Autism
Do autism traits link to emotional skills and mental flexibility?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
People with higher autistic traits tend to have lower emotional intelligence and struggle more when switching between emotional rules during cognitive tasks.
Key findings
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.
Methodology
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.
Limitations
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.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
Higher cognitive flexibility and thought control are associated with better emotional adaptation, more constructive coping strategies, and fewer depressive symptoms in stressful conditions.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Individuals with higher autistic traits demonstrate notable difficulties with mental adaptability, particularly when required to switch rules on emotionally-driven cognitive tasks.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
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