Enhanced Sensitivity to Angry Voices in People with Features of the Broader Autism Phenotype

Yap, Valerie M. Z.; McLachlan, Neil M.; Scheffer, Ingrid E.; Wilson, Sarah J.

doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3641-7

Original Paper
Published: 22 June 2018

Enhanced Sensitivity to Angry Voices in People with Features of the Broader Autism Phenotype

Valerie M. Z. Yap¹,
Neil M. McLachlan¹,
Ingrid E. Scheffer^2,3 &
Sarah J. Wilson¹

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders volume 48, pages 3899–3911 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The present study examined whether the ability to recognize vocal emotional expressions is negatively related to features of the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP) in the general population. We assessed 61 typically developing adults on a BAP self-report measure (Broader Autism Phenotype Questionnaire) and a purpose-developed online emotion recognition task for efficient delivery of non-linguistic vocal stimuli corresponding to the six basic emotions. Contrary to expectations, we found that higher self-ratings of rigid BAP traits correlated with better recognition accuracy and higher intensity ratings for angry voices. We interpret this anger-specific association as an advantage for enhanced threat detection in the BAP and discuss this finding in the broader context of personality research and interpersonal theory.

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Funding

This research was supported in part by Award Number W81XWH-12-1-0490 from the United States Department of Defence (DoD) office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

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Authors and Affiliations

Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia
Valerie M. Z. Yap, Neil M. McLachlan & Sarah J. Wilson
Departments of Medicine and Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC, 3084, Australia
Ingrid E. Scheffer
Department of Neurology, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
Ingrid E. Scheffer

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Valerie M. Z. Yap
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Neil M. McLachlan
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Ingrid E. Scheffer
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Sarah J. Wilson
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All authors made substantial contributions to the study design, interpretation of results and writing of this manuscript. VMZY collected and analyzed the data.

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Correspondence to Sarah J. Wilson.

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Yap, V.M.Z., McLachlan, N.M., Scheffer, I.E. et al. Enhanced Sensitivity to Angry Voices in People with Features of the Broader Autism Phenotype. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 3899–3911 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3641-7

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Published: 22 June 2018
Issue Date: November 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3641-7

Keywords

Broader Autism Phenotype
Emotion recognition
Vocal affect bursts
Anger
Threat sensitivity
Rigidity