We examined upper facial basic emotion recognition in 57 subjects with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (M = 13.5 years) and 33 typically developing controls (M = 14.3 years) by using a standardized computer-aided measure (The Frankfurt Test and Training of Facial Affect Recognition, FEFA). The ASD group scored lower than controls on the total…

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use their knowledge of complement syntax as a means of "hacking out" solutions to false belief tasks, despite lacking a representational theory of mind (ToM). Participants completed a "memory for complements" task, a measure of receptive vocabulary, and…

The present study examines co-occurring psychiatric syndromes in a well-characterized sample of youths with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; n = 177) and their siblings (n = 148), reported independently by parents and teachers. In ASD, parents reported substantial comorbidity with affective (26%), anxiety (25%), attentional (25%), conduct (16%),…

A screening version of the social responsiveness scale (SRS) was administered to 1,847 university students to identify a subgroup reporting significantly greater autism traits relative to their peers (High SRS group). A group reporting minimal autism traits was also identified (Low SRS group) matched for age, gender, and attentional difficulties.…

Our study aimed at comparing, over a period of 3 years, the effectiveness of three different educational approaches addressed to children with autism and severe mental retardation. The first one was a treatment and education of autistic and related communication handicapped children (TEACCH) program implemented in a residential center; the second…

Variation in temperament is characteristic of all people but is rarely studied as a predictor of individual differences among individuals with autism. Relative to a matched comparison sample, adolescents with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) reported lower levels of Surgency and higher levels of Negative Affectivity. Variability in temperament…

Evidence continues to maintain that the use of antecedent variables (i.e., instructional practices, and environmental characteristics) increase prosocial and adaptive behaviors of students with disabilities (e.g., Kern et al. in J Appl Behav Anal 27(1):7-19, 1994; Stichter et al. in Behav Disord 30:401-418, 2005). This study extends the literature…

The task used most widely to assess recognition of false belief in self "and" others is the "Smarties" unexpected contents task. Amongst individuals with and without autism, the Self and Other-person test questions of this task are of an equivalent level of difficulty. However, a potential confound with this task may allow the Self test question…

Young typically developing children can reason about abstract depictions if they know the intention of the artist. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who are notably impaired in social, "intention monitoring" domains, may have great difficulty in decoding vague representations. In Experiment 1, children with ASD are unable to use…

The present study investigates the accuracy and speed of face processing employed by high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Two behavioral experiments measured sensitivity to distances between features and face recognition when performance depended on holistic versus featural information. Results suggest adults with ASD…

Persons with autism often show strong reactions to changes in the environment, suggesting that they may detect changes more efficiently than typically developing (TD) persons. However, Fletcher-Watson et al. (Br J Psychol 97:537-554, 2006) reported no differences between adults with autism and TD adults with a change-detection task. In this study,…

Despite the evidence that individuals with Asperger syndrome (AS) have a propensity for being underweight or having comorbid eating disorders, no previous research has compared the eating attitudes of adolescent girls with AS to typically developing peers. This study compared reports of eating problems provided by the adolescent girls themselves…

Federal laws mandating a "single point of entry" for early intervention (EI) create a potential database for surveillance of early childhood disabilities. This study evaluated EI records for estimating rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a chart abstraction protocol, with good interrater agreement (k = 0.86). Sampling 304 EI records…

The neuro-developmental disorders of Williams syndrome (WS) and autism can reveal key components of social cognition. Eye-tracking techniques were applied in two tasks exploring attention to pictures containing faces. Images were (i) scrambled pictures containing faces or (ii) pictures of scenes with embedded faces. Compared to individuals who…

In this paper we critically review the literature on the use of event related potentials (ERPs) to elucidate the neural sources of the core deficits in autism. We review auditory and visual ERP studies, and then review the use of ERPs in the investigation of executive function. We conclude that, in autism, impairments likely exist in both low and…