Skip to main content
Log in

Co-segregation of Social Cognition, Executive Function and Local Processing Style in Children with ASD, their Siblings and Normal Controls

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cognitive research proposes that social cognition (SC), executive functions (EF) and local processing style (weak CC) may be fruitful areas for research into the familial-genetic underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The performance of 140 children with ASD, 172 siblings and 127 controls on tasks measuring SC (face recognition, affective prosody, and facial emotion recognition), EF (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and verbal working memory) and local processing style was assessed. Compelling evidence was found for the interrelatedness of SC and EF, but not local processing style, within individuals and within families, suggesting that these domains tend to co-segregate in ASD. Using the underlying shared variance of these constructs in genetic research may increase the power for detecting susceptibility genes for ASD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of disorders, fourth edition, text revision. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a ‘theory of mind’? Cognition, 21, 37–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernier, R., Gerdts, J., Munson, J., Dawson, G., & Estes, A. (2011). Evidence for broader autism phenotype characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence families. Autism Research, 5(1), 13–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berument, S. K., Rutter, M., Lord, C., Pickles, A., & Bailey, A. (1999). Autism screening questionnaire: Diagnostic validity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 444–451.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V. M., Maybery, M., Wong, D., Maley, A., & Hallmayer, J. (2006). Characteristics of the broader phenotype in autism: A study of siblings using the children’s communication checklist-2. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 141B, 117–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buitelaar, J. K., & Van der Wees, M. (1997). Are deficits in the decoding of affective cues and in metalizing abilities independent? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27(5), 539–556.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, S. M., & Moses, L. J. (2001). Individual differences in inhibitory control and children’s theory of mind. Child Development, 72, 1032–1053.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, S. M., Moses, L. J., & Breton, C. (2002). How specific is the relation between executive function and theory of mind?, Contributions of inhibitory control and working memory. Infant and Child Development, 11, 73–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, S. M., Mandell, D. J., & Williams, L. (2004). Executive function and theory of mind: stability and prediction from ages 2–3. Developmental Psychology, 40, 1105–1122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corsello, C., Hus, V., Pickles, A., Risi, S., Cook, E. H, Jr, Leventhal, B. L., et al. (2007). Between a ROC and a hard place: decision making and making decisions about using the SCQ. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 932–940.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Sonneville, L. M. J. (1999). Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks: A computer aided assessment program. In B. P. L. M. Den Brinker, P. J. Beek, A. N. Brand, F. J. Maarse, & L. J. M. Mulder (Eds.), Cognitive ergonomics, clinical assessment and computer assisted learning: Computers in psychology (pp. 187–203). Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Sonneville, L.M.J. (2005). Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks: scientific and clinical applications. Tijdschrift voor Neuropsychologie, 1, 27–41 (Dutch).

  • De Sonneville, L.M.J. (2011). Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks, Manual, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: SONARES; http://www.sonares.nl/index.php?language=2.

  • Frazier-Wood, A. C., Bralten, J., Arias-Vasquez, A., Luman, M., Oosterlaan, J., Sergeant, J., et al. (2012). Neuropsychological intra-individual variability explains unique genetic variance of ADHD and shows suggestive linkage to chromosomes 12, 13 and 17. Journal of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 159B, 131–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freitag, C. M. (2007). The genetics of autistic disorders and its clinical relevance: A review of the literature. Molecular Psychiatry, 12(1), 2–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. (1989). Autism: Explaining the Enigma. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., & Happé, F. (1994). Autism: Beyond ‘theory of mind’. Cognition, 50, 115–132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, H. M., Verté, S., Oosterlaan, J., Roeyers, H., & Sergeant, J. A. (2004). How specific are executive function deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 836–854.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., Hill, J. J., & Rutherford, M. D. (2007). The ‘Reading the mind in the voice’ test-revised: A study of complex emotion recognition in adults with and without autism spectrum conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1096–1106.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gottesman, I. I., & Gould, T. D. (2003). The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: Etymology and strategic intentions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 636–645.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goussé, V., Stilgenbauer, J.-L., Delorme, R., Mouren, M. C., Michel, G., & Leboyer, M. (2009). Ėtude des profils cognitifs chez les apparentės de personnes avec autisme: hypothese du`n manque de flexibilitė cognitive? Annales Mėdico-Psycholiques, 167, 704–708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groth-Marnat, G. (1997). Handbook of psychological assessment (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. (2003). Cognition in autism: One deficit or many? Novartis Foundation Symposium, 17, 198–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2006). The weak central coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 5–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F., & Ronald, A. (2008). The ‘Fractionable Autism Triad’: A review of evidence from behavioral, genetic, cognitive and neural research. Neuropsychology Review, 18, 287–304.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F., Briskman, J., & Frith, U. (2001). Exploring the cognitive phenotype of autism: weak “central coherence” in parents and siblings of children with autism: I. Experimental tests. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42(3), 299–307.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2006). Time to give up a single explanation for autism. Nature Neuroscience, 9(10), 1218–1220.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harms, M. B., Martin, A., & Wallace, G. L. (2010). Facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders: A review of behavioral and neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychology Review, 20, 290–322.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, E. L. (2004a). Executive function in autism. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 8(1), 26–32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, E. L. (2004b). Evaluating the theory of executive dysfunction in autism. Developmental Review, 24, 189–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, R., & Monaco, A. P. (2011). Links between genetics and pathophysiology in the autism spectrum disorders. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 3(8), 438–450.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jarrold, C., Butler, D. W., Cottington, E. M., & Jiminez, F. (2000). Linking theory of mind and CC bias in autism and in the general population. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27, 25–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korpilahti, P., Jansson-Verkasalo, E., Mattila, M. L., Kuusikko, S., Suominen, K., Rytky, S., et al. (2007). Processing of affective speech prosody is impaired in Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1539–1549.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Le Couteur, A., Lord, C., & Rutter, M. (2003). The autism diagnostic interviewrevised (ADI-R). Los Angeles: CA: Western psychological services.

  • Lindner, J. L., & Rosén, L. A. (2006). Decoding of emotion through facial expression, prosody and verbal content in children and adolescents with Asperger’s Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 769–777.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam, K., & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: a comparison across multiple- and- single-incidence families of autistic individuals. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B, 424–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Losh, M., Adolphs, R., Poe, M. D., Couture, S., Penn, D., Baranek, G. T., et al. (2009). Neuropsychological profile of autism and the broad autism phenotype. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66(5), 518–526.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, B., Maybery, M., & Durkin, K. (2003). Weak central coherence, poor joint attention, and low verbal ability: Independent deficits in early autism. Developmental Psychology, 39, 646–656.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Norusis, M. J. (1992). Statistical package for the social sciences, SPSS/PC+. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nydén, A., Hagberg, B., Goussé, V., & Rastam, M. (2011). A cognitive endophenotype of autism in families with multiple incidence. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5(1), 191–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S. (1997). Components of executive function in autism and other disorders. In J. Russell (Ed.), Autism as an executive disorder (pp. 179–211). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Pennington, B. F., & Rogers, S. J. (1991). Executive function deficits in high-functioning autistic individuals: Relationship to theory of mind. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 51–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pellicano, E. (2007). Links between theory of mind and executive function in young children with autism: Clues to developmental primacy. Developmental Psychology, 43(4), 974–990.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pellicano, E. (2010). Individual differences in executive function and central coherence predict developmental changes in theory of mind in autism. Developmental Psychology, 46(2), 530–544.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pellicano, E., Maybery, M., & Durkin, K. (2005). Central coherence in typically developing preschoolers: Does it cohere and does it relate to ToM and executive control? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 533–547.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pellicano, E., Maybery, M., Durkin, K., & Maley, A. (2006). Multiple cognitive capabilities deficits in children with an autism spectrum disorder: “Weak” central coherence and its relationship to theory of mind and executive control. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 77–98. USA: Cambridge University Press.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Philip, R. C. M., Whalley, H. C., Stanfield, A. C., Sprengelmeyer, R., Santos, I. M., Young, A. W., et al. (2010). Deficits in facial, body movement and vocal emotional processing in autism spectrum disorders. Psychological Medicine, 40, 1919–1929.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pisula, E. (2010). The autistic mind in the light of neuropsychological studies. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 70(2), 119–130.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D., & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K. J. (2002). Calculation for the test of the difference between two independent correlation coefficients [Computer software]. Available from http://quantpsy.org.

  • Rommelse, N. N. J., Altink, M. E., Oosterlaan, J., Buschgens, C. J. M., Buitelaar, J., & Sergeant, J. A. (2008). Support for an independent familial segregation of executive and intelligence endophenotypes in ADHD-families. Psychological Medicine, 38(11), 1595–1606.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rommelse, N. N. J., Geurts, H. M., Franke, B., Buitelaar, J. K., & Hartman, C. A. (2011). A review on cognitive and brain endophenotypes that may be common in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and facilitate the search for pleiotropic genes. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(6), 1363–1396.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ronald, A., Happé, F., Bolton, P., Butcher, L. M., Price, T. S., Wheelwright, S., et al. (2006). Genetic heterogeneity between the three components of the autism spectrum: A twin study. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(6), 691–699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serra, M., Althaus, M., De Sonneville, L. M. J., Stant, A. D., Jackson, A. E., & Minderaa, R. B. (2003). Face recognition in children with a pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 303–317.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sham, P. C., Cherny, S. S., Purcell, S., & Hewitt, J. K. (2000). Power of linkage versus association analysis of quantative traits, by use of variance-components models, for sibship data. American Journal of Human Genetics, 66, 1616–1630.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. (1997). Towards an executive dysfunction account of repetitive behaviour in autism. In J. Russell (Ed.), Autism as an executive disorder (pp. 57–100). New York: USA: Oxford University Press.

  • Van der Meer, J. M. J., Oerlemans, A. M., Van Steijn, D. J., Lappenschaar, M. G. A., De Sonneville, L. M. J., Buitelaar, J. K., et al. (2012). Are ASD and ADHD different manifestations of one overarching disorder? Cognitive and symptom evidence from a clinical and population based sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(11), 1160–1172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Steijn, D. J., Richards, J. S., Oerlemans, A. M., De Ruiter, S. W., Van Aken, M. A. G., Franke, B., et al. (2012). The co-occurrence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder symptoms in parents of children with ASD or ASD with ADHD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(9), 954–963.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vingerhoets, G., Berckmoes, C., & Stroobant, N. (2003). Cerebral hemodynamics during discrimination of prosodic and semantic emotion in speech studied by transcranial doppler ultrasonography. Neuropsychology, 17, 93–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, S., Sebastian, C., Pellicano, E., Parr, J., & Bailey, A. (2010). Face processing abilities in relatives of individuals with ASD. Autism Research, 3(6), 345–349.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (2000). WAIS-III Nederlandstalige bewerking. Technische handleiding. London: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (2002). WISC-III Handleiding. London: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, C. E., Freeman, P., Brock, J., Burton, A. M., & Palermo, R. (2010). Facial identity recognition in het broader autism phenotype. PLoS ONE, 5(9), e12876.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, D., Mayberry, M., Bishop, D. V. M., Maley, A., & Hallmayer, J. (2006). Profiles of executive function in parents and siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 5, 561–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all participating families. This study was partly funded by a grant assigned to Dr. Rommelse by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO Grant # 91610024).

Conflict of interest

Oerlemans, Droste, Van Steijn and Rommelse have no conflict of interest to disclose. In the past 4 years Buitelaar has been a consultant to/member of advisory board of/and/or speaker for Janssen Cilag BV, Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myer Squibb, Organon/Shering Plough, UCB, Shire, Medice, Servier, and Servier. De Sonneville is director of Sonares B.V., a company that commercially distributes the ANT program. In the past 4 years De Sonneville has been a consultant to/member of advisory board for Danone, Eli Lilly, Friesland Campina, and Global Pharma Consultancy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anoek M. Oerlemans.

Additional information

Katharina Droste is no longer employed by the Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Oerlemans, A.M., Droste, K., van Steijn, D.J. et al. Co-segregation of Social Cognition, Executive Function and Local Processing Style in Children with ASD, their Siblings and Normal Controls. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 2764–2778 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1807-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1807-x

Keywords

Navigation