Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Formal Thought Disorder and the Autism Spectrum: Relationship with Symptoms, Executive Control, and Anxiety

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

Abstract

This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) exhibit formal thought disorder (FTD), and whether this is related to ASD symptoms, executive control, and anxiety. Participants aged 8–17 with ASDs exhibited significantly more illogical thinking and loose associations than matched typically developing control subjects. In participants with ASDs, illogical thinking was related to aspects of cognitive functioning and to executive control. Loose associations were related to autism communication symptoms and to parent reports of stress and anxiety. When FTD is present in ASDs, it generally is not a co-morbid schizophrenia symptom, but is related to pragmatic language abnormalities found in ASDs. The clinical and neurobiological significance of this work is discussed.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.), Text Revision. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association.

  • Andreasen, N. (2000) Scale for the assessment of positive symptoms (SAPS) and scale for the assessment of negative symptoms (SANS). Handbook of psychiatric measures (pp. 498–502). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baltaxe, C. A., & D’Angiola, N. (1992). Cohesion in the discourse interaction of autistic, specifically language-impaired, and normal children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 22(1), 1–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, A. D., & Carter, C. S. (2005). Cognitive control involved in overcoming prepotent response tendencies and switching between tasks. Cerebral Cortex, 15(7), 899–912.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belser, R. C., & Sudhalter, V. (2001). Conversational characteristics of children with fragile X syndrome: Repetitive speech. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 106(1), 28–38.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bender, L. (1947). Psychopathic behavior disorders in children. In R. M. Lindner & R. V. Seliger (Eds.), Handbook of correctional psychology (p. 17). Oxford: Philosophical Library.

    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.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V., & Norbury, C. F. (2005a). Executive functions in children with communication impairments, in relation to autistic symptomatology. 1: Generativity. Autism, 9(1), 7–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V., & Norbury, C. F. (2005b). Executive functions in children with communication impairments, in relation to autistic symptomatology. 2: Response inhibition. Autism, 9(1), 29–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, R. (1994). Thought disorder in childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33(5), 605–615.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, R., Guthrie, D., Fish, B., Tanguay, P. E., & David-Lando, G. (1989). The Kiddie Formal Thought Disorder Rating Scale: Clinical Assessment, Reliability, and Validity. The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28(3), 408–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, R., Guthrie, D., Tang, B., Neuchterlein, K.H., & Asarnow, R.F. (2001). Thought disorder in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 40(8), 965–972.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caron, C., & Rutter, M. (1991). Comorbidity in child psychopathology: Concepts, issues and research strategies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1063–1080.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. D., & Servan-Schreiber, D. (1992). Context, cortex, and dopamine: A connectionist approach to behavior and biology in schizophrenia. Psychological Review, 99(1), 45–77.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corbett, B. A., Mendoza, S., Abdullah, M., Wegelin, J. A., & Levine, S. (2006). Cortisol circadian rhythms and response to stress in children with autism. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31, 9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Docherty, N.M. (1996). Affective reactivity of symptoms as a process discriminator in schizophrenia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 184(9), 535–541.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Docherty, N. M., Evans, I. M., Sledge, W. H., & Seibel, J. P. (1994). Affective reactivity of language in schizophrenia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 182(2), 98–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dykens, E., Volkmar, F. & Glick, M. (1991). Though disorder in high-functioning autistic adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 21(3), 291–301.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fine, J., Bertoucci, G., Szatmari, P., & Ginsberg, G. (1994). Cohesive discourse in pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(3), 359–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geschwind, D.H., & Levitt, P. (2007). Autism spectrum disorders: Developmental disconnection syndromes. Current Opinions Neurobiology, 17(1), 103–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groden, J., Diller, A., Bausman, M., Velicer, W., Norman, G., & Cautela, J. (2001). The development of a stress survery schedule for persons with autism and other developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(2), 207–217.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Howlin, P. (2003). Outcome in high-functioning adults with autism with and without early language delays: Implications for the differentiation between autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33(1), 3–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Irani, F., Platek, S., Panyavin, I., Calkins, M., Kohler, C., Siegel, S., Schachter, M., Gur, R. E., & Gur, R. C. (2006). Self-face recognition and theory of mind in patients with schizophrenia and first-degree relatives. Schizophrenia Research, 88(1–3), 151–160.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, R. M., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2004). The relationship of theory of mind and executive functions to symptom type and severity in children with autism. Development and Psychopathology, 16(1), 137–155.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kerns, J. G., & Berenbaum, H. (2002). Cognitive impairments associated with formal thought disorder in people with schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111(2), 211–224.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keshavan, M., & Amirsardi, A. (2007). Early intervention in schizophrenia: Current and future perspectives. Current Psychiatry Reports, 9(4), 325–328.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kolvin, I. (1971). Studies in the childhood psychoses. I. Diagnostic criteria and classification. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118(545), 381–384.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Konstantareas, M., & Hewitt, T. (2001). Autistic disorder and schizophrenia: Diagnostic overlaps. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(1), 19–28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kreher, D., Holcomb, P., & Kuperberg, G. R. (2007). An electrophysiological investigation of indirect semantic priming. Psychophysiology, 43(6), 550–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuperberg, G. R., Deckersbach, T., Holt, D., Goff, D., & West, C. (2007). Increased temporal and prefrontal activity in response to semantic associations in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64(2), 138–151.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuperberg, G. R., Kreher, D. A., Goff, D., McGuire, P. K., & David, A. S. (2006). Building up linguistic context in schizophrenia: Evidence from self-paced reading. Neuropsychology, 20(4), 442–452.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leitman, D., Ziwich, R., Pasternak, R., & Javitt, D. (2006). Theory of Mind (ToM) and counterfactuality deficits in schizophrenia: Misperception or misinterpretation?. Psychological Medicine, 36(8), 1075–1083.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leyfer, O. T., Folstein, S. E., Bacalman, S., Davis, N. O., Dinh, E., Morgan, J., et al. (2006). Comorbid psychiatric disorders in children with autism: Interview development and rates of disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(7), 849–861.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., & DiLavore P. C. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule-generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(3), 205–223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism Diagnostic Interview– Revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 24(5), 659–685.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macintosh, K., & Dissanayake, C. (2004). Annotation: The similarities and differences between autistic disorder and Asperger’s disorder: A review of the emperical evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(3), 421–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mouridsen, S. E., Rich, B., & Isager, T. (1999). Psychiatric morbidity in disintegrative psychosis and infantile autism: A long-term follow-up study. Psychopathology, 32(4), 177–183.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Goodlin-Jones, B., & Solomon, M. (2007). Autism Spectrum Disorders. In E. Mash & R. Barkley (Eds.), Assessment of childhood disorders (pp. 487–525). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., & Griffith, E. (2000). Neuropsychological function and the external validity of Asperger syndrome. In R. Klin, F. R. Volkmar, & S. S. Sparrow (Eds.), Asperger syndrome (pp. 72–96). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Pennington, B., & Solomon, M., (2006). Neuropsychological perspectives on developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & D. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology, Vol 2: Developmental neuroscience (2nd ed.). (pp. 332–380). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prizant, B. M., Wetherby, A. M., Rubin, E., Laurent, A. C., & Rydell, P. J. (2006). The SCERTS model: A comprehensive educational approach for children with autism spectrum disorders (Vol. 1). Baltimore: Paul Brookes Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Psychological Corporation (1999). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, C. R., & Kamphaus, R. W. (1992). Behavior assessment system for children. Circle Pines: American Guidance Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosano, C., Aizenstein, H., Cochran, J., Saxton, J., De Kosky, S., Newman, A. B., et al. (2005). Functional neuroimaging indicators of successful executive control in the oldest old. Neuroimage, 28(4), 881–889.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1972). Childhood schizophrenia reconsidered. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 2(4), 315–337.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sasson, N., Tsuchiya, N., Hurley, R., Couture, S., Penn, D., Adolphs, R., & Piven, J. (2007). Orienting to social stimuli differentiates social cognitive impairment in autism and schizophrenia. Neuropsychologia, 45(11), 2580–2588.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schiffman, J., Walker, E., Ekstrom, M., Schulsinger, F., Sorensen, H., & Mednick, S. (2004). Childhood videotaped social and neuromotor precursors of schizophrenia: A prospective investigation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(11), 2021–2027.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheitman, B. B., Kraus, J. E., Bodfish, J. W., & Carmel, H. (2004). Are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia consistent with an autistic spectrum illness? Schizophrenia Research, 69, 2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snitz, B. E., MacDonald, A. III, Cohen, J. D., Cho, R. Y., Becker, T., & Carter, C. S. (2005). Lateral and medial hypofrontality in first-episode schizophrenia: Functional activity in a medication-naive state and effects of short-term atypical antipsychotic treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 2322–2329.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, M., Ozonoff, S., Carter, C., Caplan, R. (2006). Behavioral and neural correlates of thought disorder in children with autism spectrum disorders. Paper presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

  • Solomon, M., Ozonoff, S., Cummings, N., Carter, C., (2007). Cognitive control in autism spectrum disorders. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience. [Epub ahead of print].

  • Sporn, A. L., Addington, A. M., Gogtay, N., Ordonez, A. E., Gornick, M., Clasen, L., et al. (2004). Pervasive developmental disorder and childhood-onset schizophrenia: Comorbid disorder or a phenotypic variant of a very early onset illness? Biological Psychiatry, 55(10), 989–994.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sudhalter, V., & Belser, R. C. (2001). Conversational Characteristics of Children With Fragile X Syndrome: Tangential Language. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 106(5), 11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Symond, M. P., Harris, A. W., Gordon, E., & Williams, L. M., (2005). “Gamma synchrony” in first-episode schizophrenia: A disorder of temporal connectivity? American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(3), 459–465.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Szatmari, P., Bryson, S. E., Boyle, M. H., Streiner, D. L., & Duku, E., (2003). Predictors of outcome among high functioning children with autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 44(4), 520–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H., Pauls, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and communication in autism. In F. R. Volkmar, R. Paul, A. Klin & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (Vol. 1, pp. 335–364). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  • Towbin, K. E. (2006). Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. In F. R. Volkmar, R. Paul, A. Klin &; D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (Vol. 2, pp. 165–200). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  • Van der Gaag, R. J., Caplan, R., Van Engeland, H., Loman, F., & Buitelaar, J. (2005). A controlled study of formal thought disorder in children with autism and multiple complex developmental disorders. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 15(3), 465–476.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Volden, J., & Lord, C. (1991). Neologisms and idiosyncratic language in autistic speakers. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 21(2), 109–130.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Volkmar, F. R., & Cohen, D. J. (1991). Comorbid association of autism and schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148(12), 1705–1707.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, E., Grimes, K., Davis, D., & Smith, A. (1993) Childhood precursors of schizophrenia: Facial expression of emotions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(11), 1654–1660.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (1999). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence (WASI). San Antonio: Harcourt Assessment.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Dr. Solomon was supported by a grant NIH K12 HD051958 from the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health program, MIND Institute, and Autism Speaks. Dr. Ozonoff was supported during the writing of this paper by R01 MH068398 and U19-HD35468. Dr. Carter was supported during the writing of this paper by MH64190. The authors also would like to acknowledge Neil Cummings, Kate Wilson and Maria Ventura for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript, and to Drs. Robert Hendren and J. Daniel Ragland for helpful comments on prior drafts.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon, Sally Ozonoff & Cameron Carter

  2. MIND Institute, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon & Sally Ozonoff

  3. UC Davis Imaging Research Center, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon & Cameron Carter

  4. UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Rochelle Caplan

Authors
  1. Marjorie Solomon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sally Ozonoff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cameron Carter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rochelle Caplan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marjorie Solomon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Solomon, M., Ozonoff, S., Carter, C. et al. Formal Thought Disorder and the Autism Spectrum: Relationship with Symptoms, Executive Control, and Anxiety. J Autism Dev Disord 38, 1474–1484 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0526-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0526-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation