LANGUAGE AND EMOTIONAL PROCESSING IN ADULTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Abstract

Despite its importance in functioning and life quality, not enough is known about emotional processing among adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The limited research has produced mixed results of whether an impairment exists. The present study sought to understand this better through two key questions: whether adults with ASD display impairment in tasks involving linguistic (i.e. words) versus non-linguistic (i.e. pictures) stimuli, and whether language moderates emotional processing in ASD. Considering that studies involving linguistic stimuli more commonly found an impairment, I hypothesized that they would show an impairment in response to linguistic but not non-linguistic stimuli, and that language would moderate how similar their responses were to TD individuals. Eleven adults with high functioning autism or Asperger’s Syndrome rated both word and picture stimuli on emotional valence and arousal. Their ratings were then compared to norms from the stimuli’s respective databases. Adults with ASD rank-ordered stimuli similarly to TD individuals, although they tended to use a narrower range of the scales. Additionally, language did not moderate emotional processing, but findings highlight difficulties in arousal modulation in ASD. These findings are discussed with reference to prevalent theories of ASD such as the complex information-processing, weak central coherence, and enhanced perceptual functioning accounts.