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Sex-Related Cognitive Profile in Autism Spectrum Disorders Diagnosed Late in Life: Implications for the Female Autistic Phenotype

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Abstract

Females with high-functioning ASD are known to camouflage their autistic symptoms better than their male counterparts, making them prone to being under-ascertained and delayed in diagnostic assessment. Thus far the underlying cognitive processes that enable such successful socio-communicative adaptation are not well understood. The current results show sex-related differences in the cognitive profile of ASD individuals, which were diagnosed late in life exclusively. Higher verbal abilities were found in males (n = 69) as opposed to higher processing speed and better executive functions in females with ASD (n = 38). Since both sexes remained unidentified during childhood and adolescence, these results are suggestive for sex-distinctive cognitive strategies as an alternative to typically-developed reciprocal social behavior and social mimicry in high functioning ASD.

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Author Contributions

FGL designed the study, analysed the data, and wrote the paper. CMF and JF provided statistical guidance and contributed to writing. AG and KP contributed to data collection. RT contributed to data analyses and writing. KV contributed to theory development, scientific guidance and writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937, Cologne, Germany

    Fritz-Georg Lehnhardt, Christine Michaela Falter, Astrid Gawronski, Kathleen Pfeiffer, Ralf Tepest & Kai Vogeley

  2. Institute of Medical Statistics, Computer Science and Epidemiology (IMSIE), University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937, Cologne, Germany

    Jeremy Franklin

  3. Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine – Cognitive Neurosciences (INM-3), Research Center Juelich, 52425, Juelich, Germany

    Kai Vogeley

Authors
  1. Fritz-Georg Lehnhardt
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  2. Christine Michaela Falter
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  3. Astrid Gawronski
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  4. Kathleen Pfeiffer
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  5. Ralf Tepest
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  6. Jeremy Franklin
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  7. Kai Vogeley
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Correspondence to Fritz-Georg Lehnhardt.

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Lehnhardt, FG., Falter, C.M., Gawronski, A. et al. Sex-Related Cognitive Profile in Autism Spectrum Disorders Diagnosed Late in Life: Implications for the Female Autistic Phenotype. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 139–154 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2558-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2558-7

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