verbal. We present two experiments, involving 39 adults (20 ASD; 19 TD) and 130 children (86 ASD; 44 TD), that address this issue using an eye-tracking paradigm, which simply required participants to "watch out for a bunny" that appeared in repeating sequences of screen locations. The adults in Experiment 1 all had normative IQs, whereas Experiment 2 included children with and without substantial language and intellectual difficulties. In both experiments gaze latencies and anticipatory fixations to the bunny indicated reliable repetition learning effects in the TD but not the ASD groups. Importantly, we were able to acquire reliable data from around half of the children with significant language impairments in Experiment 2, indicating that the paradigm can shed light on important learning processes in this underrepresented group. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of memory in ASD as well as for the utility of eye-tracking technology to probe repetition learning effects in autism. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1929-1946. © 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC. LAY SUMMARY: Remembering the specific order of stimuli plays an important role in language development and is thought to be a source of difficulty for autistic individuals. Research in this area, however, rarely includes autistic participants who are minimally verbal. Here we develop an eye-tracking paradigm that demonstrates serial order learning difficulties across the autism spectrum. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the role of memory difficulties in the varied language profiles across the autism spectrum.

Self-guided mindfulness and cognitive behavioural practices reduce anxiety in autistic adults: A pilot 8-month waitlist-controlled trial of widely available online tools.

LAY ABSTRACT: Anxiety in autism is an important target for psychological therapies because it is very common and because it significantly impacts upon quality of life and well-being. Growing evidence suggests that cognitive behaviour therapies and mindfulness-based therapies can help autistic individuals learn to manage feelings of anxiety but access to such therapies remains problematic. In the current pilot study, we examined whether existing online cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness-based therapy self-help tools can help reduce anxiety in autistic adults. Specifically, 35 autistic adults were asked to try either an existing online cognitive behaviour therapy (n = 16) or mindfulness-based therapy (n = 19) programme while a further 19 autistic adults served as a waitlist comparison group. A first important finding was that 23 of the 35 (66%) participants who tried the online tools completed them, suggesting that such tools are, in principle, acceptable to many autistic adults. In addition, adults in the cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness-based therapy conditions reported significant decreases in anxiety over 3 and to some extent also 6 months that were less apparent in the waitlist group of participants. On broader measures of mental health and well-being, the benefits of the online tools were less apparent. Overall, the results suggest that online self-help cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness-based therapy tools should be explored further as a means of providing cost-effective mental health support to at least those autistic individuals who can engage effectively with such online tools.

Free recall and forgetting of emotionally arousing words in autism spectrum disorder.

Since the earliest descriptions of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) abnormalities in affective behaviours have been considered a prominent feature in their clinical manifestations. What remains unclear, however, is whether these altered emotional behaviours are a mere facet of abnormalities in socio-cognitive processes or whether they constitute a primary feature of the condition. A number of studies now indicate that emotional processing atypicalities in ASD extend to domains outside the broader context of social cognition leading us to suggest that the disorder may be characterised by basic abnormalities in how psychophysiological and cognitive emotional responses modulate one another [Gaigg, S. B. & Bowler, D. M. (2007). Differential fear conditioning in Asperger's syndrome: Implications for an amygdala theory of autism. Neuropsychologia, 45, 2125-2134]. In the current study, we show that although individuals with ASD, like typical individuals, exhibit a free recall advantage for emotionally arousing and semantically related neutral as compared to unrelated neutral words, they do not show reduced forgetting rates for arousing stimuli as do typical individuals. These observations provide further support for the view that psychophysiological emotional responses do not modulate cognitive processes normally in ASD and further implicate abnormalities of amygdala connectivity (in particular with the hippocampus) in the neuropathology underlying this disorder.