Do autism traits link to emotional skills and mental flexibility?
People with higher autistic traits tend to have lower emotional intelligence and struggle more when switching between emotional rules during cognitive tasks.
Source
Sub-threshold autism traits: the role of trait emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility
What they did
In the first study, researchers surveyed 163 adults on their autistic traits, emotional intelligence, and empathy. For the second study, they recruited a group of 35 participants with high autistic trait scores and a group of 34 participants with low scores to complete tasks measuring face processing, cognitive flexibility, and emotional rule-shifting.
What they found
Higher levels of autistic traits were linked to lower emotional intelligence and empathy, with adaptability and social awareness being the strongest predictors. In the cognitive tests, participants with higher autistic traits struggled significantly more with switching rules, especially on the emotional rule-shifting task where they performed near floor levels compared to peers with low autistic traits.
The limits
What it doesn't show
This study relies on correlation, meaning it cannot prove that autistic traits directly cause poor emotional processing or cognitive inflexibility. Additionally, the researchers did not match the high and low groups on key variables like age, gender, or intelligence, which could potentially skew the results. Finally, the emotional task featured more negative facial expressions than positive ones, meaning the difficulty might be specific to processing negative emotions rather than emotional processing in general.
Key terms
- Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)
- A self-report questionnaire designed to measure autistic traits in adults of typical intelligence.
- Trait Emotional Intelligence
- A collection of emotional self-perceptions and dispositions that influence how an individual processes emotional information and navigates relationships.
- Cognitive Flexibility
- The mental ability to adapt thoughts and behaviors in response to changing rules or environmental demands.
- Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test
- A task that evaluates social cognitive ability by asking participants to identify complex mental states solely from photos of the eye region of faces.
- Emotional Rule-Shift Test (ERST)
- A task combining emotional processing and mental flexibility by requiring participants to sort face images based on changing emotional rules.
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Quiz yourself
What does the term 'broader autism phenotype' refer to in the context of autism research?
Common questions
Were the participants in this study diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder?
No, the study focused on sub-threshold autistic traits within a general population sample, meaning none of the participants had a formal clinical diagnosis of autism.
How does the Emotional Rule-Shift Test (ERST) differ from the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)?
While the WCST measures basic cognitive flexibility using neutral cards that vary by color, shape, and number, the ERST measures socio-emotional cognitive flexibility by requiring participants to shift rules while sorting human facial expressions.
What was the most striking difference between the high and low AQ groups?
The high AQ group performed at near-floor levels on the Emotional Rule-Shift Test, showing that combining emotional stimuli with rule-switching creates a disproportionately difficult task for individuals with more autistic traits.
What emotional intelligence traits were most strongly linked to higher autistic traits?
Adaptability and social awareness were the most significant predictors, meaning that lower scores in these specific areas were most closely associated with higher autistic traits.
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