International Meeting for Autism Research (London, May 15-17, 2008): Can the EQ and SQ-R Be Used to Predict Structural Differences in Cognitive Styles?
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Can the EQ and SQ-R Be Used to Predict Structural Differences in Cognitive Styles?

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Champagne Terrace/Bordeaux (Novotel London West)
10:30 AM
S. A. Sadek , Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
B. Chakrabarti , Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
M. V. Lombardo , Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
G. Pasco , Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
S. J. Wheelwright , Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
E. Bullmore , Department of Psychiatry, Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
J. Suckling , Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
D. Murphy , Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, Section of Brain Maturation, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
A. Bailey , Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
S. Baron-Cohen , Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
T. MRC AIMS Consortium , University of Cambridge; Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Background: The empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory (Baron-Cohen, 2002) was proposed to explain both psychological sex differences and the cognitive style associated with autism spectrum conditions (ASC).  Empathizing (E) is the drive to identify an agent’s emotions and mental states, and is stronger in females. Systemizing (S) is the drive to analyse or construct any system, and is stronger in males.  They can be quantitatively assessed using two self report questionnaires; the Empathizing Quotient (EQ; Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004) and the Systemizing Quotient – Revised (SQ-R; Wheelwright et al, 2006). These can be used to determine three main cognitive styles in individuals; (1) E-type: empathizing is at a higher level than systemizing, (2) B-Type (balanced): systemizing and empathizing skills are at an equal level, and (3) S-type: systemizing is at a higher level than empathizing.  Autism corresponds to the last of these cognitive styles (Wheelwright et al, 2006), but it is yet to be determined how these three cognitive styles correspond to structural differences in the brain.Objectives: To test for structural differences in the brain that correlate to these three cognitive styles.

Methods: 45 typical male volunteers (age and IQ matched; 15 in each of the three cognitive styles), were scanned in a GE 3T machine, using an SPGR sequence. Voxel based morphometry was used to compare local grey matter volumes.

Results: Parametric analyses at the whole-brain level were conducted using SPM5.  Additionally, volumetric comparisons were made of the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (previously associated with EQ; Chakrabarti et al, 2006), and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (previously associated with SQ; Billington et al, 2007) between the three brain-types.

Conclusions: Studies of typical individual differences in cognitive style at a neurological level can help us in understanding brain development in autism, which is characterized as an extreme of a dimension of typical individual differences.

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