Barendse Evelien M, Hendriks Marc P H, Thoonen Geert, Aldenkamp Albert P, Kessels Roy P C
Academic Centre for Epileptology (ACE), Kempenhaeghe, Heeze, The Netherlands.
Department of Neurology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Cogn Process. 2018 Nov;19(4):545-555. doi: 10.1007/s10339-018-0866-5. Epub 2018 Jun 29.
Of the triad of symptoms found in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), that is, social impairments, communication difficulties and repetitive interests and behaviour, the social impairments are the most stable and common throughout the lifespan. They typically manifest themselves in abnormalities as reciprocal interactions and difficulties in the expression and recognition of emotions. Although peer interactions become especially important during adolescence, little is known about the mentalizing abilities of high-functioning adolescents with ASD. Here, we compared the mentalizing skills and emotion recognition abilities of 21 high-functioning adolescents with ASD and 21 matched controls. All adolescents had estimated above-average verbal intelligence levels. Spontaneous social abilities and task-related social abilities were measured using questionnaires, tasks and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Results confirm social impairment in daily life situations in adolescents with ASD, but were not found on experimental tasks of social cognition. The use of more explicit cognitive or verbally mediating reasoning techniques and a lesser tendency of high-functioning adolescents with ASD to search for and use social information in natural environments are further discussed.
在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中发现的三联征症状，即社交障碍、沟通困难以及重复兴趣和行为，其中社交障碍在整个生命周期中最为稳定且常见。它们通常表现为相互作用异常以及情感表达和识别困难。尽管同伴互动在青少年时期变得尤为重要，但对于高功能ASD青少年的心理理论能力却知之甚少。在此，我们比较了21名高功能ASD青少年和21名匹配对照组的心理理论技能和情绪识别能力。所有青少年的言语智力水平估计均高于平均水平。使用问卷、任务和《自闭症诊断观察量表》来测量自发社交能力和与任务相关的社交能力。结果证实ASD青少年在日常生活情境中存在社交障碍，但在社交认知的实验任务中未发现。进一步讨论了使用更明确的认知或言语中介推理技术以及高功能ASD青少年在自然环境中寻找和使用社交信息的倾向较低的情况。
