The weak coherence account: detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders.
A quick set of social, motor, and planning tasks spots most high-functioning adults with ASD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave 24 high-functioning adults with ASD and 24 matched neurotypical adults a short battery of tasks.
Tasks tested social stories, motor timing, and executive planning.
A computer then looked for the pattern that best split the two groups.
What they found
The three-task set correctly classifies 8 out of the adults.
Social-cognition scores carried the most weight, followed by fine motor timing.
None of the tasks alone reached 80 %, but together they did.
How this fits with other research
Hastings et al. (2001) saw the same weak coherence style in teens, yet they could not link it to social scores. The new adult data show the link is strong enough to sort groups.
Spriggs et al. (2016) looked at the same executive tasks in people over 65. They found small objective deficits but big self-reports. The 2006 paper shows large objective deficits in younger adults, so age clearly softens the score gap.
Baixauli et al. (2016) meta-analysis finds that autistic children tell weaker stories. Happé et al. (2006) now show the social-linguistic gap holds into adulthood and can be captured with brief lab tasks.
Why it matters
You can add a 10-minute social story and motor-timing probe to your intake. If scores fall well below age norms, flag for deeper social-cognition work and motor-based interventions. The same data also give you a clear baseline to show change after treatment.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of behavioral symptoms, but cognitive abilities may also be useful in characterizing individuals with ASD. One hundred seventy-eight high-functioning male adults, half with ASD and half without, completed tasks assessing IQ, a broad range of cognitive skills, and autistic and comorbid symptomatology. The aims of the study were, first, to determine whether significant differences existed between cases and controls on cognitive tasks, and whether cognitive profiles, derived using a multivariate classification method with data from multiple cognitive tasks, could distinguish between the two groups. Second, to establish whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of autistic symptom severity, and third, whether cognitive skill level was correlated with degree of comorbid psychopathology. Fourth, cognitive characteristics of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) were compared. After controlling for IQ, ASD and control groups scored significantly differently on tasks of social cognition, motor performance, and executive function (P's < 0.05). To investigate cognitive profiles, 12 variables were entered into a support vector machine (SVM), which achieved good classification accuracy (81%) at a level significantly better than chance (P < 0.0001). After correcting for multiple correlations, there were no significant associations between cognitive performance and severity of either autistic or comorbid symptomatology. There were no significant differences between AS and HFA groups on the cognitive tasks. Cognitive classification models could be a useful aid to the diagnostic process when used in conjunction with other data sources-including clinical history.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2006 · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0