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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Champagne Terrace/Bordeaux (Novotel London West)
Background: Research has demonstrated impairments in expressing and recognizing emotions in autism. Data on autonomic reactivity and subjective experience during emotion processing are still scarce.
Objectives: This study sought to obtain more detailed insights into the nature of altered emotional processing on the levels of autonomic reactivity and subjective experience in autism.
Methods: Physiological response and affective report was examined in 10 adult individuals with autism and 10 typically developing controls. An emotion induction paradigm using stimuli from the International Affective Picture System was applied. Blood pressure, heart and self-ratings of experienced valence (pleasure), arousal and dominance (control) were assessed during the experiment.
Results: Physiological response profiles correlated low to significantly negative between groups. Individuals with autism experienced less arousal when viewing sad pictures but higher arousal while processing neutral stimuli. In addition, they reported more control than the normative group when viewing fearful and sad stimuli.
Conclusions: Generally, emotion processing differences regarding autonomic reactivity and subjective experience were not extreme in our study. Still, findings indicate some altered autonomic reactions and affective experiences in autism, which may be related to more general impairments in socio-emotional functioning.
Objectives: This study sought to obtain more detailed insights into the nature of altered emotional processing on the levels of autonomic reactivity and subjective experience in autism.
Methods: Physiological response and affective report was examined in 10 adult individuals with autism and 10 typically developing controls. An emotion induction paradigm using stimuli from the International Affective Picture System was applied. Blood pressure, heart and self-ratings of experienced valence (pleasure), arousal and dominance (control) were assessed during the experiment.
Results: Physiological response profiles correlated low to significantly negative between groups. Individuals with autism experienced less arousal when viewing sad pictures but higher arousal while processing neutral stimuli. In addition, they reported more control than the normative group when viewing fearful and sad stimuli.
Conclusions: Generally, emotion processing differences regarding autonomic reactivity and subjective experience were not extreme in our study. Still, findings indicate some altered autonomic reactions and affective experiences in autism, which may be related to more general impairments in socio-emotional functioning.