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Inner Speech Moderates the Relationship Between Autism Spectrum Traits and Emotion Regulation

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Abstract

Inner speech processes are thought to be associated with decreases in cognitive performance in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although verbal thinking is also a key component in emotional responses, no studies have investigated whether inner speech is linked to emotion regulation in ASD. The aim of this study was to investigate whether inner speech moderates the relationship between ASD traits and emotion regulation strategies. Our results indicate that only the evaluative/motivational form of inner speech moderates the relationship between ASD traits and cognitive reappraisal; inner speech processes did not moderate the association between ASD traits and expressive suppression. These findings are a first step to further investigate the role of inner speech in affective and self-regulatory processes in ASD.

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Acknowledgments

PGE is funded by a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (FT160100077). We acknowledge Ms. Natalie Lim and Ms. Ellie Last for the assistance with data collection.We would like to thank the research team and the participants of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Natalia Albein-Urios, George Youssef & Peter G. Enticott

  2. Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    George Youssef

  3. Misinformation Lab, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Anna Klas

Authors
  1. Natalia Albein-Urios
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  2. George Youssef
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  3. Anna Klas
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  4. Peter G. Enticott
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Contributions

NAU conceived and designed the study, participated in the statistical analysis, interpreted the data, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; GY performed the statistical analysis and contributed to draft the manuscript; AK collected the data and contributed to draft the manuscript. PGE participated in the study design and contributed to draft the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Natalia Albein-Urios.

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Albein-Urios, N., Youssef, G., Klas, A. et al. Inner Speech Moderates the Relationship Between Autism Spectrum Traits and Emotion Regulation. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 3322–3330 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04750-7

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