Abstract
Typically developing adults with low and high Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores made rapid social evaluations of neutral faces when these were primed by briefly presented emotional faces. High AQ participants rated neutral faces as more threatening than low AQ participants, regardless of the prime condition. Both groups rated target neutral faces as more threatening with fearful compared with neutral primes, while neither group demonstrated an effect of happy primes on the ratings of neutral target faces. These results demonstrate subtle anomalies in rapid visual processing of emotional faces across the broader autism spectrum. They suggest that higher autism traits may be associated with a generalized threat bias in rapid social evaluations.
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C.B. developed the stimuli and tasks. C.B. and E.C. collected the data and wrote the first draft. P.A.C. collaborated on manuscript revisions, and interpretation of data analyses. R.L. conceived and designed the study, interpretation of data analyses and contributed to the first draft. All authors provided feedback and contributed to the final version of the manuscript.
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Becker, C., Caterer, E., Chouinard, P.A. et al. Alterations in Rapid Social Evaluations in Individuals with High Autism Traits. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 3575–3585 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04795-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04795-8